Hassan Diarra: "The toughest kid in the gym"
Try finding a coach who wouldn’t want Hassan Diarra on his team.
It’s not a matter of having players with more talent or athleticism. There are plenty who fit the bill, and yet the Big East Sixth Man of the Year has made himself a fan-favorite and an indispensable piece in the rotation of the No. 1-ranked team in the country.
Whether it’s his lockdown on-ball defense or ability to give the team exactly what it needs on offense in a given moment, Diarra has been as dependable as they come as a difference-maker off the bench.
“[We] thought he would be the perfect Big East guard: a junkyard dog, and good offensively too,” head coach Dan Hurley said after the Marquette game on Feb. 17, a big win that the coach said was Diarra’s best game of the season.
Hurley frequently credits Diarra after games for his defensive effort or for providing an offensive spark, like that Marquette game, where he scored 14 points with five boards while also dishing out six assists. Diarra has even earned praise from opposing coaches in post-game press conferences from guys like Shaka Smart and Ed Cooley.
In the past, the man they affectionately call “Hass” has filled bigger roles — he’s Putnam Science Academy’s all-time leading scorer — but that hasn’t stopped him from embracing this reserve role for the Huskies.
“Not a lot of teams in the country have a guy coming off the bench that you trust like that and it’s bigger than how many shots you make,” said his AAU coach, PSA Cardinals director Terrance “Munch” Williams.
Diarra, a relentless worker on the court, has a combination of New York moxie, toughness, basketball roots, and that painstaking attention to detail that someone like coach Dan Hurley can identify with.
“Your DNA to play in that space has to be right,” Williams said of succeeding at UConn. “The guys who don’t do well in those types of spaces, they’re not everyday guys. If you ever watch Hassan, you know, basketball-wise — the way he works out, the way he practices, and the way he plays — there’s a high level of consistency.”
He’s a leader by example, and that goes back to his childhood. UConn fans know by now that Diarra comes from a basketball family. His older brother, Mamadou, is the Huskies’ director of player development. Before that he also played for Putnam Science Academy before coming to UConn as a top-100 prospect. His younger brother, Cherif, is a sophomore at Division II Southern Connecticut State and the team’s leading rebounder.
Just as Mamadou pushed Hassan as a child, Hassan did the same for Cherif.
“He was really a great leader, he was always guiding me in the right direction,” Cherif recalled. “He knew that he was different, though, he knew that I had to embrace my own role and that’s why I am where I am today.”
Cherif explained that while he has a more laid-back personality off the court and is a post player on the court, Hassan is more outgoing and was always the scorer in the family.
More importantly, Hassan could make everyone around him better. It’s why college coaches started lining up for him as soon as they had the opportunity.
Cherif remembers one coach in particular who went to great lengths to make sure he landed the middle Diarra brother.
“I remember having Buzz [Williams] come around the most and him having the most interest in Hassan,” Cherif said.
Hassan’s high school coach, Tom Espinsoa, recalls one live period that began at midnight, and Williams showed up at PSA with his staff at 12:01 a.m.
“They’re all in a shirt and tie, they’re all in the dorm at the academy,” he said. “It’s a big thing for a recruit, that first day coaches can come out and talk. For [Williams] and his entire staff to be in our dorm building at midnight? To be the first people Hasan talked to was pretty impressive. That’s how bad they wanted him.”
But when Diarra got to College Station, he had to face a new situation: not being The Guy, and at times not even being A Guy. Diarra started six games as a freshman in the COVID-shortened 2020-21, but also endured games like the Aggies’ 24-point loss at South Carolina, where he played 11 minutes, didn’t score, and committed four turnovers.
The prolific high school scorer put up 105 points his freshman season, shooting only 30% from three and 35% overall.
Those who have followed Diarra’s career trajectory know this isn’t the story of a phenom’s meteoric rise from freshman struggles to senior stardom. Diarra never evolved into the scoring sensation or starting point guard that he was in high school.
That makes him no less important for the Huskies.
“He knows who he is and he’s confident in that,” Williams said. “I think Hurley and [associate head coach Kimani Young] have done a phenomenal job in nurturing his role.”
To Williams, that means more than being a backup point guard. He pointed to the Big East Tournament quarterfinal against Xavier as an example.
“They were down seven-zip and it was a minute and a half into the game,” he said. “Hassan was taking off his warmup to get into the game. You know what I mean? The trust that UConn has in Hassan is priceless.”
Throughout UConn’s run this year, analysts have been left in awe by the complexity of its offense. Not just the sheer number of plays the Huskies run, but how intricate every one of them is. Sure, a simple pick-and-roll can get Donovan Clingan a dunk at will against smaller teams, but in the halfcourt, UConn’s movement is a dizzying dance of cuts, screens, and first-second-third options.
In a previous interview with Storrs Central, Young expressed a high appreciation for what Diarra brings to the team, calling him a “joy to coach,” and adding that “his will to win has probably been one of the most important parts of our team this year.”
“He’s never come in here without great energy, without wanting to be coached, without selflessness, just to be part of a team and be a part of winning. Those are the kids that you love to coach.”
It takes a certain level of basketball IQ to run the point in UConn's system, which is why Diarra a perfect match in Storrs.
Espinosa said the guard was the highest basketball IQ player he ever coached.
“He knew every single position at every set we have, and we have a motion offense, but also, we probably have like 50 quick-hitters,” he said. “It was crazy.”
Diarra spent three years at PSA, which is rare for an elite prospect at a prep school. He came off the bench in year one and then became a crucial part of the squad after that, even helping out the coaches.
“When he came back his last year, we’re like, ‘hey remember that set we had? What did that guy do?’ And then we’re like ‘let’s ask Hassan,’” Espinosa recalled. “He would remember every set from the year before.”
Years later, Espinosa watches UConn games and sees that same point guard helping his teammates on the court.
“I see him out there talking to guys because I know he’s helping people out and I know he knows every set at every position, what everyone’s supposed to do. I know it,” he said.
Williams sees that too, saying it’s a credit to the work that Diarra has put in over the years. He’s always seen Diarra as coachable and willing to make corrections or accept constructive criticism.
“There’s times throughout our history, the game would just finish and I would be on the phone with him at 10 o’clock at night and say ‘hey don’t get dressed, these are the things you gotta go back in the gym and do right now,’” Williams said. “And he will go do that because he wants to be great.”
Williams added that Diarra “loves the game and everything that comes with it.” That extends to the weight room, the track, recovery, film, the list goes on.
It’s a reflection of how he was brought up and it’s easy to see why his coaches, teammates, and fans seem to love him.
“If you play hard, you’re going to be respected,’ Espinosa added. “He was probably the toughest kid in the gym from his first year here.”