Neill Ostrout: Huskies ready to face hostile environment

Dec. 6—STORRS — It's been nearly two years since the UConn men's basketball team has heard the din inside an opponent's packed gym. It's been a decade since the Huskies have played inside one that uses firearms.

"We haven't played a true road game since like March, that was like Tulane before COVID," UConn coach Dan Hurley said Saturday, referring to a UConn win in New Orleans on March 8, 2020. "And then in terms of there actually being a real big crowd, I can't remember the last time we played in a hostile environment."

And the one the Huskies are visiting this week in Morgantown, West Virginia, has very specific celebratory effect that is quite a shock to those who have never experienced it before.

"I'll prepare the guys. I'll let them know the musket. They shoot the musket, I think, at halftime," Hurley said of the practice during games at the West Virginia University Coliseum. "People are going to be screaming at them, it's going to be intense. But there's nothing better than what we're about to experience."

There's only one problem: the Huskies are a little short on firepower at the moment

UConn, ranked 17th in the nation and with only one blemish on its record, is building a solid resume. A nice bounce-back performance Saturday in throttling Grambling State 88-59 had it primed for a possible NCAA Tournament run.

But the Huskies will be without wing Tyrese Martin (wrist) for another 10 days or so and without center Adama Sanogo (abdomen) for perhaps much longer.

And Hurley has made it clear that it doesn't matter who is on the court for his Huskies, or what kind of loud, albeit blank rounds, the opposition fires at them, there will be no moral victories.

"We've got to find a way to win these games. We do not want Adama and Tyrese returning to something that is going bad," Hurley said.

UConn has two non-conference games left before it begins Big East play. It will be in Morgantown Wednesday to face Bob Huggins' Mountaineers then it will clash with St. Bonaventure Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, as part of the Never Forget Tribute Classic.

The games are about to get extremely challenging for the Huskies, but that's what Hurley enjoys. Games in which the big-name program is expected to blow out its foe with ease, often are more stressful.

"The buy games, they suck. You're just trying to avoid disaster. You just pray that your guys don't take the game lightly and you don't just blow your season up by blowing one of these games," Hurley said. "But the next 22, that's what this thing's all about."

How many of those 22 Martin, and especially Sanogo, participate in could well determine how far the Huskies go this season.

What was clear to Hurley Saturday is that the Huskies are relying on point guard R.J. Cole, mostly for offense but also on defense, and forward Isaiah Whaley, mostly on defense but also on offense, a great deal in their current configuration.

"We can afford those guys to be off a tick," Hurley said of Cole and Whaley. "And everyone else has got to give us more."

Two of the biggest in the "we need more" category are senior forward Tyler Polley and junior big man Akok Akok.

Polley, whose jump shot has been at times devastating to opponents in his five-year UConn career, continues to struggle with consistency. That will be an issue this month if it continues.

"We're going to need double-figure points from him nightly," Hurley said of Polley. "He's going to have to give it to us pretty much every night."

Akok, whose Achilles injury interrupted his collegiate career and continues to provide a seemingly slight impediment to his performances, showed some flashes that he's ready to step up in Sanogo's absence.

He blocked four shots against Grambling and rebounded slightly better Saturday than he has much of this season, but Hurley was especially keen to note Akok's offensive effort. It's something that was dormant during the Huskies' games in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

"He played offense (Saturday). As opposed to in the Bahamas where he was just kind of a little bit frozen out there in terms of trying to get into the flow of the way things happen offensively," Hurley said.

"We're going need close to double-figure points from him, an impact on the defensive and offensive glass, and that shot-blocking."

Hurley has praised the Huskies' depth at length this season, though most of those proclamations came prior to the Martin and Sanogo injuries.

That will certainly be tested this week in West Virginia and New Jersey.

And if Polley and Akok falter, the Huskies aren't completely sunk, of course. Freshman Jordan Hawkins has already proved capable of scoring, and his defense is improving at a reasonable rate.

And then there is freshman Samson Johnson. The 6-foot-10 center originally from Togo had almost unlimited potential, along with almost unlimited ability to drive his coach insane.

"You can see the talent there with him. When he just gets a clue as to what's going on out there...," Hurley said.

Well, Johnson at least knows about the musket.

The finer points of help defense and offensive sets? Those are among the other bullet points he's still working on.

Neill Ostrout is the sports editor of the Journal Inquirer.

Neill covers UConn men's basketball and UConn football teams, and he keeps a finger on the pulse of Connecticut sports. For live game updates, and more insight into UConn athletics, player transfers, and team changes, follow Neill on Twitter: @NeillOstrout, Facebook: JINeillO, and Instagram: @NeillOstrout.