Doubt Hassan 'Point God' Diarra, Dan Hurley's UConn At Your Own Risk
Hassan Diarra has come to epitomize the narrative of UConn’s season: doubt the Huskies at your own risk.
In all fairness, it was difficult to throw full support behind Diarra in November with Dan Hurley himself publicly admitting that UConn’s biggest concern was at point guard.
Hurley started the season with Aidan Mahaney at point but soon after swapped the ineffective Mahaney out for Diarra, who initially looked just as overwhelmed with the role.
However, Diarra, much like UConn as a team, turned a corner after Maui and never looked back.
The senior has been one of the best point guards in the nation this month and is a huge reason why the Huskies have won six games in a row.
Per CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein, Diarra has tallied 48 assists to just nine turnovers during the six-game streak.
Diarra was nothing short of a point god versus Xavier on Wednesday, dishing out 11 dimes to just a single turnover in 42 minutes. He followed that up with a seven-assist, two-turnover game in the win over Butler on Saturday.
Hurley praised Diarra during the postgame presser inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
"He's a guy with big-time guts and confidence,” Hurley said.
“You look at him in the huddle as a teammate and you believe you're out there with General Hassan and that we're going to find a way to win."
CT Insider's David Borges also backed Diarra in a charged post to X on Saturday.
“There are people (I'm serious) who still complain about Diarra as PG,” Borges said.
“Guy has been everything Huskies have needed since return to starting lineup.”
Diarra was averaging 8.0 points and 6.2 assists per game for the Huskies entering Saturday, both career highs for the reigning BIG EAST Sixth Man Award winner.
He was also averaging 25.8 minutes per game entering Saturday, a number that won’t diminish in the slightest if Diarra keeps playing the best basketball of his life.
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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