Dan Hurley’s squad got its season started off on a positive note with a convincing triumph over Gerry McNamara’s Syracuse Orange at the Mohegan Sun Arena, 72-52. Braylon Mullins didn’t play, but 13 Huskies did, including every new member of the team.
Najai Hines came off the bench to lead the Huskies with 17 points, while fellow sophomore transfer Nik Khamenia finished with 12 points. Silas Demary Jr. added 13 points as UConn pulled away in the second half following a sloppy start.
Oskar Giltay, Jayden Ross, and Colben Landrew started alongside Demary Jr. and Jayden Ross, who quickly got two fouls and played only five minutes in the first half. Nils Machowski entered the game in his place.
The first few minutes saw a lot of turnovers, fouls, and missed shots, a pattern that continued for large stretches of the first half. The Huskies’ first basket was a Khamenia three to make it 4-4 at the 15:21 mark and begin a 12-2 run to put UConn up 13-6.
Syracuse responded with a 7-0 spurt to tie the game at 13. Another Khamenia three pushed the Husky lead to five and then Najai Hines got to the line on consecutive possessions, hitting three out of four. He was making putbacks, finished an alley-oop from Ross, and pulled down six boards in the first half as the Huskies led 31-26 at halftime. Defense and rebounding helped them maintain an edge as their shots weren’t falling at a high rate.
The Husky lead grew to 11 early in the second half as Landrew got going and Hines kept finding buckets. Landrew finished with eight points and four rebounds, showing off a complete game with great size and strength. Demary Jr. did a good job of drawing free throws to build the lead, while Junior County hit all three of his threes in the second half as he finished with nine points and seven rebounds.
After the game, Hurley and SU head coach Gerry McNamara expressed a desire to play this matchup in the regular season down the road. Hurley indicated that some finer details need to be ironed out.
The Husky head coach also shared that he wanted to send a message to Hines about consistency by having him come off the bench in this contest. Overall though, he was pleased with his team’s performance, expressing confidence in their defensive potential.
They held the Orange to 31% shooting from the field on the day with four blocks while controlling the boards most of the night. The Huskies turned it over just twice in the second half after seven in the first, while Syracuse finished with 16. Points off turnovers and second chances made the difference as the Huskies led for 32 out of 40 minutes.