Hurley Sets Huskies’ Sighs High
The Story: Dan Hurley remained bullish on his team — as any head coach would be — when talking about his players yesterday morning at the virtual Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
TEAM OF WINNERS: We addressed the hopes for Adama Sanogo yesterday morning, but Hurley clearly (rightfully?) expects a lot out of his upperclassmen, including Tyrese Martin, Isaiah Whaley and Tyler Polley, during a pivotal season.
• Martin is a “critical guy,” Hurley said, who needs to show “consistency all the way through the year” and “be that third scorer, an all-conference level player.” If Martin, who was mercurial for stretches last season, ends up being all of those things, “he’s a top player in the Big East.”
• Whaley and Polley, the two returning super seniors, will be crucial to UConn’s success. Whaley “needs to take his shooting from practice over to game night” and start making 3s, and Polley is “highly motivated to reach that goal” of 1,000 points for the Huskies. He’s 327 away; that’s at least 10 points a game, which might be a stretch.
• R.J. Cole is “going to have a lot more of a green light this year to hunt his offense” and needs to produce about 15 points and six assists per game, and Andre Jackson is “going to have a huge impact on the season,” especially defensively.
AS FOR THE FRESHMEN? Hurley joked that the four freshmen sometimes “play like five stars and sometimes they play like three stars, so it comes out to a four.”
• Hurley’s biggest praise was for guard Jordan Hawkins. “Jordan’s incredibly dynamic as a shooter,” he said. “He’s got a chance to be one of the elite shooters in the country when it’s all said and done here. Going back to Ray (Allen) and Rip (Hamilton), I don’t know that there’s a guy with better footwork.”
• Neither Hawkins nor center Samson Johnson should be expected to be in Storrs all four years. They “have so many traits that project to the NBA from a skills standpoint,” he said.
• Guard Rahsool Diggins has been limited after injuring a knee in one of the first practices but has a “really good skill level,” Hurley said. He also has been amazed by Corey Floyd Jr. and said he is “going to be an outstanding player for us over the course of his career here.”
Morning Reads
• The women’s soccer team won a pair of games in extra time last week and will try to continue its winning ways when it visits Providence tonight. (UConnHuskies.com)
