UConn's Three Keys to Victory Over Columbia
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Head coach Dan Hurley and his UConn Huskies look to keep their perfect season alive as the Columbia Lions come to town. The Huskies absolutely rolled over the UMass-Lowell River Hawks in the second game of the season 110-47 and there was a lot to like.
But now the Huskies turn the page to another non-conference matchup with the Lions and another game that the Huskies should win relatively easily. But you know what they say in every sport, no game is ever easy or supposed to be easy, it just depends on how you handle the situation.
But with the Lions in town, there are ways that the Huskies can make things easy for themselves. If the Huskies can do these things, they should walk away with another win and a 3-0 record to start the year.
1. Keep feeding Tarris Reed Jr.
When Reed Jr. made his debut the other night in the stomping of the River Hawks, the Huskies got him involved early and he was absolutely dominant. He finished the game with 20 points on 9-12 shooting and looked like his usual self.
Reed Jr. is that dominant force in the paint that can create offense like no other. The Huskies need to feed him the ball while he is on the court and let him get to the dirty areas. He is that good of a player and head coach Dan Hurley knows how to utilize him.
2. Keep letting Malachi Smith shoot
Smith is the Dayton Flyer transfer that came over to the Huskies in the offseason. Smith looked really good against the River Hawks when he led the Huskies' second unit once the starters went to the bench.
He finished the game with 14 points on 4-8 shooting and Smith also shot 3-4 from behind the arc. He was really good with the Flyers shooting from three-point land and did the same in the Huskies win over UMass-Lowell.
Keep letting him shoot the three-ball. Keep letting him get the open looks, the shots will fall with the more he takes them. He has the skill, just needs to keep up his effort.
3. Keep working at the free-throw line
In the matchup against the River Hawks, the Huskies finished 17-22 from the free-throw line. Those types of numbers are not going to fly against huge opponents like BYU or Texas or Florida. They need to solve this issue before they get to the top teams.
77% from the line is not a bad number, but against the good teams, leaving points on the board is not going to fly and will lose you a lot of games. They need to be better at this and Hurley will make sure they work on it.
Tyler is a 25 year old Journalism graduate from Georgia Southern University. Tyler is a big fan of hockey, baseball, basketball, and football, and also is a staff writer for Fansided.