It appeared DePaul’s Troy D’Amico had an easy layup under the basket, which would’ve cut the Blue Demons’ deficit – once as large as 22 points – to just seven with less than eight minutes to go in Wintrust Arena Wednesday night.
But UConn forward Jayden Ross flew in from the perimeter, loaded up behind him and swatted the shot off the backboard.
He pushed the ball down the court to initiate UConn’s offense, four passes setting up a 3-point shot from Alex Karaban to end DePaul’s 15-2 run. At that point, Huskies fans could rest knowing there would be no New Year’s miracle run in Chicago, that UConn would hold on to win the game despite its defensive missteps in the second half.
Dan Hurley has stressed that this year’s UConn team will only go as far as its defense allows, and Ross is the player who he envisions raising the ceiling.
“Our defense is not what it’s been. He’s the type of player that could help us,” Hurley told reporters in Chicago after the 81-68 victory, the team’s seventh in a row. “If we could get him into the 20 minutes a game range, with his length and athleticism on the perimeter, he could be a stopper type like we’ve had with (Stephon) Castle, like we had with Andre Jackson.”
Ross certainly has the athleticism to jump with those two – just ask East Texas A&M forward Josh Taylor, who he posterized at Gampel Pavilion in November. He’s been said to be a better offensive player, 3-point shooter, than he’s shown (7-for-33, 21.2%), and his wingspan provides upside as a 3-and-D weapon.
Playing 15.3 minutes per game, Ross is averaging 4.2 points and 2.6 rebounds. He scored in double figures twice in two early-season games against low-major opponents, but hasn’t scored more than four points in any of UConn’s last six.
“We need his offense to come along a little bit that way, but that was a huge play. I thought his finish on the baseline was a huge, huge play. But he’s part of the reason why we were able to guard the (3-point) line a lot better, his length.” Hurley said, referencing an up-and-under layup Ross made around DePaul big N.J. Benson that put UConn up 12 with just over four minutes to go.
DePaul’s Layden Blocker drove past Ross multiple times in the first half and either drew a foul or missed the layup, but that was part of UConn’s game plan on Wednesday. The Huskies would settle for those “ugly drives,” as Hurley called them, in order to deny the 3-point line.
The Blue Demons came into the game ranked 19th in the nation in 3-point attempts per game, and 26th in 3-point shooting percentage. UConn entered the new year ranked No. 350 in 3-point percentage allowed, but the Huskies’ defensive strategy held coach Chris Holtmann’s team to just 2-for-10 shooting from deep in the first half and limited them to just two attempts, one make, in the second.
“We’re starving for perimeter defense, especially a big wing that could guard the way Jayden Ross has,” Hurley said Tuesday. “That could make us a lot harder to play against. He’s just got to be far enough along offensively so that his minutes can get into the 20s, which is what we want. It was nice to see him hit a 3 at Butler, I think he could bring some 3-and-D, he could help us on the offensive glass a lot, offensive and defensive glass, but those 3-and-D capabilities I think would garner him enormous time on the court.
“We have enough shooting, scoring. We’re second in the country in offensive efficiency – that’s with very little offensive rebounding and not a whole lot of transition offense because we can’t get stops. This roster, this team is just screaming for a guy in the perimeter, a two-way player with size. And he could cut into people’s minutes on the perimeter that aren’t giving it to us defensively.”
Solo Ball’s shooting leads No. 11 UConn men to 81-68 New Year’s Day victory at DePaul
Won’t be Solo’s last 7-ball
Speaking of sophomores Hurley bet on this offseason, Solo Ball had the best game of his career Wednesday night. Opposite Ross, his offense going much better than his defense, Ball shot 7-for-9 from beyond the arc, making four in a row as the first half closed to send UConn into the break with a 21-point lead.
“I want to see some things on defense I think where he was being beaten off the dribble – I’m a coach, man,” Hurley said, before diving into Ball’s 22-point, six-rebound effort. “So much of what we’re gonna become is based on how these sophomores develop, I’ve said that a bunch. Solo, he’s gonna have games where he makes five, six, seven 3s like this, that’s not surprising. We need his development as a guy that you put on the floor, can play off a shot fake, play off a live dribble. People would be running at him at the line and, as a straight line driver, he has the athleticism to now start being able to attack the rim with force. Solo’s got big upside, we bet heavy on him.”
Where was Jaylin Stewart?
Jaylin Stewart only played eight minutes on Wednesday and was rather ineffective as he finished the game scoreless with only an offensive foul (turnover) on his stat line. Turns out, the promising forward missed two and a half days with pink eye over the holiday break, which involved flights back and forth to home in Seattle before the team’s trip to Chicago.
“We couldn’t get the pink eye under control, so he wasn’t where he needed to be,” Hurley said. “But we’re gonna need him against Providence with Liam (McNeeley) likely to be out for some time.”
McNeeley, the freshman who’s been UConn’s second-best player behind Karaban, landed awkwardly on his ankle in the second half and sat the rest of the game in a walking boot. He had an MRI on Thursday, and Hurley hopes it isn’t anything worse than a sprain.
Aidan California?
Aidan Mahaney “rose from the ashes” (according to Hurley) during the Baylor game last month, but he didn’t instantly turn into a phoenix.
The junior St. Mary’s transfer – who started the season at point guard – said after that game that he felt there was still plenty of room to improve as he continued adjusting to a world at UConn much different from the comfort he left in the Bay Area. UConn had hoped Mahaney would come in and be a mix of what Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer provided in the back court last year, but now Hurley is comparing the role he envisions for Mahaney to that of another west coast Husky, Joey “California” Calcaterra.
“We just need him to be assertive and aggressive. We need the guy that was coming in off the bench and looking to be assertive and aggressive offensively, like he was against Baylor and like he was against Butler. Both of those games he played a big role in us winning,” Hurley said. “I guess in a similar way to kind of what Joey Calcaterra gave us, something along those lines, and keep building on that, doing more.”
