State products Benigni, Johnson excited to face UConn

Shamir Johnson wasn’t a huge UConn men’s basketball fan while growing up in Waterbury, even though his godfather is E.J. Harrison, the guard who was part of the Huskies’ 1999 national championship team.

Jackson Benigni, on the other hand ...

“I grew up a diehard UConn fan,” the former Xavier High and Hamden Hall star from East Hampton confessed.

Both players will have to put such allegiances, familial or fandom, aside on Monday when Stonehill faces UConn in both team’s 2022-23 season-opener at 7:30 p.m. at XL Center.

Johnson, a 6-foot-2, fifthyear senior guard, begins the season as a key member of the SkyHawks’ rotation and should see some run on Monday night in front of plenty of friends and family.

“I’m extremely excited for that game,” Johnson said. “Playing in XL against really good dudes, potential draft picks, this is a huge opportunity for myself and the guys to show out and compete against the highest level and prove people wrong.”

Benigni, unfortunately, will be a mere spectator on the Stonehill sidelines. The 6-1 junior guard tore the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) and meniscus in his knee midway through last season, tried to come back for the postseason but ultimately underwent doubleknee surgery in March. He hopes to be back playing limited minutes by midDecember and in the SkyHawks’ rotation by January.

On Monday night, Benigni can only watch his teammates battle the program that used to be his favorite before enrolling at Stonehill. Now?

“UConn is definitely a close second,” he admitted.

So why is Stonehill playing UConn in a non-exhibition game, anyway? Isn’t it a Division 2 program? Well, it had been for more than 50 years, but is now in the first of a four-year transition period into Division 1. It will not be eligible to play in the NCAA tournament or NIT until 2026-27, but Stonehill is a member of the Northeast Conference, alongside Central Connecticut State, Sacred Heart and others, and will only have to wait two years before it can participate in the league championship tournament.

And it will be playing a full D1 slate this season, jumping straight into the deep end on Monday night.

“Last year at this time, we were going to play Caldwell in New Jersey,” Benigni recalled. “Now, our first game is at UConn. Little bit of a difference. I know me and all the guys are ready for this opportunity to play all these big games, to show the world what Stonehill is about and that we can compete at this level. We’re ready to go.”

Of course, Benigni won’t be ready to go on Monday night. Johnson can certainly feel his pain. Over the past four years, Johnson has had two ACL surgeries as well as meniscus surgery. There was great excitement among both Johnson and his family and Stonehill head coach Chris Kraus when Johnson committed to the program out of Taft School, but he tore his ACL near the end of his postgrad year and wound up sitting out his freshman season at Stonehill.

More surgeries followed over the ensuing years, and Johnson has played just 26 games in his career, averaging 2.3 points per game. But that hasn’t stopped him from having a significant impact, not only on the program but on the entire Stonehill campus. Kraus calls him “The Mayor of Stonehill.”

“With what he’s done during the course of his career, away from basketball, just as a person becoming a man, he really has changed Stonehill and made it a better place,” the coach said.

Johnson has started several community groups while on campus and also been named to the Northeast 10 Academic honor Roll three times.

“We are going to have some long-lasting identities and elements that we’ll be carrying on because of what Shamir has brought to our program and our community,” Kraus continued. “He’s as good of a person that you’re going to meet.”

Johnson is expected to be a key player for the SkyHawks this season, providing veteran leadership and experience on the floor. He’s excited for the challenges of playing D1 in general and UConn in particular in his final season of eligibility.

“I’m excited to see what we can do and see where we’re at as a program and as a school,” Johnson said. “And also down the line, when I leave, to see how things shape up. But for now, it’s very exciting and it’s a very cool time for our program and for myself, to be able to play against guys I’ve wanted to play against since I was in middle school.”

“Here he is right now, jumping in to go play UConn in his home state Monday night, after all he’s been through,” Kraus added. “We’re excited to watch him have the opportunity in the season ahead of him.”

Benigni, the New Haven Register Area MVP while at Hamden Hall in 2018-19, had his freshman season at Stonehill cancelled due to the pandemic. He averaged 9.5 points in 13 games last season before sustaining his season-ending injury.

“He’s the true definition of a competitor,” Kraus said. “He’ll go up and go at anybody in front of him, doesn’t matter if it’s UConn, Bentley, Fordham, he’s going to compete and go at you. He’s got a bright, bright future ahead of him.”

That will just have to wait a little while longer as he sits out Monday night against his second-favorite team.

“It’s going to be a little tough sitting on the sidelines, not being out there to fight with my teammates and trying to go to war against a great team,” Benigni noted. “It’s definitely still going to be cool.”