What we learned about the UConn men’s basketball team through three exhibition wins

The UConn men’s basketball team cruised again in its final exhibition game Tuesday night, showing glimpses of Final Four potential as it continued to turn heads with a defensive effort that made Purdue look noncompetitive in the 76-53 drubbing.

Beating Syracuse, Michigan State and the Boilermakers, the Huskies only trailed for a total of six minutes and 46 seconds over three games.

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“We didn’t play great, but I think that we’re going to be able to learn a lot from this. And knowing that we were able to win by 23 and we didn’t have a great night, it just gives us more confidence that we’re gonna go to work and just continue to chip away and build on it,” said Jayden Ross, who started the show with a pair of corner 3-pointers and rose above the rim twice to dunk in transition.

UConn men’s basketball rolls past Purdue, 76-53, in final preseason exhibition

Ross is one of the six starters Hurley said this team has to work with, alongside Silas Demary Jr., Braylon Mullins, Nik Khamenia, Na’jai Hines and freshman Colben Landrew, who seems likely to start the season off the bench as a high-impact rookie. All six, UConn coach Dan Hurley said, will play “starter minutes” when the team plays true to its rotation next week.

UConn opens the season on Monday at 9 p.m. against Gardner-Webb at PeoplesBank Arena.

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“The thing with programs like ours, the bigger programs that are really talented, guys are gonna have to sacrifice,” Hurley said. “It looks like a team that could contend, and I think that’s all you’re hoping to see at this point.”

What we learned through three exhibition games:

Defense is calling card

Hurley said Tuesday night that this UConn team has more, better perimeter defenders than the championship teams in 2023 and ’24, which included a slew of NBA players on the perimeter like Stephon Castle, Cam Spencer and Andre Jackson Jr. The Huskies had 22 steals and 10 blocks over three games, and combined to hold their opponents to 56 of 163 (34%) shooting from…

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Publish date : 2026-10-28 17:18:00

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