UConn’s Rebounding Woes Raise Alarms for Dan Hurley
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Through three games, the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team has been undefeated, brilliant at home and deep enough to overwhelm opponents from nearly every spot on the floor. However, amid the blowout wins, head coach Dan Hurley is seeing cracks he doesn’t like.
After the 89–62 win over Columbia earlier this week, Hurley’s tone wasn’t celebratory. Instead, he was concerned. Despite a third straight win and 56.6% from the field and 43.5% from 3-point range, he made it clear that the Huskies’ lapses are early warning signs that can’t be ignored.
“Yeah, you know, some of it was missing some shots,” Hurley said. “I thought Solo (Ball) went three for nine. I thought he had like nine great threes. You know, you miss 10 free throws, you obviously have that sequence that brought me back to the Michigan State game, where we couldn’t rebound free throws.”
UConn's Rebounding Woes
In that Columbia matchup, the Huskies’ rebounding edge was just +2, despite their size and athleticism. The Huskies dominated the paint 40–24 and looked untouchable for much of the first half. Then, things changed.
Alex is from Mass so you know he likes Dunkin(g) pic.twitter.com/thDer6WgXo
— UConn Men's Basketball (@UConnMBB) November 11, 2025
At one point, Columbia made multiple offensive boards on consecutive possessions, forcing UConn to defend for nearly 90 seconds straight. Despite shooting 60.6% in the first half, the Huskies allowed the Lions to win several plays that extended possessions and slowed their tempo.
"We had that really bad stretch, rebounding showed itself to be a potential issue today," added Hurley. "We had that stretch where it felt like the ball was at the other end for about a minute and a half on missed shots and missed free throws. So, you know, that’s something I would say is alarming."
The sequence resembled the preseason test against Michigan State, when UConn gave up numerous second-chance points and found itself scrambling under the rim. That Michigan State game, though technically an exhibition, still stung.
The Huskies, of course, won that match 76–69, but committed 34 fouls and sent the Spartans to the line 30 times. The whistle-heavy contest had 56 total fouls and 74 free throws between both teams. UConn struggled to maintain rhythm, with Michigan State scoring 17 second-chance points and two players recording double-doubles.
“We had a stretch where we did not play well for eight straight minutes,” Hurley said. “You can’t play poorly into the stretch of schedule that we’re going into for three or four straight possessions, or else the game gets away from you.”
Even in victory, he’s right to sound alarmed. Columbia outscored UConn briefly in the second half, closing within 19 points before the Huskies steadied themselves behind the steady play of Silas Demary Jr.’s nine assists and the scoring punch of Solo Ball and Alex Karaban. Ball finished with 23 points but also missed six of nine attempts from deep, shots Hurley still called “great looks.”
What Lies Ahead for UConn and Dan Hurley?
The tune-ups are over. Now, it gets real for the Huskies. Next up, they head to TD Garden for a top-10 showdown with No. 7 BYU in the Hall of Fame Series in Boston. And to make it interesting, the gauntlet only begins there.
Arizona awaits next week, followed by Illinois on Nov. 28 in New York, and Kansas in Lawrence on Dec. 2. That’s a four-game stretch that could either strengthen UConn’s championship armor or expose more cracks in its foundation.
As Hurley himself puts it, "We had things at the rim that second half easily could have played out between 30 and 40 points. But we just didn’t play a full 40-minute game, and now we’re heading into a part of the schedule where if you don’t play a full 40-minute game, you can’t play."
Hurley’s message, then, is as much a warning as it is a challenge. Now comes the stretch where every missed rebound and every mental lapse carries weight.
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.