UConn passes non-conference gauntlet at 10-1, yet still has room to grow in conference play

Alex Karaban led UConn with 18 points as Huskies held off Texas in non-conference finale. (Photo by The Boston Globe)

By Sam Federman (@Sam_Federman)

HARTFORD, Conn. — For the second consecutive December, the UConn Huskies defeated a Sean Miller-led team at PeoplesBank Arena.

After UConn took down Texas in Hartford on Friday night, the Huskies improved to 10-1, closing out the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Dan Hurley built one of the nation’s most difficult non-conference schedules, shunning marquee multi-team events to schedule his own games — neutral, home, and away — against some of the nation’s premier programs. UConn defeated Illinois and Florida at Madison Square Garden, BYU at TD Garden, and Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, in addition to the win over Texas. The only blemish is a four-point loss at Gampel Pavilion to now-No. 1 Arizona without two key players. With that in mind, there are a variety of categories where UConn should be able to improve by the time the NCAA Tournament comes around, even if the bulk of its resume is already set.

Braylon Mullins made his Husky debut in the middle of that stretch. He didn’t have a runway with any buy games like the rest of this team. It was right in there at MSG against the Fighting Illini.

“Since he came on campus, he’s been a bucket,” Alex Karaban said. “He’s been super impressive. For him to get thrown in the fire against Illinois and at Kansas and really didn’t have time to adjust as a freshman. Those were super hard games for anyone to play in, and for him to do it as a freshman, and stay composed, and adjust on the fly, it’s a credit to him and the coaching staff. There’s no real surprise. He’s been doing this since the summer.”

Over the last two games, his confidence has begun to shine through. Making his first career start Friday, Mullins began the game by draining a three from the left wing, then getting the friendly roll on a tough jumper from the right side.

He’s one of the most talented scorers in the Big East thanks to his lightning release and ability to hit shots from all angles. He made another tough shot – a shot that nobody should even be taking – in the second half. Mullins finished with ten points, but it’s coming off-script, according to Hurley. There are ways he can be even scarier as a scorer as the season develops.

“I don’t think he quite understands exactly some of the movement stuff,” Hurley said. “He’s missed so much time, I think he’s just gonna become so much more dangerous. He doesn’t really even know how to get his stuff within the confines of the things we’re running yet.”

Mullins isn’t the only one that Hurley thinks he can run more offense for. He went as far as saying he’s running too much for Solo Ball, Karaban, and post-ups, whether it’s Tarris Reed, Jr. or Eric Reibe. Jaylin Stewart played just 18 minutes, his lowest total of the season, as Mullins got the start over him, but he found his flow in the offense.

Hurley thinks it’s time to have the offense flow through him a little bit more.

“He’s a guy that can make threes, but I like when he tries to drive it,” Hurley said. “I like when he goes to the mid-post. I think we have to do a better job of running things for him when he’s in there. He’s a really good offensive player and he’s a guy who’s gonna play starter minutes, whether he starts games or not.”

That may be part of the reason why UConn’s offense stagnated in the second half. After scoring 1.43 points per possession in the opening frame, the Huskies dropped that number all the way down to 0.82 in the final 20.

It took a miracle heave by Ball – that Sean Miller blamed on his team not contesting, claiming it was in fact, not a miracle – and the ensuing three by Karaban to finally give the team the separation it required.

But through it all, UConn has survived and won single-digit games against four of the top 50 teams in the sport, including three of the top 15. That was something that the program struggled with for the first few years of Hurley’s tenure, but as they’ve grown into champions, the noise around that has quieted.

Now, it’s something that other programs want to model.

“There were about three or four plays that happened in that sequence,” Sean Miller said. “Which they made, and that’s what champions do. Unfortunately, on our end, we really didn’t. I think that’s what you call learning how to win.”