Reloaded No. 3 UConn opens three-peat quest vs. Sacred Heart

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UConn begins a quest for a third straight national championship when the Huskies open the season at home against Sacred Heart.

The Wednesday (Nov. 6) tip-off game for UConn is one of four games on the schedule before the Huskies hit the islands for the Maui Invitational and a first-round matchup with Memphis (Nov. 25).

Coach Dan Hurley put his trust into his powerhouse program in the offseason, eschewing overtures from the Los Angeles Lakers to chase history with the Huskies.

No Division I program has won three straight championships since UCLA claimed seven in a row from 1967 to 1973.

A cast change makes this UConn club more of an unknown than previous net-cutting iterations. While Hurley passed on jumping to the pros, the third-ranked Huskies had four of last year's five starters leave for the NBA, but Hurley said this might be the deepest team he's ever had.

"We think, top to bottom, this could be our most talented roster," Hurley said. "Maybe a little bit young, but the talent is impressive."

UConn (37-3 overall, 18-2 in the Big East last season) starts the season planning to build around lone returning starter Alex Karaban. A 6-foot-8 junior forward, Karaban averaged 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds last season.

"Alex gets a chance to be more of an impact player at the offensive end," Hurley said. "Somebody who has a chance to create more and attack more. ... There's a lot of weight you have to carry when you're the man, and Alex is about to carry it."

Sophomore forward Jaylin Stewart, sophomore guard Solo Ball and senior guard Hassan Diarra are pegged for bigger roles this season, and the Huskies added two transfers projected to have a huge impact: guard Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary's) and center Tarris Reed Jr. (Michigan).

"I think most importantly we have to get these two transfers up to speed, because they're not exactly where we want them to be right now," Hurley said. "And the sophomore class is going to be huge. I understand the questions about us banking on some people who haven't done it before, but we've done it the last two years and it's worked out. We do have a championship DNA. We have a championship belief. I think there's a confidence in the way that we play. We've dominated the sport at the most critical time, March Madness."

Sacred Heart opens the season at Temple (Nov. 4) with some of the same challenges, even if their stated goals aren't the same as UConn.

The Pioneers lost four of their top five scorers from a team that went 16-16 overall and 10-6 in the Northeast Conference last season. They move to the MAAC for 2024-25 and were selected 13th in the conference preseason coaches' poll.

There are six true freshmen on the Sacred Heart roster, which features only one player taller than 6-foot-9. Redshirt junior Tanner Thomas was named to the All-MAAC preseason third team. Thomas averaged 10.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game in nine contests last season before sustaining a season-ending injury in December.

"He's versatile," Sacred Heart coach Anthony Latina said. "He was our best defensive rebounder, and we were a bad defensive rebounding team. He makes threes, but he can play outside and in. We need him to be a solid double-figure guy for us."

Bryce Johnson also returned to Sacred Heart after transferring to Northeastern last year. Johnson spent three seasons at Sacred Heart before he first entered the transfer portal.

--Field Level Media