Triple-double the latest sign of Demary’s evolution as UConn’s point guard

Silas Demary, Jr. added his name to UConn history books Sunday with first career triple-double in Huskies’ win over Bryant. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

HARTFORD, Conn. – For Dan Hurley and the UConn coaching staff, Silas Demary, Jr. represented a return to the “big point guard” model that won two national championships with Tristen Newton in 2023 and 2024.

When Demary committed to the program in April, he invoked Newton’s name, along with those of other all-time great Husky point guards. He saw Newton’s success, his number hanging on the wall at Gampel Pavilion, and wanted to be next.

On Sunday night, he reiterated that point.

“Kemba (Walker), Shabazz (Napier), Tristen, those were guys that made plays,” Demary said. “They were winners.”

If last Saturday’s 21-point performance against BYU represents the first rung on that ladder, then Sunday’s triple-double against Bryant – 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists – is the second. Demary is a quarter of the way to Newton’s program record of four triple-doubles, but most importantly, he led the Huskies to a 72-49 win over the Bulldogs.

“The last time we had a guy who was getting triple-doubles,” Hurley said, “the season went great.”

That’s not an accident. Even long before Hurley won national championships at UConn, his teams dominated the glass and played with physicality. He had elite rebounding guards – not only Newton – but the Huskies lost that physical identity from their guards last year on the defensive end.

Demary is the antidote.

“(Newton) was one of the big parts of my recruiting process,” Demary said. “Seeing the jump he made from being at (East Carolina) to then being at UConn, I feel like I’m kind of on the same trajectory.”

Despite his playmaking skill and strong positional size for a point guard, Demary said this is the first time he’s had a triple-double at any level. It represents a shift in his role and his mentality coming to the Husky program. He’s UConn’s play driver, getting two feet in the paint and looking to both pass and score in a similar way to Newton. The Huskies put the ball in his hands, and make him react to the way that the defense guards him.

“We need him to be a quarterback,” Hurley said. “There’s going to be nights where we need him to go for 20-plus because that’s what the defense dictates, and there’s going to be nights where he gets guarded a different way and there are different advantages on the court. That was the type of growth you saw in (Newton) where he just didn’t go into a game with any type of particular mindset, he allowed the defense to dictate it. But the defense was always there, the rebounding was always there.”

Demary only took eight field goal attempts, making just two, but he found ways to impact the game without taking shots. Although the Huskies shot 5-for-25 as a team from three, they generated plenty of open looks, and Demary’s gravity was a major reason for that.

Jayden Ross, who was a freshman on the 2024 national championship team with Newton, sees the similarities.

“When you take the court with both of those guys,” Ross said, “you feel super confident and super comfortable in the fact that you’re going to compete at a high level with a great player that’s going to make all the right decisions.”

Looking up at the scoreboard, Demary knew that he had a chance for a triple-double in the first half, when he had four points, six rebounds, and six assists. But he continued to play within the flow of the game. Demary could have had the triple-double much earlier if he didn’t miss a few layups and the Husky shooters didn’t miss a plethora of open looks themselves, but it was going to come down to the wire.

“He could’ve had a triple-double of like, 17 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists,” Hurley said.

Nearing the final media timeout, Demary won an impressive offensive rebound, drawing a foul as he leaped over the pack to tap the ball toward the basket. It was his tenth rebound, and sent him to the foul line for two free throws with a chance for his tenth point. He made both free throws, and needed just one more assist.

Hurley wanted to take him out of the game, but decided to give him 30 seconds to notch the final assist. And with a pass to freshman big man Eric Reibe for a slam dunk, the crowd erupted.

Call it a cheap triple-double. Call it whatever you want. But to have a statline like that on what was, for the team, a moderately disappointing performance, shows how scary this can look when things click.