UConn men’s basketball kicked off the 2024-25 season Monday night at Mohegan Sun with a comfortable 102-75 win over Rhode Island in the team’s only public exhibition of the preseason.
Dan Hurley rolled out a starting lineup of Hassan Diarra, Solo Ball, Liam McNeeley, Alex Karaban, and Samson Johnson to start off against the Rams, though Hurley utilized a multitude of lineups to get players involved early.
When Diarra picked up two quick fouls in the game’s early minutes, Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney was the first Husky off the bench to see game action. All 12 scholarship players saw action and scored except for freshman Isaiah Abraham, who had one block in three minutes of action.
Ball paced the Huskies through the first half, scoring seven points in 12 minutes of first-half action. Karaban led UConn with 10 first-half points and his presence along with Diarra’s helped make the Husky offense flow for the most part as efficiently as it did last season.
Despite some sloppiness with the ball (nine turnovers) in the first 20 minutes, UConn managed to take a 44-40 lead into halftime. After some halftime adjustments, the Huskies started the second half on a much stronger note, forcing two early turnovers for easy transition baskets to lead 50-41 after a layup from Jaylin Stewart.
From there on out, it was all UConn. Mahaney got hot and scored nine points in less than two minutes to extend the Huskies’ lead to 66-49 with 13:15 left to play.
Shortly after, freshman Ahmad Nowell debuted with back-to-back threes to grow the lead to 19, and UConn led by 20 or more for most of the game’s final 10 minutes before a late flurry of baskets from Youssouf Singare and Jayden Ross in the final minute stretched the lead to nearly 30.
The Huskies averaged 1.34 points per possession on the night, thanks to a strong second half in which UConn outscored Rhody 58-35. Ball led all scorers with 18 points and was joined by Mahoney (17 points), Karaban (13) and McNeeley (10). Diarra led the Huskies with nine assists, and Johnson led the way with four blocks.
Even with the comfortable win, the Huskies’ frontcourt was the only noticeable blemish against the Rams. Former UConn big man Javonte Brown was dominant down low against the likes of Johnson and Michigan transfer Tarris Reed Jr., scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 boards. Johnson finished the night with eight points, one rebound, and four fouls, while Reed added eight points and 10 boards. Overall, UConn was outrebounded in the first half but finished the night narrowly ahead, outrebounding Rhody 41-40.
Next up, the men’s team will join the women’s team at Gampel Pavilion for First Night on Friday, Oct. 18 before officially starting the season on Nov. 6 at Gampel against Sacred Heart.
