20s and Up

[Wayne23]

#15 Villanova, 20-7, 11-5, is here next. We desperately need a win.

2/22: Ty Hill, Center: I had a great night, 17, 19, 4, holding my man to 8 and 5. We won easy, 82-62. We owned the paint, +17 RBs, +24 in the paint. Still one game cack of Creighton.

17-9, 9-8 Butler is here.

2/24: SG Russ Cant: I had a hot hand tonight, 23 and 9 on 7-12 shooting. Ty Hill had 14 and 10 and Stew Reys had 11 and 11. We won by 13. +17 RBs.

Scouting Coach Jay Edds: Our recruits are all looking really good as their high school seasons reach the playoffs. Center Dan Curry, #23 overall, looks like he’ll help us right away. The other 4 recruits are guards and they all look like they may help, especially SG Dan Rans.

At #11, 1st place Creighton, 21-6, 15-3. They beat us badly at our place, 61-77, so we’ll need to really be at our best to have a chance.

3/1: Stew Reys: Great game! We took control early and held it throughout, winning 77-62 to go into a first place tie with only one game to play. I had 17 and 19, Hill had 18 and 11. +11 RBs, +14 in the paint. Great win!

At 7-21, 4-15 DePaul to end the regular season.

3/3: PG Jem Maye: I had a terrific game. They were really covering everybody else well so I took my shots and wound up with 26 points, my all time best. We took control early in the 2nd half and never let them get closer than 5 in the final minutes. Russ Cant had 16, 4, and 4, with 5 steals.

We end the regular season at 25-7, 16-4, tied for 1st in the Big East. Ranked #6, NET #3.

+10.2 PPG, +9.1 RBs, -3.2 turnovers but 13 per game, which is too many.

Reys leads us in scoring with 17.0, and in RBs with 10.3. Russ Cant gets 12.6 PPG. Ty Hill gets 11.3 and 8.7 RBs.

Only Stew Reys declares for the draft so we should be really strong next year. Reys winds up #10 on the Norton list.

It look s like we’re the #2 seed in the Big East tournament.

[Wayne23]

3/9: We play #7 seed Providence, 15-16, in the quarter finals. We beat them by 21 and 14.

3/10: Ty Hill: This was a laugher, 89-62. Never a game. I had 18 and 12, and everybody played well. 42-12 in the paint, +20 RBs.

#3 seed, #17 ranked Villanova, 23-9, in the semis. We beat them by 12 and 20.

3/11: Russ Cant: They gave us a fight for almost 30 minutes. Then a 19-3 run put it away. I had 21 and 5. 16, 9 for Reys, 14, 13, 3 for Hill.

As expected it’s #12 Creighton, 24-7, for the title. We each won big on the other team’s floor. On paper this is a tough match up for us but we won easily last time, and they’re only 4-

3 vs. ranked teams.

3/12: Ty Hill: This was a battle for 35 minutes. Over the last 5 minutes we increased the lead to the final score of 83-73. It wasn’t easy. I had a great night, 21 and 5. I held my man
to 4 and 8. 12 each for Reys, Cant, and sub Duke Wagg. 14 for sub Luis Barr. +28 inside.

We’re the Big East champs. Will that be enough to get us a #1 seed?

[Wayne23]

3/12: #1 East, #1 overall. Didn’t expect that! We start with #16 seed Samford, 14-19.

3/16: Russ Cant, SG: As expected, this was a walk in the park, 96-69. I had 22, 2, 3, 4. 16, 15 for Reys, 16, 5 for Maye, 18, 5, 6 for Duke Wagg. Big edge inside.

#9 seed ST Johns, 23-10, in the 2nd round. This is a team we should beat.

3/18: Russ Cant, SG: This was a war, not at all what we expected. We won 70-66, but it wasn’t easy. Nobody ever led by more than 8. We made our free throws in the last minute to hang on. I had 23. 14, 16, 3 for Hill, 15, 10, 3 blocks for Reys.

Russ Cant hurt his wrist but he should be okay for our next game.

#4 seed, #15 ranked Purdue, 27-9, in the Sweet 16. They’re 3-3 vs. ranked teams. We think we’re better but they play good D, and they rebound.

3/23: Russ Cant: I’m on a roll, keeping my hot hand. I had 18 and 4 with 3 steals. 10, 12 for Reys. We won 70-58.

#7 seed San Diego ST, 26-10, in the Elite 8. We beat them in OT early in the season. We think we’re better but their SG can light it up. We’re stronger inside. We need to play better than we did against them last time.

3/25: Stew Reys: 95-80 and we’re in the Final Four! We led all the way, by as many as 24. I had 19 and 12. 14, 13 for Hill, 18, 3, 3, 3 steals for Cant. We owned the paint.

