UConn should consider switch on defense

STORRS — Zone defense really isn’t in Dan Hurley’s DNA.

Passed down from his Hall of Fame high school coach father, Bob Sr., Hurley likes playing zone about as much as he enjoys playing golf. He rarely does either.

Unfortunately for Hurley, his UConn men’s basketball team doesn’t seem to enjoy playing man-to-man defense a whole lot, either. At least for the past few weeks.

And so, after watching Xavier slice and dice through his team’s defense for 20 minutes on Wednesday night, driving to the hoop with ease while also knocking down five of 11 3-pointers, Hurley had the Huskies play zone almost exclusively in the second half.

“If we would have stayed in man,” Hurley reasoned, “they might have shot 70 percent.”

UConn rallied back from what had been a 17point first-half deficit and got to within a single point four different times in the latter half before falling to Xavier 82-79. The comeback was helped by full-court pressure defense the Huskies employed for much of the half. When UConn began applying pressure about four minutes into the half, it quickly resulted in a steal by Adama Sanogo that led to a 3-on-1 break.

Fittingly on this night, however, that break was thwarted when Andre Jackson tossed up a lob pass to Sanogo, whose vertical will never be confused with Stanley Robinson’s (or Jackson’s). Sanogo missed the dunk.

Ultimately, UConn’s press was effective, helping to turn the Musketeers over 10 times over the final 20 minutes. Playing significant fullcourt pressure requires some depth, and UConn certainly has plenty of

Jessica Hill/Associated Press Xavier’s Colby Jones is guarded by UConn’s Jordan Hawkins, left, Alex Karaban, center, and Adama Sanogo, right, in the first half on Wednesday in Storrs.