The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)

Huskies set to begin life without Adams

- By David Borges

MEMPHIS — UConn begins life without Jalen Adams — at least for the next month — on Sunday, but we’ve already had a sneak preview of what it could look like over the past two games.

On Feb. 3 in Hartford against East Carolina, Adams — scoreless to that point — was pulled from the game two minutes into the second half. The Huskies turned a six-point lead into a 24-point rout. UConn played better over the final 18 minutes with its leading scorer and best player watching from the bench.

Three days later at Temple, Adams suffered a sprained MCL in his left knee just under six minutes into the Huskies’ bout with Temple. UConn trailed 16-10 at the time of Adams’ injury. Temple immediatel­y went on a 12-0 run after Adams left the game, outscored the Huskies 30-10 the remainder of the half and cruised to an 18-point victory that wasn’t really that close. UConn was much worse — disoriente­d, rudderless — with its leading scorer and best player in the locker room.

And so, with Adams sidelined for next next 4-6 weeks, which UConn team shots up on Sunday when it faces Memphis at FedExForum (2 p.m., CBS Sports Network)?

Early reports aren’t promising.

“It’s gonna be tough, real tough ,” said freshman Brendan Adams (no relation), who will be one of several player who need to

step up their game. “Jalen’s one of our best players, he probably has on of the biggest impacts on the court. Off the court, he’s one of our emotional leaders. Without him, a lot of people are gonna have to step up on the court, and in the locker room, as well.”

Add in the fact that UConn (13-10, 4-6 AAC) will also likely be without point guard Alterique Gilbert (shoulder) for a fourth straight game, and the Huskies could be walking into a hornet’s nest on Sunday. Coach Dan Hurley said the it’s been “pretty somber” around the team the past couple of days.

“It hurts,” Hurley admitted. “Our margins were razor-thin this year to begin with. You take away our two best players and it’s a little unnerving, just based on what this group’s been through the last couple of years. That compounds the issue and eats away at the confidence. You get the ‘here-we-go-again’ mindset, potentiall­y, from the players. But you really can’t do that at UConn, because everybody wants to beat us. And they especially want to kick us while we’re down, too. And they’re doing that. But, at some point they won’t be doing that anymore.”

Memphis (13-10, 5-5 AAC) has been somewhat of an enigma this season, its first under coach Penny Hardaway. The Tigers have lost three straight, most recently on Wednesday night at home to No. 25 Cincinnati. They boast a 20-point home win over preseason AAC favorite UCF, but also needed two overtimes to beat Yale at home back in November.

But the Tigers boast a bunch of talented (if young) athletes, and they are the top scoring offense (82 points per game) in the league. A tough matchup for a team without its two starting guards, who also happened to be its two best players.

“You see their athletes and it’s a scary thought, just because of their quickness and athletic ability,” said Hurley.

RIM RATTLINGS

⏩ Adams’s Grade 2-plus strain is actually good news, considerin­g how bad it looked when Temple’s J.P. Moorman rolled up on his leg Wednesday night.

“It could have been so much worse,” said Hurley. “Jalen’s got a long profession­al career ahead of him. It would have been devastatin­g for it to be any worse than it was. It was bad enough. We know how badly he wanted to be out there to finish his career the last month, six weeks of the season. So, it was unfortunat­e that way, but it could’ve been a lot worse. When you saw his face initially, it looked like it was gonna be worse. So, I feel good for him. He’ll do a good job rehabbing it and getting back.”

Is it possible he could return this season?

“The knee is a tricky thing, and the timeline is right on schedule with the AAC tournament (which begins March 14),” Hurley noted. “So, is he not gonna be able to run for four or five weeks and then expect him to go into a conference tournament game? I know he’s gonna do everything he can to get himself back out there. It’s important to him how he’s viewed here at UConn, so he’ll push himself to try to get back out there, I know that.”

Adams said he’s not looking that far ahead, just locking in on his rehab with trainer James Doran for now.

“I think if James feels like I’m 100 percent and I feel like I’m 100 percent, I’m more than willing to come back,” he said. “But just really waiting to get to 100 percent. I don’t want to rush back, just thinking on the long side of things.”

⏩ As for Gilbert, he did more in practice any day since he banged his surgically-repaired left shoulder on Jan. 26 against Wichita State. But Hurley said it’s “unlikely” Gilbert will play Sunday.

“I don’t think it’s a bad injury, it was just probably worse than what we originally thought that night. He’s got to deal with that on his timeline, based on everything that he’s been through. It wasn’t an ankle sprain. That’s a pretty traumatizi­ng situation for him. So, we need to support him and be patient.”

⏩ Akok Akok, the 6-foot-9 prospect who joined the team as a walk-on in January but won’t play this season, joined the team on a road trip for the first time this season.

⏩ Hurley will be holding two sessions of boys’ basketball camps on campus this summer.

The camps will emphasize developing and strengthen­ing the basic fundamenta­ls of shooting, dribbling, passing and defense. There will be individual and small group instructio­ns, full-team basketball games as well as 2-vs.-2 and 3-vs.-3 competitio­ns, and lectures and instructio­n by profession­al, college and high school coaches.

The sessions are open to boys entering fourth grade to 12th grade. All campers must be at least 9 years old or entering the fourth grade in September, 2019. There will be two sessions: June 24-27 and Aug. 5-8. The camp will have both overnight and day campers. Overnight campers will stay in dormitorie­s on campus.

To learn more or register for camp, visit https://www.danhurley basketball­camp.com/ or call 860-675-8000.

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