The Huskies weren’t great but still managed a 35-point win.
Four games into the season and No. 2 UConn has done everything it has needed to do so far. The Huskies’ 81-46 win over East Texas A&M on Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion put them at 4-0 with four 30-plus-point victories over inferior competition.
This opening stretch was a chance for coach Dan Hurley to see what he has in a group that lost four players to the NBA Draft. They head to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational next.
Tuesday night was the least inspiring performance of the bunch, but those games happen. Hurley made his frustrations clear after the game.
“When you’ve established such a level of play in our program and we work so hard at what we do as a program, you can have bad shooting nights, but you just can’t play like that,” he said.
The Huskies turned it over 19 times, the Lions took eight more free throws than UConn did, UConn didn’t rebound well in the second half, and Alex Karaban took only five shots.
“I think at times we played hard, but once we got up 37 with 12 minutes to go, it just turned into a debacle out there,” Hurley added. “[We] just played so far below the standard, just across the board, older players, younger players. Some steps backward.”
This is the second time this season Hurley has referred to “the standard” that the program has established over the last two National Championship seasons. He said the same after a lackluster second half in UConn’s win over New Hampshire on November 9.
It speaks to that standard that the Huskies have walloped four teams in a row and still aren’t living up to it. As one would hope, the veterans took accountability on Tuesday. Karaban also echoed Hurley with a comment about not playing up to the UConn standard. Hassan Diarra took responsibility for the turnovers, “That starts with me.”
Diarra coughed it up five times and the Huskies had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio for the first time this season.
There are plenty of positives to take from a 35-point win. Aidan Mahaney took a step forward, scoring in double figures for the first time in his UConn career (10 points, 4-10 FG). Solo Ball has now hit double digits in each game he’s played this year, scoring 12 points on 5-6 shooting from the field, though he also committed three turnovers.
Tarris Reed was all over the glass in the first half. He finished with nine points, 10 rebounds, and three blocks to maintain his hold on the team rebounding lead.
Blocks in general have become an early storyline for the Huskies. They had 11 more tonight, raising their Division I-leading 10.7 per game average. Samson Johnson had three as well in what was an otherwise quiet game from him.
As the final score indicates, the game was never in doubt. And playing another buy game against an overmatched opponent could have played a role in the Huskies’ lack of focus — Hurley admitted as much, and added that ideally, UConn would have played a high-major by now.
The difficulty level kicks up a few notches from here.
UConn now heads to the Maui Invitational where it will face Memphis on Monday afternoon (or morning, local time) in the first round. Michigan State or Colorado await after that.
On the other side of the bracket? Teams 4, 5, and 10 in the AP Poll.
“Maui’s no joke,” Karaban said. “You see the teams in there, playing the best of the best.”
For the past two years, UConn has been the best of the best. This year’s squad will have its first chance to meet the standard against a serious opponent next week.