The UConn Huskies play their second-round matchup on Sunday night against 7-seeded UCLA, tipping off at 8:45 p.m. from Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. The winner heads to the East Regionals in Washington, D.C., where Michigan State awaits.
After taking care of Furman without Silas Demary Jr. and Jaylin Stewart in Friday night’s first-round game, the Huskies may still be missing one or both tonight, as they remain questionable per the NCAA’s Initial Injury Report.
Like Furman, UCLA is playing some of its best ball right now and perhaps has a higher ceiling than its seeding suggests. The Bruins held a comfortable buffer over their first-round opponent, UCF, most of the way, but let it get tight at the end.
Mick Cronin’s squad is also dealing with some injury concerns, as their two leading scorers were hurt in the Big Ten Tournament.
Leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau missed their first NCAA Tournament game, while Donovan Dent returned from injury in that contest. Junior wing Eric Dailey Jr. led the way with 20 points while sophomore guard Trent Perry added 15. Cronin has been pushing for improvement on the defensive front over the course of the season, and said he’s beginning to see some progress.
“We have done some things schematically that have helped us, that are going to be put to the test,” Cronin said. “They got some really good players that can shoot the ball, and Reed's a big problem for us down low.”
The Bruins are ranked 26th in KenPom (23rd Offense, 44th Defense), which projects a 72-68 Husky win. They’ve been elite at keeping turnovers down and are 18th in the country in three-point percentage. They’re not very effective in rebounding, which should be an advantage for the Huskies. For a more in-depth look at this opponent, Brian Kervick’s scouting report has you covered.
“They're pretty mobile. They're not huge at guard on the perimeter, but they're smart,” Hurley said. “Skyy Clark is a very instinctual defender. Dent is a very instinctual defender. They do a good job making plays on the ball. If you're not used to playing against switching, it could disrupt your rhythm. We see switching a lot. That's a lot of what people try to do to us to affect our off-ball movement. We'll have to rely on our experience with that.”
Cronin has a lengthy history with UConn, having coached at Cincinnati from 2006 to 2019, as a conference rival of the Huskies across the Big East and AAC.
“They play a lot differently than his teams played at Cincinnati when I played him at the AAC,” Hurley said.
Hurley and his team will also have to contend with a talented crew of UCLA guards.
“They have three handlers, three guys who can really pass, can really handle. Perry and Clark are…shooting incredibly proficient from the three-point line. Not at the highest usage or volume, but they're incredibly efficient,” Hurley said. “They got three guys with point guard-type handles. They just take a lot of pressure off of each other. And then the scoring that they have been able to put around Dent allows him to just pick his spots.”
Hurley continued to say that Dent “has a Steve Nash readability to put you in closeouts and find shooters. We have to decide here correctly, we have to pick our poison with Dent and decide what we're going to do ball screen defense-wise quickly.”
UCLA is ranked seven spots ahead of 30th-place UConn in offensive efficiency.
“The construction of their offense is very hard to deal with,” Hurley said.
Down low, the team features two big men with varied skill sets, though Bilodeau’s status is still uncertain at this point.
“They have a very good and tall, elite front court,” Tarris Reed Jr. said. “We have to set the tone… They have fives that can really step out and shoot it. Me and [Eric Reibe] have been comfortable -- and [Alex Karaban] -- been comfortable guarding guys who can step out and shoot.”
Hurley suggested that they may put Reed Jr. on Dailey, depending on how the lineups shake out.
“We have decisions that we have to make, primarily how we are going to handle ball screen defense with them is probably the biggest thing,” Hurley said. “That's going to trigger where the ball goes next for them.”
If Demary Jr. is still out, the Huskies will turn to Malachi Smith, who started against Furman and dished seven assists in 32 minutes with just one turnover. Alec Millender also saw his longest run of playing time in that game since the program’s November contest against Columbia.
“He's an experienced lead guard,” Solo Ball said of his backcourt mate. “He has so much experience in this game. You can see it every time he steps on the floor. He has that confidence and swagger.”
The Huskies, despite having many proficient shooters and a team built around getting good looks for them, have been struggling from behind the arc lately. They ended the regular season with a 3-of-24 (12%) performance from three at Marquette and 3-of-19 in the Big East Tournament championship game. That pattern continued into the Big Dance, as they were 1-for-14 in the first half against Furman before finishing at 5-of-25.
“I would be a lot more concerned if we weren't generating really good shots, like if we were missing really hard shots, contested,” Hurley said. “The offense isn't generating open looks. I think we're generating looks that we're more than capable of making and getting hot and getting on a run here. It's like the law of averages, right? At least that's what we keep talking about…They just get that first one to go in or get one of those early ones to go in, and you could have a team here that's ripping them off.”
The game will be televised on TNT.
