UConn passes first major test, shows positives for future

Silas Demary, Jr. exults after game-saving steal in final seconds allowed UConn survive late rally from BYU. (Photo by UConn Men’s Basketball)

BOSTON — Prior to Saturday, UConn’s last trip to Boston resulted in a run for the ages and an emphatic statement on the way to a sixth national championship.

Its latest journey into a locale affectionately dubbed Storrs North looked headed to a similar conclusion for most of the night, but a challenge from the potential first overall pick in next year’s NBA Draft made a Top 10 clash too close for comfort at the final buzzer.

UConn got to the wire first Saturday, as the third-ranked Huskies held off BYU, the No. 7 team in the nation, escaping TD Garden with an 86-84 victory after leading by as many as 20 points early in the second half before freshman prodigy AJ Dybantsa scored 21 of his 25 points after halftime for the Cougars.

In their first major test of the season after blowout wins over New Haven, UMass Lowell and Columbia, some questioned whether the Huskies would be able to withstand the explosiveness of Dybantsa and Richie Saunders, BYU’s wing combination that Dan Hurley deemed the best in the country. And as the Cougars slowly whittled away at their deficit once they found a rhythm on offense, was UConn rattled — maybe even worried? — by its opponent?

Not so, said Alex Karaban.

“I wouldn’t say there was worry,” the senior forward, one of three Huskies with 21 points in the winning cause, said. “We just had to stay composed and just battle through the adversity. This adversity’s going to help us out later in the season, but this was a great learning experience.”

“In those huddles, we were just communicating more so about how we could be better and not be worried,” Silas Demary, Jr. reiterated. “It’s making me a better player. Honestly, we just stayed tight and composed, and just did what we needed to do to get the win.”

The dynamic between Demary and Hurley entered the spotlight leading up to Saturday’s game, with the coach calling his relationship with the Georgia transfer “contentious” when in reality, he is coaching Demary harder due to the demands of the point guard position, particularly within UConn’s style of play. Demary responded well Saturday, impacting the game on both ends and reinforcing a piece of the puzzle that — no disrespect to Hassan Diarra — was lacking on last year’s roster.

“I think it’s very comforting to know just kind of what we have at that position this year,” Hurley shared. “It’s potentially high level, and as a two-way player too. (Demary) can really guard, and you see the element he brings to our offense just being able to play off script and just attack. Not everything has to be manufactured through actions and execution, he’s a guy who could just go make a play.”

“That’s just exactly what we need at that position, plus the guy’s a ball hawk too. He obviously showed that he was clutch and was able to get to the free throw line and get pressure on the rim. That’s something we didn’t have last year, a guy that can get to the rim, get in the paint, finish, get to the free throw line. I think (Demary) is gonna get better and better, and we needed that from him.”

Demary’s clutch gene came into play in the final seconds of regulation, when he sprang into action on the defensive end. After a Dawson Baker three brought BYU within two points, and Tarris Reed, Jr. split a pair of ensuing free throws, the Cougars had a chance to tie the game and force overtime. Demary knew Dybantsa would likely be the target for BYU point guard Rob Wright, and thus trailed the sophomore with teammate Malachi Smith acting as a help defender. Demary forced a deflection, stripped Wright and got the ball to Smith, who was promptly fouled in the Cougars’ last-ditch effort to extend the game.

“I knew they were trying to get AJ the ball,” Demary recounted. “That time I was guarding him, I was like, ‘they gotta go to him, that’s their go-to guy, he’s hot.’ So I just blew that up and I saw Rob try to turn the corner and we had to jump and swipe back to the gap. That’s just what I did, turn the ball over and made a big-time steal. And we got out of there with a win.”

The win comes in the first game of UConn’s de facto non-league gauntlet, an eight-game stretch with six power conference opponents such as Arizona, Illinois, Kansas and reigning national champion Florida. Hurley admitted his group did not look perfect Saturday, but no longer feels that its defense — last season’s Achilles heel for the Huskies — is a repellent the way it was during the program’s chase of a third consecutive national championship.

“I think we’re a much better defensive team,” he said. “(BYU) obviously closed the game on a heck of a run, but when you’ve got Saunders, Wright and Dybantsa, that’s some serious firepower. I thought we looked like an awesome team for 25 minutes. Obviously the last 15 minutes, we just kind of hung on, we weren’t very good against pressure and lost the integrity of the ball.”

“There’s things we gotta fix. We’re still at the experimental stage of some stuff that we’re running and shit that we gotta get rid of. But I think the group’s got the potential to where the defense won’t hold us back from winning a championship this year.”

Just minutes earlier, Karaban echoed a similar point, highlighting the fight he and his teammates emerged victorious from as a potentially resonant touchstone later in the season.

“One through 15, I believe we’ve got the best roster in college basketball,” he declared. “Just using these experiences I’ve had since my freshman year, I’m just trying to be more of a vocal leader and continue to lead these guys the right way. I think this team’s potential is through the roof and we could reach all our goals if we just lock in every single day.”