[Wayne23]

#4 ranked, #1 seed Duke, 32-5, in the national semifinal We beat them by 5 in the preseason NIT, but that was a LONG time ago. They’re a really good team, 4-2 vs. ranked teams.

They play good D and they hit the boards. We’ll need to be at our best.

4/1: Coach Wynn: Not our night. They just took us apart, 70-88. We scored only 25 in the 1st half, couldn’t hit a shot. We shot only 32.8% for the night. Not the way we wanted to end our season but I’m proud of what we accomplished.

Last game for Stew Reys, who’s going pro, and for sub guard Luis Barr and little used guard Shel Blak.

4/3: #$ Duke wins it all, beating #1 Kansas by 7. We lost to the champs!

[Wayne23]

4/4: Awards: Stew Reys is a 2nd team All American. In the Big East, Reys is POY and 1st team along with Ty Hill. I am Conf. COY.

Staff meeting: Coach Wynn: Okay, now we put our recruiting plan into effect. No top 20 recruits but as many low 20s and 30s as we can get, I think we can contend for championships with that plan and we won’t lose as many players to the NBA, at least not as quickly.

4/9: Lots of coaching jobs open and lots of calls but I’m home, and I’m not going anywhere.

4/23: I ask for a facilities upgrade.

Yes. We go from A- to A.

We end the season 32-8, 16-4, Final Four, ranked #3. Pretty good first year here at UConn!

[Wayne23]

5/1: Vermont joins the Big East.

#3 recruiting class. Preseason #4.

We’re concerned about who we will lose to the transfer portal. Not expecting any major losses but you never know.

5/22: We lose Duke Wagg, who would likely have been our first big man off the bench, and John Reed, an F/C who would not have played much. We need a couple of big men and maybe a guard in the portal.

Not a very deep pool. We see a big guy we like and are checking out some others.

5/26: We offer to a guard and a F/C.

5/29: We get the big guy. He’ll play a lot.

We offer to the same SG again. We’re going to be thin up front so we offer to a senior C/PF. We don’t like to go after seniors but we need a body.

We get both. So we’re finished with the portal.

6/26: We need 2 big guys.

Stew Reys went at #21 in the draft. I thought he’d go higher than that.

7/1: We’re focusing on 4 guys but looking at lots of others.

7/31: I offer to 2 Cs, #29 and #35.

8/7: 4 on the Norton list: PG Jem Maye is #17, C Dan Cuny is #20, SG Russ Cant is #38, and C Kyle Lane is #44.

8/14: We think we have a decent chance at both recruits. Time will tell.

[Wayne23]

9/18: I get both recruits, both of them are Centers. Currently #28 and #33.

10/2: First day of practice. I think we can compete at the highest level but we may be a year away. Time will tell.

11/12: We start tomorrow in the Coaches Classic vs. South Dakota ST. We’re the #2 seed, they’re #15.

Here’s the lineup, at least for now:

Soph Jem Maye is back at the Point.

Soph Russ Cant is back at SG.

We have 2 very good back up guards, frosh Lan Gain and soph Shep High, a transfer from Dayton. Both will fight for minutes. Frosh Trav Brod looks really good but there are no minutes to give him.

Senior Deon Wats is back at SF. He’s an outstanding player.

Junior Ty Hill moves from C to PF. His D is still not where we want it but the rest of his game is terrific.

Frosh Dan Cuny is at C. He’s a solid scorer and rebounder.

First big man off the bench is junior Kyle Lanc, a transfer from Butler, where he started. We don’t lose anything when he’s on the floor. Senior Kel Moye transferred from Baylor. He can play. Soph Alex Werr won’t see many minutes. His D isn’t very good.

[Wayne23]

11/13: Dan Cuny, frosh Center: My college career got off to a great start. I had 25 and 13 with 3 steals and 3 blocks, and held my opponent to 3 and 6. We won 96-69 and it was never close. Ty Hill had 18 and 14, Russ Cant had 13, 6, and 6. Great bench play, +40 in the paint, +26 RBs.

We play #7 seed Arkansas in the quarter finals. They won their opener by 12. We think we’re much better.

11/15: Dan Cuny: I had another great night, 16 and 8, and I outplayed my man. 10 each for Cant and sub guards Lan Gain and Shep High. We dominated inside.

It’s #6 seed Stanford, 2-0, in the semifinals. They won two close games to get here. We should have a huge edge inside. #1 seed Gonzaga was upset.

