University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
University of Missouri - Kansas City
Men's Basketball Rides Momentum Into Game 2
11/10/2018 2:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Hurley Asks Fans To Keep Up Excitement
UConn Athletic Communications
Nov. 10, 2018
STORRS, Conn. – Riding the momentum of a season-opening win before a raucous sellout crowd at Gampel Pavilion, the UConn men's basketball team continues play in the Regional Rounds of the 2018 2K Empire Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project against Missouri-Kansas City on Sunday (5 p.m.) at Gampel.
Feeding off the infectious enthusiasm of new head coach Dan Hurley, the Gampel fans clearly gave the Huskies the kind of boost they needed to push them over the finish line and Hurley was quick to acknowledge their part in the 80-70 victory.
"I'd like to thank the crowd for showing up and supporting us tonight," Hurley said. "They were awesome, the students were awesome. As we're building this, we need them back on Sunday just like that. We're trying to build this thing back to an elite level. This team needs that. It gives us an edge in terms of winning, getting our credibility back. It also helps, with the optics, with the recruits and everything. As far as it's been the last couple of years, we need that fan support."
The Huskies (1-0) never trailed against Morehead and, while clearly still a work in progress, they have established a foundation on which to build. While thrilled to have won the opener, Hurley was already busy picking out aspects he wants to see improved in Game 2. Â Â Â
"I was pretty happy with our halfcourt defense, but I didn't think we were aggressive enough with our ball pressure," he said. "We gave away too many free points. Turnovers and second-chance points are an issue for us."
Though the Huskies built leads of 13 in the first half and 16 in the second, they could never quite shake off the visiting Eagles. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
"I just thought we lacked a little bit of a killer," Hurley said. "You can't go from a team that's not good to a team with a killer instinct, but there were pockets in that game where we had a chance to extend it, if we were playing with fire. We had a chance to bury them a couple of times and we let them hang around. But for the first night, getting the jitters out of the way, I was happy with the performance."
Especially with the performance of sophomore big man Josh Carlton, who scored a career-high 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting and added 8 rebounds in the best all-around performance of his career.
"Obviously, we were thrilled with the way Josh played," Hurley said.
The Huskies also had three other double-figure scorers in senior Jalen Adams (16), redshirt soph Alterique Gilbert (15) and grad student Tarin Smith (12).
Hurley and his coaching staff will be looking for more of the same Sunday against UMKC (0-2), which will be playing its third straight road game after losses at Loyola Chicago and at Iowa.
"They have played a Final Four team and Iowa, a team probably in the top 30, two brutal road games," Hurley said. "So they are battle-tested. This time of year, there is so little film (on opponents) that game-planning is not as critical."
Besides, he and his staff are much more concerned with their own team.
"We have to be so focused on ourselves, locked in on what we have to do," he said. "We want to be much better than we were on Thursday."
GAMPEL PAVILION TRAFFIC PATTERNS
