Huskies focused on Oklahoma State, not recent praise

Dec. 1—STORRS — The UConn men's basketball team's 12-position jump to No. 8 in this week's Associated Press top 25 poll caught coach Dan Hurley by surprise.

Not because his Huskies moved into the top 10 for the first time since 2013, but rather the same voters left the team outside the top 25 in the preseason poll last month.

"Coming off this West Coast trip, getting back here, all of the outside adulation. All of this now that we're the team of the moment that's now the most complete team in the country," Hurley said following practice Wednesday. "So we weren't good enough to be a top 25 team but now we're the most complete team in the country after two weeks? We're not buying that (stuff). We're doing what we do and getting ready to go tomorrow night."

UConn (8-0) will put aside the recent praise as it faces another stiff test tonight when it welcomes Oklahoma State to Gampel Pavilion for a game in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m. (FS1).

"It's going to be our toughest game of the year," Hurley said. "We know that. We have to be really ready to go."

The Huskies are off to their best start since 2013-14. They are returning home following their Phil Knight Invitational tournament win Thanksgiving weekend in Portland, Oregon.

What's been the key to the success so far in Hurley's mind?

"Just the cohesion," he said. "Being able to get the group to play as cohesively as they have at both ends of the court when basically none of these guys have played together for the most part. And to have freshmen in such important roles producing in high-leverage games. Just how these guys have been able to do it so quickly when it's a group that had no experience playing together."

Hurley said that cohesiveness has been in the works since the summer. But even he admitted he didn't think things would gel this early into the season.

"I felt like there could be some struggles in the non-conference because of the newness and the lack of chemistry in the group," Hurley said. "My fear was that maybe we would struggle in some of these bigger non-conference games, and then get demoralized maybe going into the Big East calendar.

"You knew the potential was there with the group in terms of what the quality could be at some point. So that was probably the fear. Before we could kind of mesh and get through the adversity and learn and grow, could things be so negative around a place like this that doesn't handle losing early in the season very well."

When asked why he felt the team has thrived despite facing adversity in much of young season, Hurley said it all comes back to the players.

"I just think that these guys played at a very high level," he said. "They stepped up. I mean the lights came on and they handled their business in those brutal bye games with Andre (Jackson) and Jordan (Hawkins) out. I think the group got some confidence that we were able to win without two of our best players. Then those guys returned, the lights came on and these guys stepped up."

A strong performance tonight is imperative for UConn as it looks to continue the momentum heading into their only true road game of the non-conference schedule Dec. 7 at Florida.

"We have a chip on our shoulder," Hurley said. "This thing can get away from you quickly too if you stray from your formula, which is we've got to do everything right. Elite defense, dominate the backboard, move the basketball, play for each other, play harder that the opponent. That's the script. We stick to that."

The Cowboys (5-2) topped Prairie View A&M 78-53 Sunday behind 16 points from Avery Anderson III and a double-double from Moussa Cisse.

"It's a very physical and fast team," senior guard Tristen Newton said. "Great guards, bigs that block shots and run the court. We've got to come out here, play our game and our style of defense. Move the ball so we can be successful."

Hurley described Oklahoma State as both "a top 30-type of team" and "an NCAA tournament team." He feels that the size the Cowboys have, including the 7-foot-1 Cisse and 6-foot-9 Kalib Boone will present challenges, but nothing the Huskies haven't seen already this year.

"We've played against some big teams," Hurley said. "Plus, a lot of these guys get to go against (7-foot-2 freshman) Donovan (Clingan) every day. But (Oklahoma State's) level of physicality and athleticism, it's jarring. If you don't do a good job of paint defense with these guys, they dunk. And they dunk loud and thunderous."

Johnson injury update

Following practice Wednesday, Hurley provided an injury update on sophomore Samson Johnson.

"I think Samson got better news," Hurley said. "He'll be able to start to ramp up and do, still not any on the court stuff, but you're hoping the guy can be back at some point in December in a game potentially if there's no setbacks."

Johnson has missed the last seven games after suffering a right foot injury during practice following the team's opener against Stonehill Nov. 7.

The 6-foot-10, 215-pound forward made his first career start against the Skyhawks. He had seven points and three rebounds in 16:19 of action.

Battle lines are drawn

Tonight's game marks the second time the Huskies are participating in the Big East-Big 12 Battle since returning to the Big East prior to the 2020-21 season.

Hurley likened the game, and the challenge as a whole, to the Phil Knight Invitational tournament Wednesday.

"It gives us another chance to win something," he said. "Tomorrow is like we're playing for something."

The Huskies fell in last year's challenge 56-53 at West Virginia. The conferences would go on to split the series 5-5. The Cowboys lost their game to Xavier 77-71.

The UConn/Oklahoma State game is one of three games in the Big East-Big 12 Battle tonight. Also on the slate is No. 7 Creighton at No. 2 Texas and Seton Hall at No. 9 Kansas.

Entering Thursday, the 2022 challenge was tied 2-2. Marquette topped No. 6 Baylor 96-70 Tuesday before Butler edged Kansas State 76-64 Wednesday evening to put the Big East up 2-0.

TCU beat Providence 75-62 Wednesday night to get the Big 12 on the board. Texas Tech then evened things up with a 79-65 win over Georgetown despite 13 points and seven assists from Hoyas sophomore and Windsor High grad Amir "Primo" Spears.

This is the final season of the four-year contract between the conferences. The Big East won the inaugural series 8-2 in 2019 while the conferences tied 3-3 in 2020.

Villanova hosts Oklahoma Saturday, the same night Xavier welcomes West Virginia. The series then concludes Sunday when St. John's is at No. 23 Iowa State.

For coverage of UConn football and men's basketball as well as area high school and local youth sports, follow Adam Betz on Twitter: @AdBetz1, Facebook: Adam Betz — Sports Writer, and Instagram: @AdBetzJI.