Dan Hurley Continues To Challenge UConn Junior Guard: 'Take A Charge'
UConn Huskies junior guard Aidan Mahaney saw two threes go through the bucket on Tuesday night, a welcome sight for the sharpshooter who has struggled to hit shots recently.
Even so, Mahaney’s head coach wants and needs more from him.
Mahaney ended up with 10 points on the night (4-for-10 from the field) in an overall sloppy victory for UConn over East Texas A&M that Dan Hurley called “comically bad.”
While Mahaney didn’t partake in the turnover explosion for UConn, he’s not defending to the Hurley standard, something the coach alluded to during Tuesday’s postgame presser.
“We know eventually (Mahaney’s) scoring will get there but he has got to defend, make plays on the ball, be disruptive defensively, and take a charge,” Hurley said.
“He has to play basketball and see things such as rollers. Our perimeter people aren’t seeing each other well. Guys like Andre Jackson, Tristen (Newton), Cam (Spencer), and Steph (Castle) saw these things. Alex (Karaban) sees it too.”
Four games into the season, Hurley isn’t getting the production (on both ends) that he needs collectively from Mahaney and Hassan Diarra, an issue that Hurley recently labeled as UConn’s biggest concern.
Mahaney and Diarra will surely improve as the young season matures, but they aren’t the guards that Newton, Spencer, and Castle were. Those guys are NBA players and big guards, neither qualities of which can be attributed to the Mahaney/Diarra duo.
It’s clear that Hurley is holding those players up as a standard for Mahaney and Diarra, but to expect them to reach such a level might not be realistic.
A harsh reality: UConn’s deep corps of talented wings will have to make up for the fact that the team’s guards aren’t as good this year.
More NCAA: UConn's Dan Hurley Laments 19 Turnovers Versus East Texas A&M: 'Comically Bad'
-6cddf44b9a81eadb9d1a4c19c1b3db49.jpeg "Colin Keane")
Colin Keane is a contributing journalist for "UConn Huskies On SI." Born in Illinois, Colin grew up in Massachusetts as the third of four brothers. For his high school education, Colin attended St. Mark's School (Southborough, MA), where he played basketball and soccer and served as student body president. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Villanova University. Colin currently resides in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. For all business/marketing inquiries regarding "UConn Huskies On SI," please reach out to Scott Neville: scott@wtfsports.org