Changes may be in store for UConn
Rinse, lather, repeat. Another disappointing American Athletic Conference opener. Another ugly loss at Cincinnati. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Dan Hurley came out of Wednesday night’s 6751 loss at Fifth Third Arena looking for answers and pointing fingers, including at himself.
“I’ve got to look at everything right now,” he said. “We’re gonna be on the road here a couple of days, and we’ve got some decisions to make. I’ve got to coach better. Everyone’s got to show up better than that. That’s never acceptable.”
Everything is in play for the Huskies, who flew out of Cincinnati to Tampa on Thursday morning to begin preparing for Saturday’s bout with South Florida.
Here are five things we learned from the Cincinnati loss, and what could be ahead for the Huskies: CHCHCHCHCHCHANGES: UConn has had the same starting lineup — Christian Vital, Alterique Gilbert, Tyler Polley, Akok Akok and Josh Carl
ton — for all 13 games this season. Consistency is a good thing, but Hurley opened the door for changes.
The question is, who sits and who starts? It feels like Hurley has been waiting for a chance to throw talented freshman guard James Bouknight into the starting five, but who does he replace? Alterique Gilbert continued to struggle with a subpar game at Cincinnati, but Bouknight isn’t a pure point gaurd. Vital is one of the few Huskies to play hard every minute.
The likely candidate would be Tyler Polley, who is one of the league’s best 3point shooters but is somewhat limited in all other aspects. He went scoreless on Wednesday and didn’t play much in the second half as Bouknight played for long stretches and finished with 10 points.
Of course, the two most deserving players to be benched right now are Gilbert and Carlton, who has really struggled
“He’s in a funk,” Hurley said of Carlton, the 6foot10 junior center. “It’s my job to get him out of it, and it’s his job to battle, and compete and pull himself out of it.”
The Huskies don’t seem to have viable alternatives at point guard and center, respectively. At least not yet. Freshman Jalen Gaffney has been better, but doesn’t appear ready to start at the point, and Brendan Adams (who legit deserves starters’ minutes) isn’t a true point guard. Meanwhile, backup center Isaiah Whaley is extremely limited in what he can contribute.
“There are plays that happened on the court that, with this group, the leash is gonna be a lot shorter, with plays that aren’t conducive to us building the type of play, the type of mindset, the type of culture that we want to put together,” Hurley said after Wednesday’s loss. “There were a lot of things I didn’t like — not just Tyler, across the board. Which gets you thinking that you need to shake things up a little bit, because that was brutal today, and embarrassing for anyone associated with UConn. Everything’s in play.”
EGOS, MORALE ARE FACTORS: It’s a tough spot for Hurley, who has to balance egos and team morale when considering changes in starting lineups and roles. A guy like Gilbert is supremely respected by his teammates, and sitting him or curbing his minutes could be unpopular in the locker room. Maybe Hurley shouldn’t care about that, but that’s easy to say when you’re not dealing with the players every day.
Maybe it’s not quite time for any drastic changes. The Huskies had played pretty well the past few weeks, albeit mostly against lowlevel competition. If they’re going to pop a pretty good South Florida team on the road on Saturday, they’ll need the veterans. After that, it’s a fairly soft landing against Tulane — which didn’t win a single league game last season — on Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion. If things still aren’t going right, maybe that’s when Hurley starts making some drastic lineup changes.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF SID WIL
SON: One ego Hurley doesn’t seem worried about upsetting is Sid Wilson. The redshirt sophomore forward didn’t play at all against Cincinnati, or two games earlier against New Hampshire. He’s clearly out of Hurley’s favor, though the coach hasn’t specifically stated any reason why.
Wilson is hardly the answer, but he’s athletic and can infuse energy off the bench. It’s odd that he’s gone from about 13 minutes per game to zero, just like that. And with Carlton struggling and Isaiah Whaley limited in his abilities — and both in foul trouble Wednesday night — it’s hard to believe Wilson couldn’t have been an option against Cincinnati.
Hurley has never run a player off a team, but perhaps he’s hinting to Wilson — who already had to sit out a season two years ago after transferring from St. John’s — that the pastures may be greener elsewhere. Of course, it appeared Hurley was dropping that hint to Whaley last season, but Whaley is now getting good minutes as the backup center.
AKOK IS AOK: The one player who will absolutely remain in the starting lineup is freshman forward Akok Akok. His hustle and enthusiasm is apparent — if not always contagious — and his contributions as a shotblocker and rebounder have been terrific.
The only question is if Hurley goes for a complete overhaul in the team’s current style and philosophy and decides to move Akok to the five and surround him with four guards. That would seem to be extreme for right now, but maybe an option for the near future.
MATCHUP PROBLEM: It’s worth noting that this could all be an overreaction to a loss to a team the Huskies simply don’t match up well against. The Huskies had no answer for 7foot1 center Chris Vogt, tough forward Tre Scott or even Vogt’s 7foot backup, Jay Sorolla. Not every team will have the size and physicality of the Bearcats. That’s not a great excuse — UConn has to figure out a plan against such big, physical teams — but let’s see what happens Saturday at USF.