Reinforcements coming for UConn as Mullins, Reed ramp up in tandem with schedule

Tarris Reed, Jr. blocks BYU’s Keba Keita in UConn’s win over Cougars. As Reed returns to full health and Braylon Mullins prepares to debut, Huskies continue to round into top form. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

BOSTON — UConn did just enough to prevail in its first game against a Top 25 opponent Saturday night, fending off seventh-ranked BYU as the Cougars nearly erased a 20-point second-half deficit.

That was the first piece of good news coming out of TD Garden for the No. 3 team in the nation. The next dose of good fortune came after the win, when head coach Dan Hurley revealed that highly touted freshman Braylon Mullins — yet to make his official debut due to an ankle injury suffered in practice last month — was nearing a return to action for the Huskies, whose next contest comes Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion against a fellow Top 5 outfit in fifth-ranked Arizona.

“It’s looking good for Braylon,” Hurley said in his postgame press conference. “Braylon’s progressing nicely, he’s working his way back. We could see him sooner for some of these big games than we originally thought. The guy’s a fast healer.”

Once cleared for action, Mullins will eventually slide into the wing spot presently occupied by Jaylin Stewart. Hurley will likely ease his rookie back into action much as he did with Stephon Castle and Liam McNeeley when each battled their own injuries over the past two seasons, but his excitement over having another potent weapon in his arsenal was palpable.

“Getting him back, I think, is just going to help us space the court better. With Silas (Demary, Jr.) now, we could get paint by driving it, we could get paint in the ball screen game with him hitting a roller because he’s tall, we can get paint because we’ve got great cutters, and we’ve got Solo Ball, we’ve got Jayden Ross, who can shoot the hell out of it, we’ve got (Alex) Karaban. Bray’s gonna be back, so we’ve got a lot of shooting, we’ve got a lot of guys who can get paint, and we’ve got bigs we could throw it to.”

Among the latter is Tarris Reed, Jr., who missed UConn’s opener against New Haven, but has been a dominant force inside in each of the past three games. The Michigan transfer is averaging 20 points, over nine rebounds, and nearly three blocks per game, impressive enough numbers on the surface but even greater considering he, too, is not operating on all cylinders.

“Tarris is still working back, too,” Hurley said. “He did not play up to his level (Saturday), even with 21 and eight. I thought he could have been better. He posted up off the block when he had a physical advantage, when he should have been ducking in deep and just turning and scoring. He posted up off the block, which allowed (BYU) to dig and trap the post. But the ceiling is real high for Tarris. He has a chance to be one of the best centers in the country the whole year, and he’s still working his way back from the hamstring, so he’s gonna keep getting better and better.”

“He’s probably at about 80 percent. Just physically, just returning from the hamstring, he hasn’t had the practice reps. He’s not as totally sharp as he’s going to be right now. He’s nitpicking a 21 and eight game where he was a pretty dominant player, but he’s one of the most talented big guys in the country, and he’s going to get a lot sharper and a lot better as the year goes on.”

The Huskies as a whole may very well do the same. Hurley notoriously did not schedule a multi-team event on the non-conference ledger this season, partly because of the infamous Maui Invitational collapse last year, but also because he wants to challenge his program organically and have a greater control over the types of opponent and styles of play UConn will face this season. Arizona, with Illinois, Kansas, Florida and Texas soon to follow, fits that script.

“I’m just so excited to be able to play these caliber games and be tested by these types of teams,” he said, candidly. “We give people fun games to watch. In November, when you fight for attention in college basketball, to be able to give fans a game like that, bringing AJ (Dybantsa) home and having a game that went down to the wire, and Wednesday night, who better to start the year than Arizona? They beat Florida, they went into Los Angeles and beat UCLA, so that’s just another Top 5 matchup on Wednesday night.”