Hurley has ‘hope’ for Huskies this season
STORRS — Dan Hurley liked what he saw from his team behind closed doors on Friday afternoon in a scrimmage against Harvard
On Wednesday night, he’ll unveil this year’s UConn team to the public for the first time in a game situation when the Huskies host Division II Saint Michael’s at the XL Center (7 p.m., uconnhuskies.com).
“We probably have a better feel, as a group, in terms of togetherness and feel for each other,” Hurley said of his team, following practice on Tuesday afternoon. “Hopefully, it’ll translate into a better season. Hopefully, (on Wednesday) the message with these guys is we have to play with a lot of urgency. We’re not coming off backtoback, second weekends of the NCAA tournament. We’re coming off three straight losing seasons, man. We’re trying to establish a winning brand of basketball, and it’s got to start with not trying to outtalent somebody in these types of games.”
The Huskies played Harvard in a “secret scrimmage” on Friday afternoon in Cambridge, and Hurley liked the results. Christian Vital scored 23 points and Tyler Polley added 18 to spearhead an 8680 win over the Crimson, who received preseason Top 25 votes and are the overwhelming favorites to win the Ivy League this season.
It was a far cry from a year earlier, when the Huskies fell to Harvard in a closeddoor scrimmage at Gampel Pavilion.
“It gives you hope,” Hurley said. “Last year, we were hanging on to try to keep it to single digits. And they were missing mulitple guys last year — (Bryce) Aiken didn’t play, (Seth) Townes didn’t play, either. Definitely more hope coming out of it.”
“It was a good experience,” added point guard Alterique Gilbert. “It was good to compete against a good, wellcoached team.”
Now, the Huskies play “under the lights,” as it were, in their final tuneup before their regular seasonopener on Nov. 8 against Sacred Heart at Gampel.
“We just want to play hard and bring a winning attitude, not take anything for granted, and get a ‘W,’ ” junior wing Tyler Polley said.
Hurley said he has a good idea what to expect this season from his veteran players — Vital, Gilbert, Polley, Josh Carlton, Sid Wilson, Isaiah Whaley and Brendan Adams. The same can’t be said for his group of freshmen, however — with the exception of Akok Akok.
Akok, the 6foot9 forward, had a headstart on his fellow frosh after joining the team as a nonplaying walkon in the middle of last season. But he’s been better than perhaps even Hurley expected.
“I guess when he came in, there were some questions about how would he handle coaching, how would he handle being in a program with daytoday expectations,” the coach noted. “I can probably count on my hand how many bad minutes he’s had in practice, in terms of intensity and urgency. Akok’s in a good spot.”
It’s a different story for
the Huskies’ pair of prized freshman guards, however. Jalen Gaffney has been sidelined the past couple of weeks with an ankle injury and didn’t play in the Harvard game. He was a fullgo in practice on Tuesday, but Hurley wants him to be 100percent for the seasonopener and didn’t sound too sure about Gaffney’s playing status for Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Bouknight (who also didn’t play against Harvard) is facing some sort of discipline from Hurley after being arrested last week for an oncampus incident that happened a month ago. Hurley said there will likely be an announcement from the school soon on Bouknight’s status moving forward.
“We thought we’d be further along with the other two freshman guards, but because of injury and offthecourt (issues), quite honestly, going into the season, we’re not getting as much out of this group as we’d hoped,” said Hurley.
Gilbert, a redshirt junior who’s been with the program for four years, had some advice for Bouknight.
“Just stay in the fight, continue to grow,” Gilbert said. “Just use it as a learning experience. He’s a young guy, I’m pretty sure he won’t make that same mistake again going forward. He’ll be fine.”