courant
HARTFORD — Although it won't count in the standings, Tuesday's preseason exhibition between the UConn men's basketball team and Syracuse at Mohegan Sun Arena will rekindle a dormant Big East rivalry that has lain quiet for eight years.
The two programs haven't met on the hardwood since the 2018-19 campaign, Dan Hurley's first year at the helm for the Huskies. In that contest—the 95th all-time meeting—UConn emerged with an 83-76 victory to open the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Since then, Syracuse has made just one NCAA Tournament appearance, parted ways with legendary coach Jim Boeheim, and moved on from his successor, Adrian Autry. However, the Orange have reignited their fan base by hiring program icon Gerry McNamara, who managed to retain Carmelo Anthony's son, Kiyan, ahead of his sophomore season and assemble a roster expected to compete in the middle of the ACC.
Hurley expressed a desire to revive the rivalry with future regular-season games. "You grow up watching Pearl (Washington), that's when the Big East was just so special," he said, recalling his first visit to Syracuse's Dome in 1988 while accompanying his brother Bobby on an unofficial visit. "It's a game that hopefully we're able to get on the schedule here at some point. It's a big rivalry between the fan bases, it's a game that probably should annually be played at MSG, I would think, as part of the nonconference. I think the world of Gerry and what he's done in his basketball life and career, and what's gonna do there. As soon as those guys want to turn this from an exhibition to a regular season game, I think it would be awesome."
For now, Tuesday's matchup will primarily serve as an opportunity for both squads to identify areas needing improvement before the games count. The exhibition will resemble a regular game more than past exhibitions, as the NCAA has tightened rules on extending the foul limit beyond the standard five.
UConn will not be at full strength: Braylon Mullins continues to recover from an undisclosed injury, and Solo Ball is still progressing from offseason wrist surgery, now taking mid-range shots. Several other unnamed players are also slightly banged up and may be limited or unavailable.
"It's UConn and Syracuse, both teams are going to play really, really hard because it matters when the both of us play a game in sports," Hurley said. "Whether it's soccer, swimming and diving, football, basketball, it's like, Syracuse and UConn playing, you've got to be ready to compete. I'm looking at it mostly as an opportunity to try to learn things about our team the best we can. And to obviously compete and play to your principles. But we're not gonna be going through the things we're gonna try to save for these early nonconference big games."
Silas Script
UConn's offense is known for its deliberate pace, but a new variable may be introduced this year, with point guard Silas Demary Jr. being given more freedom. "(I'm looking for) Silas just to really allow us to play outside of our system on offense because he's creating a lot more offense for us off-script," Hurley said. "We just want to see him generating offense off-script and taking some pressure off of our play sheet in terms of having to run things to generate offense. We need him to create more offense for our team."
Demary added: "Last year there was times where I was looking for play calls, but now he's just letting me go make plays, letting me play my game so we don't have to always slow down the pace. We're trying to get more points in transition and just create more opportunities without having to call something."
Jim Calhoun Book Signing
Former UConn coach Jim Calhoun will sign copies of his book, More Than A Game, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. near the arena entrance at Mohegan Sun.
What to Know
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
Time/date: 7 p.m., Tuesday
TV: NBC Sports Boston
Streaming: UConn+
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9
Originally reported by courant.