UConn opens its men's preseason against Syracuse at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Uncasville, Connecticut. The Huskies' October 12 game preview says Solo Ball is out indefinitely after offseason wrist surgery. For a team ESPN placed fifth in its preseason Top 25, that makes this exhibition a first look at who can share the backcourt work with Silas Demary Jr. and Braylon Mullins.
Demary and Mullins are established returners. UConn lists Demary as the Big East preseason player of the year and Mullins on the preseason first team. Ball is another returning guard, but his absence creates minutes before the Huskies have played a game with their new group. UConn reports five returners and 10 newcomers overall. That is a large change to sort out while one of the returning guards is unavailable.
The question behind the minutes
Demary can organize possessions, and Mullins can carry a scoring load. The more revealing question is what happens when one sits or when Syracuse pressures the first action. Does another guard move the ball into the next option? Can a wing keep the spacing useful without asking Demary to create every opening? Those are things to watch in an exhibition, not roles anyone has earned on the basis of a roster list.
Syracuse offers a real test for that question. Its October 12 preview lists new guard Gavin Doty after a season in which he started all 35 games at Siena, and Aiden Tobiason after 32 starts at Temple. Garwey Dual arrives from McNeese State with an All-Southland defensive honor. Gerry McNamara also takes the Syracuse bench for the first time as head coach. None of that tells us exactly how the Orange will defend UConn on Tuesday. It does mean the Huskies will face experienced guards while trying out their own combinations.
UConn's preview names newcomers Nils Machowski, Jaye Nash and Isaiah Shaw among its backcourt additions. Listing their names is easier than assigning their minutes. The Syracuse game can show who gets a chance beside Demary or Mullins and how the offense functions during those stretches. It cannot settle a season-long rotation in one night.
The Huskies have two more exhibitions, at Michigan State and against Purdue, before their November 2 regular-season opener against Gardner-Webb. That sequence gives Dan Hurley more than one setting to evaluate the group. Ball's return date remains open. Until UConn provides one, Tuesday's useful answer is narrower: which available guards can keep a possession organized when the returning pair cannot handle every trip?
