{"id":68556,"date":"2025-08-08T21:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/68556\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T21:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T21:58:06","slug":"he-checks-every-box-tarris-reed-jr-is-primed-to-be-a-dominant-force-for-uconn-mens-basketball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/68556\/","title":{"rendered":"‘He checks every box:’ Tarris Reed Jr. is primed to be a dominant force for UConn men’s basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORRS \u2013 If Tarris Reed Jr.<\/a> was put through a lie detector test last December and asked if his UConn<\/a> coaches believed in him, Dan Hurley thinks he probably would\u2019ve said no.<\/p>\n

Reed, laughing at the idea, agreed.<\/p>\n

There were fundamental techniques and communication issues that the staff was constantly on him about as they guided his development into an all-Big East-caliber<\/a> center and the league\u2019s sixth man of the year<\/a>\u00a0by the end of his first season with the Huskies.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I felt like Coach was attacking me,\u201d he said. \u201cBut then you really take a step back after the season and this season I\u2019m like, man, that\u2019s love. Like he really wanted the absolute most out of me. And when this season ends, whenever my college career is done, what Coach Hurley and the coaching staff has done for me these two years is like \u2026 (I\u2019m) forever grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t much to get after Reed for on Friday, when the program opened its doors to donors and local media for the second time this summer. Save for the one 3-pointer he attempted and a pair of missed free throws, Reed was an unstoppable force as he finished with an unofficial 26 points in the scrimmage period and didn\u2019t miss a field goal inside the arc.<\/p>\n

The former Michigan Wolverine led the grey team, coached by UConn\u2019s associate head coach Kimani Young, to a blowout, 73-36 win over first-year assistant Mike Nardi\u2019s blue squad. It was grey\u2019s first win in the three-game series as blue, led by Alex Karaban and Solo Ball, won by 10 and 12 points in the first two games.<\/p>\n

Friday was also the first time fans got a look at freshman 7-footer Eric Reibe<\/a>, the second piece of UConn\u2019s two-headed monster at center who\u2019d been resting after helping Germany to the championship game in the U19 FIBA World Cup. A different player than the bruising Reed, Reibe found his spots and scored 12 points, making both of his shot attempts from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

\"UConnUConn freshman Eric Reibe, right, here playing for Germany in FIBA U19 World Cup early in the summer, will team up with Tarris Reed Jr. to give the Huskies a strong center tandem. (Courtesy of FIBA)<\/p>\n

\u201cEric is super skilled. You can see the overseas game in him,\u201d Reed said. \u201cHe can score at all three levels, overall just getting him ready for the physicality of the Big East because it shocked me last year in my first couple games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gonna need him a lot this season and his skill is gonna give the defense a hard time because he can do so many things with the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hurley imagines a minutes distribution at center similar to the 2022-23 national championship season, when Adama Sanogo started and played around 27 minutes per game and a freshman Donovan Clingan played 13, give or take a few.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Reibe is) going through what Donovan went through with Adama<\/a>,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cI mean, Donovan got his ass kicked a lot that summer and then he started having days. \u2026 Adama was pretty relentless and ruthless, so that is what got Donovan ready for the type of freshman year he had. And I think Tarris is gonna do the same thing for Eric, because Tarris could be one of the two or three best big guys in the country based on his talent. So that\u2019s what Eric\u2019s gotta deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed has studied film of Sanogo since he was at Michigan. When he got to UConn, the main focus was on simplifying his game, channeling his talent for a more efficient play style \u2013 much of what made Sanogo, the most outstanding player at the 2023 Final Four, so dominant.<\/p>\n

On Friday, as he caught lob passes from point guard Silas Demary Jr., finished through contact and generated second-chance opportunities on the offensive glass, he didn\u2019t look far off. Reed, in fact, looked like a physical specimen; Hurley called him a freak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe measured him at 6-foot-10 and a half, 268 pounds, and he looks like he could weigh 220. He moves better than most guards laterally, running, vertical athleticism off the board, he checks every box,\u201d Hurley said. \u201cWith him it\u2019s motor, it\u2019s intensity, it\u2019s a warrior mentality, it\u2019s discipline, it\u2019s losing your technique and fundamentals at times. If this guy puts it all together, he\u2019s as good a center as there is in the country. But he\u2019s got to, for the first time in his career, we\u2019ve got to help him put it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Had he not been able to recognize where Hurley\u2019s demands were coming from during a tough winter, Reed could\u2019ve easily found somewhere else to play, and be paid, this season. But, after the season, Hurley made his vision clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalking to Coach about my future here, where he sees me playing, where he sees me fit and how I can expand here,\u201d Reed said. \u201cI just have a lot more to prove. Coming back here, like what AK did, just a lot more to prove. And national championship, I don\u2019t have one. So that\u2019s the goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally Published: August 8, 2025 at 3:31 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STORRS \u2013 If Tarris Reed Jr. was put through a lie detector test last December and asked if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[402,33091,20242,15861,33086,49877,49875,15862,983,398,400,49876,401,99,46747,15857,15858],"class_list":["post-68556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-big-east-mens-basketball","tag-connecticut-news","tag-ct-news","tag-dan-hurley","tag-division-i-mens-basketball","tag-eric-reibe","tag-hartford-courant","tag-local-news","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-mens-basketball","tag-ncaabasketball","tag-sports","tag-tarris-reed-jr","tag-uconn","tag-uconn-mens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}