UConn’s renewed faith and confidence in each other will be biggest key to Huskies’ stretch run

Jaylin Stewart (3) and Jayden Ross (23) defend Villanova’s Matt Hodge in UConn’s win over Wildcats Saturday. The junior reserves are integral parts of a Husky bench that is gaining confidence at an opportune time. (Photo by Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)

PHILADELPHIA — With March now less than a week away and the sense of urgency ramping up across college basketball, the time for each part of the roster to step up becomes more crucial.

That is why UConn’s win Saturday, a comfortable yet dominant 73-63 victory at Villanova, was so resonant. Prior to this past weekend, the fifth-ranked Huskies had played with fire enough to the point where their bench production had stagnated, leaving head coach Dan Hurley searching for answers to fix what had historically been a strong suit of his. Against the Wildcats, all nine UConn players to see the floor scored, balancing the offense with each husky tallying between four and twelve points at the most opportune time.

“I feel like that’s what we’ve been looking for as a group, just playing to our strengths to play into our depth as a team,” Solo Ball said of the harmony on the scoreboard. “We know how capable we are as a group, and we also know that we’ve got way more stuff to work on in practice, and outside of practice in the film room. We’ve just gotta keep getting better on that side.”

“More importantly, I’m glad we all stepped up. It’s great to see everyone contributing because this is exactly what Coach was talking about, just play to our strengths and play to the strength of the group.”

As UConn has gone through Big East play, its rotation has shortened, not uncommon for most teams as the season runs its course. However, the lack of bench production and its apparent stagnation had become a cause for concern among Husky fans, and by extension, the coaching staff as well. Hurley had intimated previously that he did not want to play Silas Demary, Jr. or Alex Karaban extended minutes, but with the lack of production from the likes of Malachi Smith, Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross, was forced to ride the hands of his starters longer. Following Wednesday’s loss to Creighton, the coach addressed the apparent lack of confidence that he and his staff began to remedy before the Villanova game.

“We got into a funk,” Hurley said of the lull among the second unit. “There’s two sides to it. I think there’s definitely a player’s responsibility, but there’s also the coach’s responsibility to say things to the bench players, get in their ear before the game, have some moments where you tell a player you believe in him and we can’t do it without you.”

“Sometimes, I think my reaction to the bench guys, unfortunately — we’re not perfect coaches — just being mad at them about not producing, and I thought in the leadup to this game, we did a better job of trying to build up their confidence. I know I did. Hey, you’re gonna get back on track tonight, we can’t do this without you, I’m gonna play you, I’m not gonna bury you on one mistake. But there’s two sides of it.”

Ross and Stewart, considered two of the top reserves behind Eric Reibe, only combined for 10 points Saturday, but were impactful beyond their point totals. Ross’ defense on Tyler Perkins in the first half after the Villanova guard scored the Wildcats’ first eight points, and Stewart’s two transition triples helped rally and later sustain the Huskies.

“It was great seeing Stew do his thing,” Ball proclaimed. “He’s a tremendous player and incredibly talented. We go to the bench, and Stew stepped up tremendously, so did the guys on the rest of the bench. It was good to see.”

Ross’ maturation drew plaudits from his most senior teammate, who bestowed a heartfelt superlative upon the junior.

“He’s a special player,” Karaban said. “He’s gaining more and more confidence every single night. We need him if we want to win and achieve our goals this year.”

Ross is not the only one gaining confidence as UConn heads into its three remaining regular season matchups, beginning first with Wednesday’s hotly anticipated rematch against Big East leader St. John’s. The Red Storm defeated the Huskies at Madison Square Garden on February 6 and has won 13 straight contests, but Hurley seems encouraged after the championship-level response his outfit displayed Saturday.

“We have a lot of confidence,” he intimated. “We’ve let each other down a couple times. You just want to be able to leave these games where you don’t have any regrets about how you showed up, with the force you play with and the effort that you give, and the desperation you play with in terms of doing everything you can to win games. But we’re 25-3. We’ve made it clear to our guys that the sky is not completely falling. In ’23, we didn’t even make that Top 16 reveal. We weren’t even on it and we ran through the tournament.”

“We can’t let each other down anymore. We have to show up like this. We basically, for the rest of the way here, we can’t afford to lose another game in the regular season if we want to win the league. These guys gotta show up consistently. When Jaylin Stewart shows up like that and J-Ross, Big Eric, Malachi…with what we’ve got with the starters, we’re formidable.”