Story by
UConn Men's Basketball: One Question After Huskies' Season-Opening Win
- Story by
- UConn Men's Basketball: One Question After Huskies' Season-Opening Win
The UConn Huskies men's basketball team rolled to a season-opening win against Gardner-Webb on Monday night at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, beating the visitors by 40, 86-46.
Our own Jami Leabow gave her takeaways from the win, and while most of the performance was very good, I did walk away with one question for head coach Dan Hurley.
Advertisement
Where is the depth at for this team?
Again, this is NOT a criticism, it is a genuine question.
The Huskies played 14 players in this win, so the entire roster got a chance to see the floor, but only eight players saw truly meaningful minutes (more than six).
Is that going to be the plan moving forward? That UConn runs with an eight-man lineup? If so, then fine, but that just feels somewhat light to me. I don't expect 10 guys to all play 10 minutes or more a night, but it feels like having 8-9 guys you can trust is a good thing.
That kind of depth allows you to withstand injury, foul trouble and poor performance. Eight seems fine, nine seems better.
Advertisement
Again, not a true criticism, just a genuine question. Which leads me to another question.
UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley talks with an official as they take on the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs at PeoplesBank Arena. David Butler II-Imagn Images
The Solo Ball of it all
I don't have any inside information on this, but reading the tea leaves, it just feels like Ball is going to return this season . It was announced that he was going to miss the season with wrist surgery, but with the new "age-based eligibility model" taking hold, there's no harm in bringing Ball back for a partial season at this point.
We don't know when he'd return, if he does, but he'll immediately enter the rotation, so perhaps he's the ninth man that I'm hoping to see get real minutes.
Advertisement
If that ends up being true, it could be a big boost for the Huskies, as Ball (when healthy) is one of the top shooters in the Big East Conference. He actually led the conference in 3-point percentage as a sophomore in 2024-25.
Up next for Hurley and the Huskies
The No. 4-ranked Huskies are back in action on Friday night against No. 16 Michigan as part of the Hall of Fame Series in Boston.
It's a rematch of last year's national championship game, which was won by the Wolverines. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET and the game will air nationally on TNT television.
