By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)
STORRS, Conn. — Most teams around the country treat their opening night just like any other game.
Players go through warmups and drills pregame. Starting lineups get announced. The game tips off. Sometimes, there may be an added extracurricular ceremony to honor a tournament appearance or regular season conference title.
That’s not the case in Storrs, Connecticut. The “Basketball Capital of the World” celebrates championships. National championships. For the second straight year, opening night was banner night for UConn after the Huskies blew out Purdue for the title last April in Phoenix.
“The banner reveal was pretty cool, but I just wanted to go into the locker room,” Dan Hurley said. “I was ready for the game.”
After watching the program’s sixth national championship banner get unveiled in the rafters, the Huskies took care of business on the court, defeating in-state foe and new MAAC addition Sacred Heart, 92-56, at Gampel Pavilion.
“Andrea was excited to get me out of the house this morning,” Hurley joked. “I do think that this team through the first six weeks, maybe two months of the year, isn’t going to look as good as the team last year.”
Losing so much talent and depth from a year ago, there were legitimate concerns about where the production would come from with just one starter—Alex Karaban—returning. The redshirt junior started off his first season as the top dog on the squad by stuffing the stat sheet with 20 points, six rebounds, seven assists and seven blocks.
“Alex played like an All-American, he played like a Big East Player of the Year type,” Hurley said. “You should be efficient like that in a game like this.”
“I thought we did a great job,” Karaban added. “It's a great starting point for us with many things to improve on.”
Karaban led the team on the offensive end, but perhaps more surprisingly, the defensive end as well. The seven blocks were by far a personal best, as he never blocked more than three in any contest before Wednesday. He also had a career-high seven assists, finding open teammates and making the extra pass all night long.
“I was roommates with Donovan Clingan for the past two years,” Karaban joked. “When you’re roommates with Donovan Clingan, you learn a thing or two.”
After Karaban, it is widely expected that sophomore Solo Ball is going to take that next step in year two. Many project a similar sophomore guard leap that James Bouknight and Jordan Hawkins had under Hurley. Well, Ball started off just where people expected him to, scoring a career-high 16 points.
“He flashed as a freshman where we could bet he’s gonna be a 12-13 (point) a game scorer for us,” Hurley said of Ball. “He’s gonna have games where he makes five, six threes. He’s a safe bet to have a breakout year.”
The third Husky expected to make up a bulk of the scoring with Karaban and Ball is freshman Liam McNeeley. The five-star wing from Texas showed out in his Husky debut, scoring a game-high 18 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for the first double-double of his young career.
“He did what we needed him to do,” Hurley said of McNeeley. “It was good to see him take charge on the defensive glass.”
Late in the second half, Karaban set McNeeley up with a transition three that forced Sacred Heart head coach Anthony Latina to call timeout, sending Gampel into a frenzy.
“Basketball is what gives me life,” McNeeley said. “Being able to play is what I live for.”
The Pioneers kept things close early, but ultimately couldn’t match the talent of the Huskies, especially inside. The tandem of Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed gave Sacred Heart (0-2) different looks all night. Reed had the better night with 15 points and 11 rebounds, also notching his first double-double in his UConn debut. Johnson finished with nine points, but fouled out in just 16 minutes.
“Tarris is a huge X-factor in the year,” Hurley said. “You see the physical ability. He can do things for us that Adama (Sanogo) did for us.”
“I’m thankful for Coach Hurley to choose me to play for this team,” Reed said. “We all went out there and balled.”
Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney got the starting nod over veteran Hassan Diarra and didn’t have a memorable night, going scoreless. The California native didn’t necessarily play poorly, he just didn’t get a lot of looks in the offense, only attempting three field goals.
“We’re trying to figure out how we want to start games,” Hurley said. “Jayden Ross would have started this game if he was available.”
The sophomore Ross has been raved about by Hurley all offseason. He suffered an ankle injury in practice last week and was held out of the opener. Diarra, on the other hand, had a typical Hassan Diarra night, bringing great energy off the bench while chipping in five points and six assists. The playmaking for the Huskies was also on another level, with assists on 25 of the 32 field goals.
“Any time you see that number in the twenties, you feel good about it,” Hurley said.
There were some sloppy times for the Huskies protecting the basketball, turning it over 13 times. Hurley chalked it up to just “opening night shit.”
The other two freshmen for Hurley made impacts in the late minutes of the victory. Ahmad Nowell showed off his physicality in his eight minutes, scoring four points, and Isaiah Abraham knocked down a corner three for his first collegiate points.
Even in defeat, the Pioneers had some bright spots. Amiri Stewart scored a team-high 13 points off the bench and Bryce Johnson was also in double figures with 10.
“For us to be good, we have to be more like UConn,” Latina said.
The Huskies are back in action on Saturday when they host New Hampshire at the XL Center in Hartford, while Sacred Heart is on the road Saturday against Dartmouth.
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