BY ALEJANDRO LOPEZ
NEW YORK–No. 5 UConn dominated No. 13 Illinois at Madison Square Garden on Friday. The win served as a statement around the country that the Huskies are one of the elite teams in college basketball. Yet the feeling around the finally healthy Huskies is that they can continue to improve as they look to compete with the other powerhouses around the country.
Key players Braylon Mullins and Tarris Reed Jr. suited up for UConn’s game against the Fighting Illini. It was the first fully healthy game for the Huskies this season, however, the two players were on a minutes restriction and seemingly unable to get in a good rhythm.
“He [Reed] changes us offensively and defensively,” Hurley said after UConn’s 74-61 win over Illinois. “When we start running around the three-point line too much because we don’t have a lot of diversity on offense, he solves a lot of that problem because you’re talking about a guy who’s a 70% shooter when we throw him the ball around the block area.”
“They’re both pushing through it right now and obviously it’s Braylon’s first ever college game so he’s going to continue to get better and Tarris, he’s still striving so just getting them back they’re going to continue to get comfortable out there,” UConn forward Alex Karaban added. “I mean having those two guys back changes everything for us offensively, defensively and it just makes us even more dangerous so I’m excited for that.”
Hurley hopes to have Mullins and Reed off their minutes restriction in time for their game on Tuesday against Kansas.
“We want to get these guys to the point where we can go into Tuesday and you’re not talking about minutes restrictions because those two guys change our team a lot,” he said.
While UConn has been considered to be a great team all season, their loss to Arizona made some question whether they could hang with the truly elite teams in college basketball. But with a fully healthy roster and a dominant showcase against the No. 13 team in the country the Huskies could have their sights set on solidifying themselves as one of college baskebtall’s top tier teams.
“It was a very difficult feeling for our team versus Arizona and the way they man-handled us and the lack of relentless efforts so we knew we had to do that today, anything in the plus was a positive,” Hurley said.
UConn’s next ranked test will come on Dec. 9 against the defending national champion Florida Gators for the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
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