UConn beats DePaul, but Hurley acknowledges need to improve offensively and mentally

Silas Demary, Jr. (2) contests a shot in UConn’s win over DePaul Saturday. Demary’s aggressiveness has earned plaudits, but Dan Hurley wants more toughness from Huskies as a whole. (Photo by Jessica Hill/Associated Press)

HARTFORD, Conn. — UConn had a short turnaround Saturday when it welcomed DePaul into PeoplesBank Arena, a recalibration made even shorter after the nature of Wednesday’s emotional overtime comeback against Providence.

The nation’s fourth-ranked team handled its affairs comfortably, scoring a 72-60 victory over the Blue Demons, and could very well move up to No. 3 in the polls on Monday after previously undefeated Michigan lost to Wisconsin. But despite the momentum and possible upward mobility from a big-picture perspective, Dan Hurley pointed out a glaring concern after a game he felt his team could have won by more than it did.

“I think we’re leaving points on the table,” he intimated. “We easily could have shot 56, 57 percent from the field today. We missed bunnies, I thought we missed open threes, but credit DePaul. Those guys play hard.”

“This game was on top of us really quick. I was worried about overall flatness, lack of energy with the group. I actually thought we handled things pretty well, because that’s not the DePaul that’s rolled in here that you’ve seen in recent memory. We guarded at a high level in the first half, but obviously, it’s a game we could have won by 20-25.”

UConn’s offensive efficiency, presently a respectable 22nd in the nation according to KenPom, is the lowest that figure has measured since the 2021-22 season, when a now-infamous NCAA Tournament loss to New Mexico State prompted Hurley and his staff to reassess the state of the program and ignite the spark that led to consecutive national championships. On a much more refined scale, the coach echoed a similar refrain, but cited the tradeoff in reaffirming the Huskies’ staunch defense as an explanation for the slight regression.

“I think what we tried to do, because our defense sucked so bad last year, was we really tried to focus on shoring that end of the court up,” Hurley said. “I do think that there’s a lot of room for growth.”

“The thing with all of our players, what these guys have gotta be able to do offensively, is just be efficient. You’re not gonna get 16, 17, 18 shots to find a rhythm. We’ve got too many weapons on offense, so these guys have just gotta figure out a way to be efficient. Some nights, it’s not gonna be your night. When you look at shot distribution for the team, our best players are only gonna get 10-11, maybe 12 shots on a night. On some nights, you may get six. I remember when Cam Spencer played here, there were games when he took three. So on nights like that, when you’re playing such a talented team, you’ve gotta do other things. You’ve gotta guard, you’ve gotta rebound, you’ve gotta playmake.”

One player who has done that has been Silas Demary, Jr., the Georgia transfer who has blossomed into a two-way attacker in his first year at UConn. Demary scored 14 points in Saturday’s win, but supplemented the offense with four assists and three steals, stuffing the stat sheet and again serving as the catalyst for the Huskies.

“I’d probably just say being more aggressive,” the junior said when asked what may have sparked his resurgence. “I’m just picking and choosing my spots, mixing up whether I’m coming off as a scorer or a playmaker. Coach is just telling me to be aggressive. I think when I’m aggressive, it opens up a lot more things and when I’m assertive, my reads are clearer.”

“You’re seeing it go up,” Hurley echoed. “There’s all these different things that go into your offensive efficiency that don’t actually have anything to do with what you’re doing in the half-court in terms of scoring off of something you’re running.”

Still, for the bright spots that do reveal themselves, several glaring flaws have become noticeable enough for Hurley to be somewhat alarmed.

“We don’t offensive rebound the way we need to,” he diagnosed. “We turn the ball over at a rate that is way too high, we’re not getting out in transition enough. We’re not as efficient as we need to be. The reason why we were where we were in ’24 was because there was a huge offensive rebounding component to us having the best offense. This team has not shown that dog, that wolf mentality when shots go up, that they’re gonna crash the glass.”

“Cam Spencer was an excellent offensive rebounder. Steph Castle was an excellent offensive rebounder. Tristen Newton was an excellent offensive rebounder on the perimeter, he had (Alex Karaban) and Donovan (Clingan). Our perimeter people are not offensive rebounding as well as they should, and neither is Tarris (Reed, Jr.).”

Alex Karaban cited some of the fundamentals in a crisper offense Saturday, stating he and his teammates need to be sharper and not as reliant on the physicality that has become a staple for most Hurley teams to win games.

“We’ve gotta do a better job of creating space and getting open, and really using that as an advantage for ourselves and a disadvantage for them,” he admitted. “We’ve seen it throughout the entire year, we’re used to it. We’re just gonna continue to fight through it, and we’ve found ways to beat it.”

Next up for UConn is a battle with Seton Hall in New Jersey Tuesday night. The Huskies have not defeated the Pirates on their home floor since 2021, and will need to match the toughness that has propelled Shaheen Holloway’s group to the precipice of the Top 25. Almost halfway through the Big East slate, Hurley knows that even if the inevitable comparisons to his juggernaut of two seasons prior cannot be fully justified, his current outfit still needs to tighten the screws from a mentality standpoint as well.

“I don’t know that this is like the ’24 team, where we were just a destroyer, just a devastating machine,” he said. “But this group, we’ve got some really nice guys in there. I don’t necessarily think they’re coming into every game with a seek and destroy mentality, I don’t think they’re built like that. But we need these guys to develop more of a killer instinct.”