UConn men’s basketball will play its first live game at the newly renamed People’s Bank Arena in Hartford on Tuesday night when it hosts the Michigan State Spartans, with tip-off at 7:30 p.m. and the game televised on UConn+ for a fee of $7.99.
Michigan State is coming off its best season this decade, making the Elite Eight after winning the Big Ten regular season and finishing seventh nationally in KenPom last year. Head coach Tom Izzo began his 31st season at the helm of the program with an exhibition win over Bowling Green 75-66 as the Spartans hold modest preseason expectations, ranked 25th in KenPom and 22nd in the AP Poll.
For the Huskies, Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins are out. Reed missed the first exhibition with a hamstring injury and Mullins hurt his ankle in practice. Silas Demary Jr., who missed the BC exhibition, is expected to play.
The Spartans lost their top three scorers from last year but return Jeremy Fears Jr. a top-40 guard who is an excellent defender, and have good size in the wing and post. They’re expected to be strong in rebounding and low-post scoring with center Carson Cooper and forward Jaxson Kohler, two experienced seniors who have spent their whole careers in Lansing.
It’s not really a shooting-heavy or offensively gifted lineup, with more emphasis on tough basketball. Last year, they were ninth in KenPom defensively and 49th on offense.
This presents a nice preview of Big East play for the Huskies. Freshman center Eric Reibe starting the BC game in Reed’s absence and will likely get the chance to start and play good minutes again against a much stronger front-court. Transfer forward Dwayne Koroma’s performance in this game will be interesting to keep an eye on as well.
Mullins also started against BC, so Malachi Smith, Jaylin Stewart or Jayden Ross could get a starting nod Tuesday night, and maybe Jacob Furphy and Alex Millender could see more playing time as well.
This is the Huskies' final tune-up before they open the regular season against the University of New Haven on Monday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in Gampel Pavilion. They’ll host UMass Lowell on Friday and Columbia on Monday before a big matchup against BYU on Nov. 15 at TD Garden in Boston.
