Seton Hall on Tap for Big East Opener
The Story: Dan Hurley returns to his alma mater to lead the No. 5-ranked UConn men against Seton Hall at the Prudential Center in Newark tonight (7 p.m., CBS Sports).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn (10-1) returns to the scene of one of the more confusing games of last season. Hurley was battling COVID-19, and Seton Hall rallied from a 17-point deficit and took the lead for the first time with 1.6 seconds left to win 67-66.
• The Huskies will face Seton Hall with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. The loss to the Pirates didn’t sit well and was one of the games that led to a weird 2-6 stretch around New Year’s Day.
• Hurley, who played under P.J. Carlesimo, still has a strong affinity for his school and said when he’s done coaching UConn and in the Big East he will donate to Seton Hall’s NIL efforts. Let’s just hope that’s decades away.
NO RESPECT FOR THE HUSKIES? UConn is the defending national champion and is one shot at Kansas away from being undefeated. But why are the Huskies ranked No. 5?
• The AP poll (we hate to say it) is meaningless, but it did draw some surprises from reporters who see the Huskies as the best team in the country. They have beaten two top-10 teams in North Carolina and Gonzaga in successive weeks but did not move up.
• The smart money remains on the Huskies as they are still one of the favorites to cut down the nets again.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “Watching the end of that game [last season] and feeling sicker for everybody. But, like all adversity, if you learn from it and if you’re really strong, I truly believe that all those tough times in January gave us that championship.”
ABOUT SETON HALL: Kadary Richmond is still at Seton Hall and is the Pirates’ leading scorer at 14.7 points per game. He scored a career-high 27 points, including 18 straight in the second half and overtime, as the Pirates won two seasons ago. Last year, he added 18 in that win over UConn.
• Seton Hall (7-4) beat Missouri earlier this season. The Pirates can shoot and have some size, and as we have seen, they’re capable of winning — if the moon and stars align.
Edwards Returns Home to Canada
The Story: The No. 17-ranked women’s basketball team is in the Great White North for a meeting with Toronto Metropolitan that will serve as Aaliyah Edwards‘ homecoming game (7 p.m., FS2).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Edwards is from Kingston, Ontario, which is roughly three hours east of Toronto on the other side of Lake Erie. But, since there are presumably few opponents in Kingston willing to play the Huskies, a Toronto team is probably the best they could do.
• The game will count toward UConn’s record and all statistics will count for the players, but it won’t count toward its NCAA Tournament resume or the NET rankings.
• The last time the Huskies played in Toronto was on Dec. 21, 2017, when they played at the same arena — Mattamy Athletic Center — and beat Duquesne in Kia Nurse‘s homecoming game.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME: More than 50 of Edwards’ family members and friends are expected to be on hand for the game, including her parents, Jackie and Eddie, and Nurse.
• Edwards is averaging 18.3 points and 9.4 rebounds this season for the Huskies — numbers that not only lead the team but are also her career highs. She has scored more than 20 points four times this season and has three double-doubles.
• Her career (obviously) won’t end at UConn. Edwards, who represented Canada in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, is projected to be a first-round WNBA Draft pick.
WHAT DID EDWARDS SAY? “Words just really can’t describe it, but I’m just super excited and pumped for [the game].”
ABOUT TMU: Formerly known as Ryerson, TMU is a member of Ontario University Athletics and won Canada’s national championship in the 2021-22 season.
• TMU is 13-6 this season but 10-0 in OUA games. The Bold, as it’s known, is led by guard Jayme Foreman, who’s averaging 16.3 points per game in conference and shooting 34.3% from 3-point range.
• Forward Hailey Franco-DeRyck is averaging a team-high 9.7 rebounds per game in conference play and forward Haley Fedick is pulling down 8.9 per game for a team that’s grabbing 43.1 rebounds per game against OUA opponents.
Morning Reads
• Running back Jayden Brown wrote on his social media accounts yesterday that he plans to transfer to UConn from Gardner-Webb. Brown, who is 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, is a well-rounded player who ran for 666 yards and five touchdowns, caught 18 passes for 253 yards and five touchdowns, and returned 30 kickoffs for 644 yards for the Runnin’ Bulldogs last season.
• Sophomore goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert was selected by Atlanta United with the No. 19 pick of the MLS draft yesterday while sophomore forward Eli Conway was taken by CF Montreal with the No. 68 pick. Both will start their pro careers immediately.
• “The most remarkable thing about [Dan] Orlovsky‘s success,” GQ writes in an extensive profile of the UConn legend-turned-ESPN analyst, “is the way it contrasts with his time as an NFL player”
Top photo: Dan Hurley yells from the sidelines during the Huskies’ season-opening win over Norther Arizona. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
