UConn men’s basketball tips off against Illinois on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at Madison Square Garden. While fans and some coaches may be dealing with a holiday hangover, Dan Hurley and his staff decided to have their Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night to avoid the effects of tryptophan as they face off against the No. 13 team in the country.
Perhaps more importantly, Braylon Mullins, the five-star freshman who has yet to play this season, and Tarris Reed Jr., the super-athletic big man averaging 20 points over three appearances thus far, are both back in practice, with Hurley saying they’re game-time decisions to suit up and play on Friday. UConn was ranked No. 5 in the AP Poll and sits 13th in KenPom (10th Offense, 13th Defense).
“When you schedule the way we've scheduled, literally playing the third Final Four-caliber team, you don't want to keep playing games like this against the best of the best without your best team,” Hurley said. “But you also don’t want things to linger, and the people to then never get healthy.”
Illinois is currently 5-1, ranked 14th in KenPom (6th Offense, 23rd Defense), led by four players averaging 15+ points per game, including Andrej Stojakovic, son of the former NBA star Peja, who UConn also reached out to in his recruiting process.
So far this season, the Fighting Illini have taken down a handful of low-rated teams and one top-50 opponent in Texas Tech, with their loss coming to Alabama on a neutral site.
“They're a pretty big team, pretty skilled,” Silas Demary Jr. said in a pre-game interview, mentioning his matchup with point guard Kylan Boswell. ”Want to win my matchup…and make sure we go in there with confidence, shoot the ball with confidence.”
The Illini are ranked in the top 11 in allowing and grabbing offensive rebounds and keeping teams from the free-throw line. They’re also 32nd in eFG% with four guys shooting over 35 percent behind the arc on 15 or more attempts. You can read more about the matchup in Brian Kervick’s scouting report.
Hurley was pleased with the fact that all 15 players on the roster have been available for practice lately, saying everyone has benefited from their return. Alex Karaban said Mullins was “killing it” in practice on Wednesday.
“For the first time in a while, we had 15 guys in practice, which was a good sign,” Hurley said. “Some guys are a little bit nicked up…it's been good to get some people back.”
Demary Jr. said it will be his first game in Madison Square Garden, fresh off of his first career triple-double. His coach is expecting him to be an elite defender, which will be critical against the Illinois perimeter weapons.
“That’s kind of been my calling card before…defending at a high level, that’s what the team needs,” Demary said. “He talks to me every day about being a defensive player of the year.”
Last time UConn (5-1) and Illinois met, the Huskies rode a 30-0 run to an Elite Eight rout on the way to their second championship in as many years as they wrapped up one of the most dominant seasons in college basketball history. That was two seasons ago, with a much different team, as Hurley noted, saying he’d be happy with an 8-0 run.
“It doesn’t help us now because there’s not many people left from it…we got a long way to go to get to that point,” Hurley said. “Our last performance offensively was obviously pretty dreadful offensively, versus Bryant.”
For one of the key players who was there, it may be a source of gameday inspiration.
“I might watch it on the train ride there,” Karaban said, of the 30-0 run, saying he hasn’t watched it recently.
The Huskies traveled to New York City on Wednesday via Amtrak. The senior hasn’t had his best performances in the last two games, but maintains a lot of confidence for himself and the team, and is shooting 50 percent from three on the season.
“We gotta find ways to get open, and just play basketball out there,” Karaban said. “I had a tough game against Arizona, and I didn’t shoot well against Bryant…my games gonna come and go, I’m always going to step out and try to play my best.”
