STORRS – After seeing the line outside and buying some extra time, the UConn men’s basketball team made its way over from the Werth practice facility to meet 3,290 eager fans gathered across the street, filling the lower bowl in Gampel Pavilion.
The reigning back-to-back national champions made their entrance grand, weaving down through the crowd for the start of Saturday’s open practice.There was another pop when Dan Hurley and the coaching staff walked out, Hurley wearing a red “National Champs” hoodie.
“It blew my mind,” Hurley said. “We weren’t expecting this many people in here. Even when I asked my wife (Andrea), she said, ‘What are you doing practicing on a Saturday at 11? Everyone’s gonna be at the beach or the pool.’ She should know Connecticut and the UConn fanbase better than that by now.”
The entrance wasn’t the only time Hurley had the Huskies running the Gampel steps.
After warmups and some drills, the team spent the latter half of the practice in controlled 5-on-5 or 4-on-3 scrimmages when alley-oop dunks and high-percentage 3-pointers influenced the crowd as if it were a real game.
When there were mistakes, Hurley had the players run between sections of fans in the lower bowl. Coaches even joined them here and there, but not Hurley – “I have the ultimate level of accountability,” he said. “When things go bad it’s all on me. I live on the stairs.”
“This wasn’t like an exhibition, this was a pretty authentic summer practice, what it looks like from when they get on campus. From running the stairs when they made some mistakes that are unacceptable to just kind of an authentic look at how we practice, the pace, the intensity of it,” Hurley said.
It was the first chance for fans to see the group that was assembled to chase a three-peat, and they showed no reason to adjust expectations.
Per tradition, there were four easels set up to display the team’s regular-season goals: First the Maui Invitational, then the Big East-Big 12 Battle against Baylor, the Hall of Fame Series against Gonzaga and the Big East regular season. The Huskies plan on winning everything in between.
Alex Karaban, who coaches are hoping can play at an All-American level in his redshirt junior season, was automatic from the 3-point line from the moment he stepped foot on the court. Hassan Diarra, a graduate student, had control of the offense as he looks to step into the starting point guard role.And the third two-time national champion on the roster, Samson Johnson, showed some improved footwork and, of course, was able to fly above the rim.
But Johnson was made a victim in a pair of highlight plays by sophom*ores Youssouf Singare and Jayden Ross, who highlighted the tremendous depth on the roster.
First, Singare blocked one of Johnson’s 3-point attempts and went coast-to-coast, dishing a behind-the-back assist in transition. Then, on one of Johnson’s flights to the rim he was met by Ross, who denied the dunk – something all of UConn’s opponents struggled to do last season.
“That class is a big class for us and I think they’re maturing a lot,” Hurley said of the sophom*ores, including praise for Jaylin Stewart and Solo Ball. “I’ve said it from the beginning. Will we have the same high-end talent? Two top-seven picks last year? I don’t know. … We’ll see, but just the overall competition to get on the court this year, one through 10 I think it’s the best overall competition to get minutes.”
As far as the freshmen go, Ahmad Nowell’s jump shot came off better than expected and Isaiah Abraham, perhaps the most underrated of the newcomers, drew roars from the crowd on a number of dunks. Liam McNeeley, in his first week back from a Fourth of July ankle injury, was clearly working his way back but still showed why he can be a difference-maker in multiple areas.
“(Abraham) is gonna be an awesome player here,” Hurley said. “Sometimes the players are as good as you thought, a little worse or a little better. He’s come in better. He’s just our type of guy. He’s a UConn guy, an ascending player.”
Aidan Mahaney, the junior from Saint Mary’s who Hurley compares to a mix of last year’s guards Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer, was the only new transfer at practice as Tarris Reed Jr., from Michigan, was back home in Missouri grieving the death of a family member.
Reed will be back on campus next week as the team concludes this summer session with the last day on Friday.
Saturday’s practice was “a good wake-up call,” Hurley said. “It’s good for our players that have played at other places too to see how big basketball is here.”
Before players stuck around to sign autographs and take pictures with fans, Hurley heard a chorus of UConn chants as he took the microphone at center court.
“Some of the best programs, they can’t even get fans to go to games in the winter and look what we got in the beginning of August on a Saturday,” he said. “We think this is a team that’s got a lot of great potential, we’ve come a long way in the last seven weeks practicing like this for you the whole summer. And then when we get to September, these guys are gonna push even harder for you to get you the seventh championship, to get you the three-peat.”
Andrew Hurley returns
Hurley’s son, Andrew, who graduated after serving as the team’s “closer” to dribble out the clock in the final seconds of just about every game over the last two years, paced the sideline in a t-shirt and sweats. He will be a graduate manager for the team this season.
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