Dan Hurley, UConn Doomed By Point Guard Crisis: 'Dont Know What We're Gonna Do'
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Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies could use a miracle at the point guard position right now. Hassan Diarra is playing on one leg and there isn’t anyone else on the roster to support him.
“We don’t really have a backup point guard that we’re comfortable with,” a grim Hurley said after UConn’s home loss on Friday night to St. John’s.
It was the Huskies’ second loss in a row at Gampel Pavilion, a building they’ve been unbeatable in until recently.
“I don’t know what we’re gonna do with the point guard situation with Hassan’s health and the lack of answers that we have there,” Hurley continued.
“Between Ahmad (Nowell) and Aidan (Mahaney), we need something there.”
“We’ve got to figure out that position, or the rest of the year’s gonna be a real struggle.”
The promising freshman Nowell is injured (ankle), and while Mahaney has improved as an offensive player since the start of the season, it’s become increasingly clear that he’s not an effective point guard/initiator at the high-major level. He’s much better playing off the ball.
Before Diarra got bit with the injury bug, UConn was more than okay at the PG position. Diarra went through a stretch where he was racking up assists and minimizing turnovers. He was playing like one of the best point guards in the country, actually.
But a nagging knee problem for Diarra has severely limited his capacity to create, which in turn has exposed one of UConn’s most crippling weaknesses: backup point guard play.
It’s not so much a weakness as much as a complete void. Nowell has excellent athleticism and strength, but Hurley and staff haven’t been able to give him enough consistent minutes for him to establish confidence and rhythm. Nowell missed all of December with a shoulder injury, completely stalling his growth and disabling Hurley from developing a key piece during a crucial timeframe.
Nowell is very talented and physically prepared to compete at the Big East level. It’s just not an ideal situation for a player who hasn’t been a regular rotation guy to be thrown into the fire in a pivotal role as March approaches.
Hurley could also opt to keep Nowell on the bench and simply feature Liam McNeeley in even more point forward actions, effectively turning McNeeley into UConn’s point guard whenever Diarra is off the floor.
The Huskies were really banking on Mahaney to play point this year, but it simply didn’t work out. Now it’s time to commit fully to a Plan B and work through the kinks of that plan before the postseason begins.
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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