HARTFORD – Silas Demary Jr. looked the part in his first few minutes wearing a UConn uniform in Tuesday’s 76-69, wire-to-wire exhibition win over preseason No. 22 Michigan State at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
The transfer point guard, who missed the first exhibition with a calf injury, nailed his first two 3-point attempts within the first three minutes as the Huskies jumped out to an early lead, which they never gave up, but he quickly found himself on the bench with a pair of fouls.
It wasn’t only a Demary issue. UConn’s aggressive “junkyard dog” defense led to 33 team fouls and sent Michigan State to the foul line for 43 shots, of which the Spartans made 28. Trailing 44-33 at halftime, more than half of the Spartans’ points (17) came from the charity stripe.
“Obviously the fouls are an issue, they’ve been an issue in both (exhibition) games,” coach Dan Hurley said. “We fouled a lot, I’d say a lot of it was a lack of discipline and we’ve got to figure that out. Because I do think we’re playing hard, we’re much better defensively, even with Tarris (Reed) out, than we were last year, but we’ve got to figure out the fouling thing… I’ve got to coach better technique and discipline, we practice real hard but then when we get into the game, we’ve got to clean things up. Maybe I’ve got to start calling more fouls in practice.”
Playing only six minutes in the first half, Demary had a longer leash in the second and showed sparks of what he can provide with his physicality and playmaking ability as he finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists, going a team-best plus-17 in 20 minutes.
“(Demary) definitely pressured and got after it defensively, and he shot the 3-ball well, too,” said senior captain Alex Karaban. “Everyone down the roster, we’re just gonna learn from the game. I think it’s a good first performance for him wearing a UConn jersey and I know he’s gonna continue to get better for us.”
With the foul-out limit extended to six for the exhibition, Demary was one of four Huskies to be whistled at least five times in the matchup.
UConn guard Silas Demary Jr. (2) shoots over Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (1) during the first half of an NCAA basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
UConn never trailed despite the number of different lineups Hurley put on the floor, using the exhibition matchup as an evaluation tool before Monday’s season-opener against New Haven.
Karaban and Solo Ball finished with a game-high 18 points a piece, each adding three rebounds and an assist.
Hurley went small for much of the second half after both centers Eric Reibe (5 points, 7 rebounds) and Dwayne Koroma picked up their fourth fouls, at times using Jaylin Stewart as the five-man alongside Jayden Ross in the front court with Reed out (hamstring).
Both players vying to boost their roles heading into the season, Stewart started at the wing in place of freshman Braylon Mullins (ankle) and finished with three points, three rebounds and an assist.
“J-Stew, we need him to take advantage of his minutes and make that jump we need him to make as a junior,” Hurley said.
Michigan State center Carson Cooper (15) fouls UConn forward Jaylin Stewart during the first half of an NCAA basketball game, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Ross (13 points on 4 of 5 shooting) was fired up after he nailed a 3-pointer and Malachi Smith followed suit to give the Huskies their largest lead, 60-44, with just over 12 minutes to play. After an Izzo timeout and a U-C-O-N-N ovation, Karaban pushed the lead further with his second triple of the evening.
“I think we’ve got a team that, when we’re healthy and as we develop throughout the year, we can be a championship-caliber team,” Hurley said. “We’ve got depth, the wings – again, Jayden Ross, if he gives us something like that when we’ve got this whole operation together player-wise…”
UConn, 2-0 in the preseason, will host the Chargers in the season-opener at Gampel Pavilion.
