UConn started a five-game stretch this weekend during which 4 of the matchups are in opposition to presently ranked faculties. Dan Hurley will know loads about his workforce when it is performed, I would assume. Both approach, issues bought off to a pleasant begin Saturday when the Huskies led BYU by as many as 20 factors and held on for an 86-84 victory within the Corridor of Fame Collection at Boston’s TD Backyard.
Tarris Reed Jr. completed with 21 factors. So did Alex Karaban. So did Silas Demary. These three gamers are all averaging not less than 13.0 factors per contest for a UConn workforce that is 4-0 and as much as No. 3 in Sunday morning’s up to date CBS Sports activities High 25 And 1 day by day faculty basketball rankings, the place Purdue stays No. 1 for the eighth consecutive day.
BYU is now No. 4 within the High 25 And 1.
“I assumed we seemed like an superior workforce for 25 minutes — [but] clearly the final quarter-hour we simply sort of held on and weren’t superb in opposition to stress,” Hurley stated of his Huskies, who have been up 59-39 with 14:47 remaining earlier than BYU outscored them 45-27 the remainder of the way in which. “However I credit score BYU. These guys confirmed some actual battle immediately. They may have walked out of right here, misplaced by 20 simply. However these guys dug their heels in and confirmed that [BYU’s Kevin Young] is a heckuva coach — and so they’ve bought an actual tradition and an actual likelihood to compete for championships.”
BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa led all scorers with 25 factors. The 6-foot-8 wing is averaging 20.3 factors, 6.8 rebounds and a couple of.0 assists by way of 4 video games whereas taking pictures 57.4% from the sector and 40.0% from 3-point vary.
“That is as excessive a stage of shot-making as you are going to see in faculty basketball,” Hurley stated of Dybantsa’s efficiency. “He had the entire bag going.”
Subsequent up for UConn is Wednesday’s sport with Arizona. Then comes subsequent Sunday’s purchase sport with Bryant that’ll be adopted by showdowns with Illinois (Nov. 28) and Kansas (Dec. 2). Arizona is No. 5 within the High 25 And 1. Illinois is No. 13. Kansas is No. 22. So, over an 18-day span, UConn will play 4 groups ranked within the High 25 And 1 and get a take a look at a few of the greatest freshmen within the sport. Along with Dybantsa, the Huskies ought to see Arizona freshman Koa Peat (16.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg), Illinois freshman David Mirkovic (18.5 ppg and 5.3 rpg) and Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson (21.5 ppg and three.5 rpg), the final of whom, it ought to be famous, has missed KU’s previous two contests with what’s been described as minor accidents.