The Huskies begin the quest for a three-peat Wednesday night in Gampel Pavilion.
Dan Hurley and UConn men’s basketball begin their three-peat bid on Wednesday night as they welcome in-state foe Sacred Heart to Gampel Pavilion. The Huskies will unveil banner No. 6 in the rafters in a pre-game ceremony, then shift the focus to trying to become the first school to win three men’s basketball national championships in a row since John Wooden’s UCLA teams did so in the early 1970s.
Sacred Heart comes to Storrs with one game under its belt already, an 81-70 loss on the road to Temple on Monday. The Pioneers, who joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) after nearly 25 years in the Northeast Conference, were pegged to finish last in the MAAC in the preseason coaches poll. The team is ranked 336th in the KenPom preseason efficiency ratings.
Forward Tanner Thomas did earn preseason All-MAAC Third Team honors ahead of this season and showed off his skills in the loss to the Owls, scoring a team-high 22 points. The 6-foot-6 Thomas holds down the frontcourt with Bryce Johnson, who posted a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double against Temple.
TV: FS1
Radio: UConn Sports Network
Odds: UConn -33.5, over/under 149
Location: Gampel Pavilion
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 89, Sacred Heart 57 (99.8 percent win probability)
Series History
UConn and Sacred Heart have played six times prior to Wednesday night in a series that dates back to 2000, with the Huskies holding a perfect 6-0 record. It’s the first time these in-state schools have faced off since 2019.
Injury report
Hurley told the media on Tuesday that Liam McNeeley, who has been dealing with a calf strain for the past few weeks, should be good to go against the Pioneers. Sophomore Jayden Ross rolled his ankle at practice earlier this week and is considered day-to-day.
What to Watch For
Life after Donovan Clingan
With no one on Sacred Heart’s roster taller than 6-foot-8, UConn should dominate down low on both ends. Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. should feast. The Huskies narrowly beat URI on the glass in last month’s exhibition game, edging out the Rams 41-40 in a performance that Hurley did not have kind words for.
Rebounding could be considered a question mark for the Huskies going into the season. Johnson has never had more than eight rebounds in a game in his career, while Reed racked up 10 boards in 18 minutes against the Rams.
Donovan Clingan’s absence may force the Huskies to change their defensive mindset. Clingan was an elite rim protector who covered up a lot of mistakes and made life easier for his teammates. Teams were afraid to take shots in the paint when Clingan was on the floor, and his drop coverage skills took away lob opportunities and easy layups when he came up to stop penetration.
Johnson is a talented shot-blocker, and Reed has promise too, but neither has the game-changing impact that Clingan did. The current duo does offer more speed and athleticism, which could allow the Huskies to switch through all positions at times. Without a stopper in the middle, Hurley and the Huskies will need to adjust this season and rely on overall team defense more than ever.
New roles, new faces
Aside from Johnson, almost every returning player on the roster will be stepping into a drastically different role. Karaban is now the de facto centerpiece of the offense. Hassan Diarra and Solo Ball are stepping into starting roles, while the likes of Jaylin Stewart and Ross figure to play key roles off the bench.
And then there are the newcomers. Hurley has praised McNeeley already as one of the top freshmen in the country. Reed will, at minimum, slide into the big-man platoon role with Johnson this season, while Aidan Mahaney will be relied upon to stretch the floor and run the offense for stretches. Ahmad Nowell and Isaiah Abraham will be fighting for minutes and can serve as spark plugs off the bench.
With all this change, UConn likely will not step onto the court and look like the juggernaut that ran through the NCAA tournament last season. This team will need to carve out its own identity and see its flaws get exposed in some capacity before this team can reach its true potential. For now, these buy games can help the team build chemistry and camaraderie before some tougher non-conference games (Baylor, at Texas, Gonzaga at MSG, Maui Invitational) come up.