UConn won its last natty with help from 2 power league transfers; Reed, Demary are hoping for same

STORRS, Conn. — In the days and weeks after Silas Demary Jr. arrived on the next stage of his basketball career, he sought out the one UConn men’s player who was navigating a similar path coming from another power conference school.

The year before Demary left Georgia to try to help the Huskies win their third national title in a four-year span, Tarris Reed Jr. made a jump from Michigan to UConn. Demary received support and assurances that they both made the right decision and great things were ahead.

Advertisement

“He was somebody I leaned on a lot when I first got here asking him how were your first couple of weeks here, was it always this tough?” Demary said. “I was leaning on him a lot through the whole season.”

Reed only started one game during the 2024-25 season at UConn as he played behind Samson Johnson, who was part of two national championship teams. Demary had no such grace period. He started from the first game of the season, teaming with Dayton transfer Malachi Smith to handle the point guard duties.

“You are expected to do all these great things from the jump,” Reed said. “It is tough, they set the bar so high that you can’t reach it some days. Credit to Silas for hanging in. Talking to him that all you are going through right now is what I went through last year.”

Reed seems to be figuring things out at the perfect time. Since the start of the Big East Tournament, he is averaging 18.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. He opened the NCAA Tournament with a 31-point and 27-rebound game against Furman. He joined Elgin Baylor, Elvin Hayes and Zach Edey as the only players to enter the Final Four with at least 80 points and 50 rebounds.

Advertisement

“This is it,” Reed said. “I am going to go for it. The St. John’s game, I learned that we have to go out with honor – win, lose or draw, I am going down swinging. Every game that is my approach and our approach as a team.”

The last time UConn won the national championship the team also had two…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/uconn-won-last-natty-help-185141585.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-04-01 18:51:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.