One Scrimmage Down, Another On Tap
The Story: The men’s basketball team held a closed-door “secret scrimmage” against Harvard over the weekend and Dan Hurley is cranky that some of the details, including the score, leaked out. He’s excited about the team’s defensive potential, but the game exposed the significant gains that need to be made on offense.
SECRET’S OUT: The Huskies won 76-60 in the closed-door scrimmage. “Overall, you’re pretty happy with what we did defensively,” Hurley said. “Offensively, we didn’t finish well enough, I would say, at the rim. We fouled too much.”
• Teams have started to schedule scrimmages more often in recent years instead of the traditional preseason exhibitions against Division II teams. Those games don’t offer much in terms of instruction but the boost the athletic department’s bottom line because fans are allowed in.
• “The refs are a lot more lenient (in a scrimmage),” Hurley said. “They’ll let me like walk onto the court, go up to a spot and say ‘No, you’re supposed to be here.’ So it’s a great teaching tool.”
ROCK THE RIM: Hurley said the Huskies struggled to finish around the rim, which is no surprise given that was one of their weaknesses last season. But they should have one of the best frontcourts in the country. “It could be,” Hurley said, “and it absolutely should be.”
• UConn has talented players inside. Isaiah Whaley has returned for a fifth year, much is expected from Adama Sanogo in his second season, Akok Akok should be recovered from his torn Achilles and freshman center Samson Johnson, while raw, is considered to be a difference-maker and future NBA player.
• The Huskies also didn’t rebound particularly well, according to Hurley, but that should take care of itself. They were 49th in the country last season with 38.2 rebounds per game.
• It’s unclear whether 10 or 12 players got into the game for the Huskies, based on what we’ve read, but Hurley said he’d like to settle on an eight-man rotation this season. “If you don’t earn the top eight, you settle into the role we need you in,” he said.
• UConn will play one more scrimmage this weekend, but the opponent and location are unknown. (Hurley wouldn’t spill the beans.) The scrimmage against Harvard was known well in advance.
Morning Reads
• Another familiar foe will return to the football team’s schedule after the Huskies agreed to a home-and-home series with USF. The teams will play in East Hartford in 2023 and in Tampa, Fla., in 2028. (FBSchedules.com)
• Thomas Decottignies and Moussa Wade each scored in the second half as the men’s soccer team scored the final three goals to beat Rutgers 4-2 last night. (UConnHuskies.com)
• The women’s soccer team will close the regular season with a pivotal game at No. 21 Georgetown this afternoon. Only six teams make the Big East tournament and the Huskies enter the game in sixth place. (UConnHuskies.com)
• This may not be sports-related, but everyone who has stepped foot on campus can be thankful that there’s a plan in place to clean up the cesspool that is Mirror Lake. (Patch.com)
