The ‘dog days’
UConn hopes to rely on defense against New Hampshire
Over the first six weeks of the season, UConn has experienced the ups and downs that seemingly every other major program has faced.
There have been highlights — the home win over Florida, the strong play at the Charleston Classic, the emergence of freshmen Akok Akok and James Bouknight. There have been low points — none lower than that howdidthathappen loss to St. Joseph’s on Nov. 13.
Now, the Huskies find themselves in the dog days of December. The American Athletic Conference season is within sight, starting on New Year’s Day in Cincinnati. Bouts with Memphis, Houston, Wichita State are on the horizon, not to mention a Big East taster with former and future league rival Villanova.
Before all that, UConn (73) must get through a twoweek stretch of games against a trio of midmajors in Hartford. The Huskies already got through the first step, beating Saint Peter’s on Wednesday by a 6656 score that really wasn’t that close.
On Sunday comes stage two, when UConn hosts New Hampshire (65) at the XL Center (1 p.m., SNY).
While players will be shooting off in all different directions after the game to celebrate Christmas at home with their families, coach Dan Hurley scoffs at the notion that his team might overlook the Wildcats.
“We don’t have a guy in the program that’s had a winning record in college,” Hurley said. “Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go as a program. We can’t take our foot off the gas in a shootaround or a video session or a practice session, because we’re so far away from where we want to get to right now — never mind gameday, or worrying about flights, or what’s under the Christmas tree. We’ve got a long way to go. We’re so urgent with our preparation right now, regardless of who we’re playing.”
While it’s not entirely
accurate that UConn has no players with winning records (sophomore Brandon Adams and freshmen Akok, Bouknight and Jalen Gaffney have won more than they’ve lost since donning Husky uniforms) his point is welltaken.
The Huskies, who have had three straight losing seasons, are in no position to look past any opponent.
“(Hurley) has the same intensity before the Indiana game that he does before the New Hampshire game,”said Adams. “We’re not looking past anybody, we definitely don’t want to give away a game like this. We just keep the same intensity in practice.”
The Huskies also need to cut down on their recent rash of turnovers. UConn has turned the ball over a whopping 48 times the last two games after taking pretty good care of the ball over its first eight contests.
“It’s more of a function of just trying to do too much, putting yourself into bad situations, driving a gap you shouldn’t drive, playing too fast,” said Hurley. “Once you beat an initial defender, the closer you go to the basket, the more you should slow down and read the defense.”
Added Adams: “I think we’re just playing too loose. We were playing careless with the ball, driving gaps that weren’t there, trying to make big plays instead of simple plays. We’ve just got to play more tight with the ball.”
“Try to get back to, just a couple of games ago, where we were struggling to make shots but were pretty good with the ball,” Hurley continued. “For the last two games, it’s been a major issue. But not too long ago, we were much better with the ball. Obviously, it’s been a major point of emphasis.”
RIM RATTLINGS
Akok Akok currently ranks 10th in the nation averaging 3.2 blocked shots per game. He’s also grabbing 6.2 rebounds per game and his scoring average of 6.0 per game is almost gravy. Still, Hurley feels Akok could and should be a doublefigures scorer, if his guards had hit him on a number of misfired lobs and alleyoops over the first 10 games.
Akok will be going against his hometown school on Sunday. Born in Sudan, the 6foot9 forward has lived in Manchester, N.H. since he was 1.