McNeeley’s growth evident as Huskies win third straight to start season

Liam McNeeley celebrates after 3-pointer as UConn made short work of Le Moyne Wednesday. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

By Connor Wilson (@Conman_815)

HARTFORD, Conn. — Getting run as a freshman at UConn isn’t always a guarantee.

Dan Hurley had his “fab five” class last season, but only two were in the rotation and just one, Stephon Castle, played more than 12 minutes per game. The year before gets an exception, with Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan both major contributors to the 2023 title, but before that, only one of the three freshmen was in the rotation in 2022.

For one freshman in 2024-25, the guarantee is there.

Liam McNeeley committed to UConn in April after decommitting from Mike Woodson and Indiana. The five-star forward has been as advertised for Hurley and the Huskies through three games, showcasing great maturity and poise that not many freshmen have. McNeeley was the star on Wednesday in UConn’s 90-49 win over Le Moyne, finishing with 15 points and showing flashes of leadership on and off the court.

“I liked Liam’s approach today, I think it was his best approach,” Hurley said. “I don’t think he hunted on offense, he let the plays come to him. I thought he played with great patience today.”

“There were a bunch of times during the game where I just took a step to the left and I was open,” McNeeley said. “Credit to our offense and Coach Hurley.”

Outside of McNeeley, it was yet another All-American type performance from Karaban, who finished with 17 points and three triples. Solo Ball had a second half outburst that had him score all 12 of his points in the final 20 minutes. Tarris Reed, Jr.  put up his second double-double of the season, with 12 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

“Tarris has big upside,” Hurley said. “You can see that tandem (with Samson Johnson) has enough for us to reach our goals this year.”

“He’s a huge piece for us this year,” Karaban said about Reed. “He’s continuing to learn, continuing to develop. It’s going to be scary to see him as the season goes on.”

Johnson did a much better job of staying out of foul trouble, despite two whistles in the first half that sent him to the bench. He finished with four blocks and, for the first time all season, defended without those silly mishaps he’s been prone to.

The chemistry showcased in the second half looked a lot like the Husky teams we’ve been used to over the past couple years. Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross combined for nine assists off the bench and each were the beneficiary of an alley-oop flush.

“Those guys are all gonna get better,” Hurley said. “J-Stew didn’t score much tonight, but he had five assists and defended very well.”

Stewart only had two points, but Ross had eight points and seven rebounds to go along with his assists. Hassan Diarra had his best game of the season as well. The super senior scored 10 points off the bench and dished out six assists, all while looking very confident as the lead facilitator.

“I do the same thing each and every day, I want to bring the spark and energy,” Diarra said. “The offense is going to continue to get better and better every game.”

“If you want to win championships, you need to have people like Hass,” Karaban added.

The early portion of the first half looked similar to the first half against New Hampshire on Saturday. If you don’t remember how that went, it wasn’t great, with lots of missed shots on good looks and silly turnovers.

“There’s some adjustment that we have to make,” Hurley said. “I probably wish we were playing Saturday and Sunday, but that’s how the schedule fell.”

The second half was all about the sophomores. Ball had a personal 8-0 run with a pair of 3-pointers and a fast-break slam sandwiched in the middle of them. Ross had the best dunk of the season by a Husky, with a breakaway slam late in the game over a Le Moyne defender. Stewart made the extra pass on numerous occasions to set up his teammates for success. It also wouldn’t be a UConn non-conference win without the mandatory points from Ahmad Nowell and Isaiah Abraham in the waning minutes. The two freshmen each knocked down triples to put the exclamation point on the 41-point win.

As Hurley noted, UConn is off until Tuesday, when the Huskies host East Texas A&M, much better known as Texas A&M Commerce before the school changed its name earlier this month. That game is back in Storrs at Gampel Pavilion, and Karaban has one request for Huskies fans:

“Sell out the games! Gampel and XL, please!”

Your move, UConn fans.