Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed Jr. both had their moments in the Huskies’ exhibition win over Rhode Island
Turn the clock back one year and UConn fans had reluctantly come to a consensus: There was just no replacing the bigman combo of Adama Sango and Donovan Clingan. With Sanogo off to the NBA, the Huskies had to hope that Clingan could slide into the starting role and Samson Johnson was ready to take a giant leap.
Another national championship later, and UConn fans are asking the same question about Johnson and Michigan transfer Tarris Reed Jr.
There’s no use drawing any grand conclusions after UConn’s 102-75 charity exhibition win over Rhode Island on Monday at Mohegan Sun, but the game provided plenty of promising moments.
You can see them all here, thanks to upstanding citizen Storrs South:
Head coach Dan Hurley likes to play four out, with one player in the post. As expected, Reed and Johnson got almost all the time there against the Rams (Youssouf Singare played two minutes near the end of the game).
For Johnson, fans saw more of the same from 2023-24. His eight points on 4-for-5 shooting would tell someone who didn’t even catch a second of the game that he was back to his old Slamson ways, electrifying the crowd along the way.
Surely UConn didn’t deploy its entire offensive playbook in an exhibition game — and with a couple weeks still to tinker, it’s probably not even done yet. But it was nice to see the Huskies run plays designed to get Johnson a dunk. One in particular came on an out-of-bounds play late in the first half. Hassan Diarra threw it in and Johnson set a screen for Alex Karaban, who popped out to the three-point line. As soon as Karaban made his move, Johnson made his, cutting to the basket with the help of a screen from Liam McNeely. Diarra found him for an easy lob.
And it wasn’t only dunks. He showed off some post moves midway through the first half, catching the ball in the low block, taking one dribble, and hitting a turnaround jumper. It was just one moment, but it was encouraging to see him with that touch. He doesn’t need to extend his game much beyond the basket, but if he can extend his range to, say 30 inches, UConn will be better for it.
There’s the other side of it, too. He only had one rebound, and coming off a year in which every other significant contributor — at every position — had a higher defensive rebounding percentage than he did. That’s not encouraging.
Again, one game. Just something to watch.
As for Reed, it was the exact type of mixed bag you’d expect for his first game in a UConn uniform. For the most part, he knew where to be and when to be there, so at least he’s getting into the offense. He also missed a bunny at one point, but then managed to tip the ball away from former Husky Javonte Brown and hit his second opportunity. Later, he made a nice one-handed catch on an entry pass with his defender basically hugging him. He then converted it into a layup.
Reed’s best moment, however, came on a pass. Holding the ball at the top of the key, he fired a perfect bounce pass to McNeely, through two defenders as the UConn freshman cut to the basket for an easy layup. (Johnson made a similar pass to Ball later).
That, combined with Reed’s reverse layup midway through the second half through two more blue shirts, show at least a sense of court awareness and instinct that should serve him well.
Again, one game.
There’s no getting around that beyond Johnson and Reed, UConn is thin in the front court. Ideally, this shouldn’t be a problem — and Reed did his work (8 points, 10 rebounds) without committing a foul. But injuries happen. Big East refs happen. Life happens.
Singare looked good in his two minutes, highlighted by the time he beat his teammates down the court, grabbed an offensive rebound and finished a lay-in through a horde of URI players. If he can keep working and become a serviceable third option, UConn fans will be able to sleep easier at night.