Subscribe for free<\/a><\/p>\nAll 15 players dressed for the matchup against Florida at Madison Square Garden, so the assumption is that it will be the same for the Texas game with no update from the team.<\/p>\n
Training wheels coming off<\/p>\n
UConn is finally back at full strength after the Florida game, but Braylon Mullins was robbed of contributing as the freshman was plagued with foul trouble. Could Friday night be the first game of the season where UConn gets 20 or more minutes from both Mullins and Reed? The two have only shared the court for two games this season and have a total of six offensive possessions together.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s still early, Mullins and Reed together are probably the core of the best possible lineup the Huskies can roll out. Mullins\u2019 ability as a scorer on this team is unmatched, while Reed is a proven low-post beast. Even though some of UConn\u2019s toughest matchups are behind it, getting Mullins and Reed back up to speed with the rest of the starters is crucial as the grind of Big East play approaches.<\/p>\n
Get the backcourt back on track<\/p>\n
Silas Demary Jr. has struggled since his historic triple-double over Bryant, posting a total of 16 points, 10 assists, and five turnovers total in his last three games. Fortunately, Malachi Smith picked up the slack, posting 12 assists to just two turnovers in that same span. Much like Mullins and Reed together, UConn is at its best if Demary Jr. and Smith can both play at a high level. While Smith\u2019s strong play is a testament to the team\u2019s depth, the Huskies need both guards playing at a high level in order to make a deep run in March.<\/p>\n
Demary Jr. has still come up big when UConn has needed him \u2014 he was huge in the BYU game and has made big baskets and good plays despite the recent low totals \u2014 and has been instrumental in breaking late-game full-court presses from opponents. But he still has room for improvement as he continues to get comfortable in Dan Hurley\u2019s elaborate offense.<\/p>\n
UConn should be able to do whatever it wants offensively against Texas, as the Longhorn defense is not nearly as good as the likes of Illinois, Kansas, or Florida. Texas barely forces any turnovers, fouls almost as much as UConn does, and rarely blocks shots.<\/p>\n
Offensively, the Longhorns are a different story, with a very competent offense that thrives on drawing contact. Texas ranks 10th nationally in free-throw rate, and a UConn team that has a penchant for fouling will have to stay out of foul trouble to try and lock down the Longhorns.<\/p>\n
Seven-footer Matas Vokietaitis leads UT with 15.9 points per game. He should be another tough test for Reed and freshman Eric Reibe to contend with. Guards Jordan Pope and Swain are the only other Longhorns averaging double figures at 12.5 and 15.7 points per game, respectively. Pope is dangerous from deep as a 37.5 3-point shooter, and Wilcher leads the team at 43.2 percent from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UConn men\u2019s basketball\u2019s vaunted non-conference schedule comes to an end on Friday night, as the Huskies take on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28,35858],"class_list":["post-85480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-uconn-mens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}