11/17: PF Ty Hill: I had my best game of the young season, 19 and 15 with 3 blocks. Dan Cuny looked like a freshman tonight, being in foul trouble all night and fouling out early. But we won very easily,

94-59. 15 and 4 for PG Jem Maye. +17 for the bench, +46 in the paint.

We play #18 ranked, #4 seed Oklahoma ST for the title. They’ve looked really good in their first three but they really haven’t played anybody.

Kel Moye broke his hand. Out for about a month. He’s our #2 big man off the bench.

11/19: Ty Hill: We win the Coaches Classic, 74-61. They took an early lead, and led by as many as 11 but we finally woke up and took control. I had 12 and 12. Dan Cuny fouled out again but he had 14
and 8. SF Deon Wats had 13, 7, 3 steals, 6 blocks. We definitely won this one inside. It was good to get at least a little bit of a challenge.

11/20: We’re ranked #1 in the country.

[Wayne23]

We finally play at home against #15 Arizona, 2-1. Start of a 4 game homestand.

11/21: Dan Cuny: Back on track! I had 20 and 11 and stayed out of foul trouble. We won by 32. 13, 10 for Wats. Ty Hill missed most of the game with intestinal flu but he should be okay for our next game. Sub Kyle Lang filled in for him nicely with 21 and 6. +32 inside.

A couple of guys down with minor injuries and Moye is still out with the broken hand.

#11 Duke, 3-0, is here next.

11/24: Ty Hill: We blew them away, 91-59. I had 22 and 15 with 5 blockx. Our guards outplayed theirs. Good bench play and total control inside.

#2 Memphis, 5-0, is here. They’re a good team both inside and outside. We’ll need to play well.

11/28: Sub C/PF Kyle Lanc. We didn’t expect a blowout but we got one, 95-73, mostly due to our great bench play, 52-10. I had 19, 10, and 3 steals. Shep High had 16, and Lan Gain had 11.

The 4 game homestand ends against 4-1 Michigan ST. This is a team we should beat.

12/1: Coach Wynn: First challenge of a season and it was a battle all the way, 99-97. There were 6 lead changes and 4 ties in the last 2 minutes. We came down with the game tied and 7.7 to go. Jem
Maye faked to Hill and threw a perfect pass to Dan Cuny who hit a six footer at the buzzer for the win.

Cuny had 22 and 4. Our starting guards, Maye and Cant had 13 each, and Hill had 12 and 4 with 4 steals.

Our bench was the difference, +18. This game was definitely good for us. We need to be challenged and we need to step up when we are.

We’re 8-0, ranked #1, #1 NET.

[Wayne23]

At #20 Texas Tech, 6-2.

12/5: Coach Wynn: Second close game in a row., This one went against us, 68-70. Lowest points scored all season. There was never more than a 6 point gap. At the end we scored a three to go up one with 5.3 to play. We focused on inside D and they were forced to shoot a three which went in at the buzzer.

Their starting guards outscored ours 30-8. 15, 8 for Cuny.

Kal Moye will be back from his broken hand in our next game.

Back home with #23 North Carolina, 6-1.

12/8: Ty Hill. A laugher, 91-62. Coach concentrated on offense at the last couple of practices and we sure put up some numbers, 49.3% shooting. I had 22 and 6 with 4 blocks. 19, 2, 3, 4 for Cant, 13, 11 for Cuny. We controlled the paint completely.

#24 Gonzaga, 6-2, is here.

12/12: Coach Wynn: Yet another nail biter, 85-83. We nearly blew a 17 point lead. They had the last possession, down 2, and went for a three, which front rimmed. Russ Cant got the rebound and time expired. Our bench saved us, going +10 points and +10 RBs. Wats fouled out and Hill played the last 8 minutes with 4 fouls. 15, 7, 4 blocks for Lanc, 18 for High.

Frankly, we’re not playing very well. We’ll need to work harder in practice.

4-5 UAB is here. This is a team we should beat easily, if we’re playing well.

12/15: Russ Cant: We were hot tonight, winning 87-50. Our scoring was balanced. I had 13 and 7. Kyle Lanc had 13 and 8, Hill had 12 and 9, Cuny had 9 and 10 with 4 blocks. +20 for the bench. +40 in the paint, +28 RBs.

We’re 11-1, #1, NET #1.

Staff meeting: Coach Wynn: We’re 11-1. I don’t see much need to make changes but maybe more minutes for Lan Gain and fewer for Tray Brod.

Coach Kell: Yes, Gain has been playing much better.

Coach Wynn: No changes up front. Our starters and Kyle Lanc are doing a great job.

Coach Kell: I don’t know. Kel Moye is playing even better than Lanc from the bench.

Coach Wynn: He’s playing well but I want to keep things the way they are.