Diarra wins Big East Sixth Man of the Year
Hassan Diarra trusted the Uconn coaches, put in the work and has seen it pay off.
The senior guard earned the Big East Sixth Man Award for his efforts off the bench after an offseason spent working on his jump shot, shortening it up, reducing some of the arc.
He shot over 30% from 3-point range in both of his years at Texas A&M, but saw that number dip below 20% when he joined the Huskies last season. This year, with his minutes upped to 19.2 per game as the first backcourt player off the bench, Diarra shot a careerbest 38% from deep, adding another layer to his defensefirst game.
The Big East’s end-of-season awards are voted on by the league’s coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.
Diarra’s credited his improvement across the board to “just staying consistent, following the coaching, being coachable. And just coming in each and every day and working. That’s it, putting in the work and going out there and producing,” he said before he was honored on Senior Day.
“You just get back to the drawing board, back to the gym, focus on your mechanics. Coach (Dan Hurley) has helped me a lot, he told me that I’m shooting the ball too high, I’ve got a lot of arc on my shot and I just needed to shorten it up. That’s exactly what I did, so I appreciate him for that.”
Diarra typically draws the assignment of guarding the opponent’s best player as soon as he enters the game. The 6-foot-2 guard from Queens has made a career-high 12 blocks this year and 28 steals while averaging 5.9 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
He is the first Uconn player to win the Sixth Man Award
since Tyler Polley in the 2020-21 season.
“We wouldn’t be here in this position without Hass taking the big jump and becoming a vital cog here,” Hurley said before the Huskiesclinchedtheoutright Big East regular season title. “Aplayerthatwhenhechecks in, a fan favorite, they love to watch him play, they love whathebringstothetablefor this team… We thought Hass would be the perfect Big East guard and he’s been huge for us this year.”
Diarra regularly brings influx of energy for the reigning national champions, often scoring baskets in a flurry, crashing the offensive glass – where he had a career high 26 offensive rebounds this year. His best game came in a 14-point effort as the Huskies rolled to a 28-point win at home against Marquette Feb. 17. Diarra played 27 minutes in that one and shot 4-for-9 from the field, 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, with six assists, five rebounds and three steals.
Also announced Monday, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner joined Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning as the only players to ever win Big East Defensive Player of the Year three times. Xavier’s Desmond Claude, a New Haven native, was named Most Improved Player and Creighton’s Steven Ashworth claimed the Sportsmanship Award.
The Big East, which announced its all-conference teams on Sunday, will reveal its Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Scholar-athlete at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Uconn’s Big East Tournament run begins in the quarterfinal at noon on Thursday, when the top-seeded Huskies will meet the winner of Wednesday’s first round matchup between eighth-seeded Butler and ninth-seeded Xavier.