Three games in, the 2024-25 UConn men’s basketball season has gone about as expected.
The reigning back-to-back national champions have blown out each of their low-major opponents to start the year, but they’ve also given coach Dan Hurley plenty of areas to harp on and adjustments to make in practice. To this point, three-year starter Alex Karaban has played up to the All-American expectations and taken on a clear leadership role with UConn’s young roster. Freshman Liam McNeeley’s fit in the system has been clear and Solo Ball has emerged as a dynamic offensive piece in the backcourt.
But McNeeley and Ball are two of Hurley’s favorite players to call out for bad defense, along with Samson Johnson, who has struggled to stay on the court with foul trouble. The Huskies started slow in each of their last two games at the XL Center, but proved in those games the depth of talent on their roster – down all the way to freshmen Ahmad Nowell and Isaiah Abraham, who’ve each made an impact when they’ve entered late in games.
Hurley said he would’ve rather followed Wednesday’s win over Le Moyne with another game over the weekend, but the practice time will be valuable for the Huskies to clean some things up and make adjustments before hosting East Texas A&M on Tuesday. That will be the last buy game before UConn flies out for tougher opponents in the Maui Invitational, beginning with Memphis on Nov. 25.
Here are some takeaways and questions left to be answered after UConn’s first three outings:
Revamped backcourt is making progress
Replacing an All-American in Tristen Newton, the No. 4 overall pick in Stephon Castle and a gamer like Cam Spencer was always going to be tough for whoever UConn brought into the program this year. Those growing pains have been evident in the backcourt, particularly through the first two games with St. Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney stepping into the starting lineup and 2024 Big East Sixth Man of the Year Hassan Diarra returning to his backup role.
Having Diarra, a veteran with championship experience under Hurley, willing to come off the bench has been a major asset as he helps the newcomers adjust to UConn’s style of play. Mahaney hasn’t seen the production he’s used to – shooting just 5 of 20 from the field and 2 of 9 from beyond the arc – but seems to be making incremental progress. Nowell, impressive in limited minutes, is expected to be in more of a developmental role as a freshman.
“I think the offense is gonna continue to get better and better each and every game,” Diarra, who had his best game of the year with 10 points and six assists on Wednesday. “It’s a long process, we run a very sophisticated offense and I think guys are getting it. We’re getting it, I believe, pretty well.”
How will the wing rotation play out?
The emergence of Jayden Ross was a storyline that came as a bit of a surprise entering the season. Hurley said he would’ve started the opener had he been healthy because he looked like one of the best players on the team in the weeks leading up to the season. He came back from the ankle injury against New Hampshire and averaged 11 points, four rebounds and 1.5 blocks over two games.
Jaylin Stewart, who impacted the team down the stretch last season and seemed poised for a breakout year, started his sophomore campaign averaging 2.7 points, rebounds and assists in 14 minutes per game, but had a career-high five assists on Wednesday.
“I thought (Stewart) really did some nice things. He was better defensively, he was in the right spots. Once you learn to be in the right spots and you don’t have to think as much, now you can just go out there and hoop. I think you’re gonna see Jaylin’s improvement and those 15 minutes are gonna elevate,” Hurley said. “J-Ross’ minutes, he played 19-plus, those minutes will elevate into the 20s. I think we know how we want to play this.”
How could the starting lineup change?
With UConn’s surplus of versatile wings, Hurley has tested positionless lineups where he would go without a true point guard. After back-to-back slow starts, he hinted that a change in the starting lineup might be considered.
“We gotta figure out maybe if there is a better way we can start the game so we don’t get off to slow starts,” he said. “But I think that clearly we feel good about what we’ve got at center and we feel like the wing stuff is gonna be a great strength of the team.”
Could Ball run the point with McNeeley, Ross, Karaban and a center? Maybe.
Hurley wants more McNeeley
Hurley was happy with McNeeley’s approach on Wednesday, letting the game come to him and finding his shots within the offense. The preseason Big East Freshman of the Year recorded double-doubles in his first two games and is averaging 14.3 points (41.2% from 3) and eight rebounds per game.
“We’re gonna need his usage rate to go up a lot more, we’re gonna need him to facilitate shots for others while continuing to score in that 14, 15 a game, 16 a game average,” Hurley said.
Without foul trouble, Johnson-Reed duo works
Once again, UConn has two very different style centers. And when they can both impact the game, as they did on Wednesday, they can be effective. Foul trouble kept Johnson off the court for most of the first two games, but he stayed out of it on Wednesday and finished with four points, four blocks, two steals and three rebounds. Reed tacked on 12 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season on Wednesday and has been steady.
“(Johnson) just settled in and had some conversations with his coaches,” Hurley said. “You could see his impact defesnviely with the four blocks. What just sucks for Samson right now is we’re missing him in the lob game, we’re missing him on the roll game. The guards are not doing the things that Tristen and Cam and Steph were able to do for him. Aidan, Hassan, Solo, the wings, they’re missing him on his patented lobs. So we gotta do a better job for him.”
