STORRS – There was nothing pulling Tarris Reed Jr. away from the UConn men’s basketball program after his unique first impression of Connecticut.
He and his parents were mixed in with roughly 60,000 people gathered in downtown Hartford, enthralled as he followed around the double-decker bus that paraded the back-to-back national championship team and its trophy through the city streets.
Alex Karaban was on that bus, riding high after his second straight title, and he noticed the “big guy” following along, but would have plenty of time to get to know him later. Reed met the coaches over dinner prior to the parade, but on that day in mid-April, Dan Hurley was fully immersed in the celebration.
“That was different, man. Seeing that championship, the bus, the people, the fans, the culture, the atmosphere. I mean, really, you want to strive for that,” Reed said Friday ahead of the Senior Day matchup against Seton Hall, now a leader on a team with a last shot at his own glory.
He started to get an idea of what it would take to get onto that bus himself after the crowd cleared and the visit continued in Storrs. Naturally, Karaban became his host over time.
“You saw his personality, you saw how great of a person he is, you saw how hard he wanted to work and how serious he takes everything,” Karaban said.
But it wasn’t until Reed returned to Connecticut in June for the first week of his junior season when he truly realized what he signed up for.
“Just hearing Coach, how competitive, how passionate he was about the game, and I wasn’t matching his energy,” he said. “It did take a little back and forth. My junior year was really tough. Then I saw how much better I got at the end of my junior year and it was like, I would be crazy not to come back for my senior year. I came back and I knew what I was getting into. The standard and the level has raised itself this year and I’ve got to be able to meet it every game, every practice, every rep.”
Hurley didn’t hold back on Wednesday, after Reed had one of his best games in one of his biggest moments as a Husky, leading the charge in a historic blowout of No. 15 St. John’s, inside the building where that championship parade met its end. This season and this team, Hurley said, will go as far as Reed takes it.
Saturday’s final game at Gampel Pavilion, for which he’ll be escorted by his mother, Darlene, and his father, Tarris Reed Sr., (his brothers, Tristan and Trevor, are in the midst of their own basketball seasons and can’t make it) comes in the midst of a run at the Big East regular season championship.
“The Lord told me to come here. I questioned him 1,000 times after my junior year, during my junior year… Am I supposed to be here? And now I’m here, my last home game in Gampel, looking around, filled with immense gratitude. Thankful for it all, the ups, the downs, the bad practices, the coaches yelling at me, not even believing in myself. Now I’m here. I’m surrounded by great guys, it’s a blessing… We’re trying to chase glory, man,” he said.
“Coach Kimani (Young) told me two weeks ago, ‘How cool would it be to come in on a championship and leave with a championship?’”
Karaban says goodbye a second time
Karaban went through the Senior Day festivities alongside Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson last season. He had already established himself as one of the program’s greats, but not yet as its all-time winningest player. He expects a similar experience on Saturday, but there is a finality to it this time. He won’t have the opportunity to come back for another season.
“For tomorrow to actually be my last Gampel game, I guess we’ll see how I feel tomorrow about it,” he said, trying to focus on the game that will happen after the emotions clear. “It’s exciting, but it’s also an important game for us… I might be emotional, but when the ball goes up, I’ll be fine. I think just interacting with the fans will be tough.”
His first experience in Storrs was much different from Reed’s. His eyes were just set on finding the court, winning a few games. Hurley hadn’t yet won a title, let alone two.
“I wanted to do everything in my power to make an impact on a program, and to do it at a place like UConn, I would never thought that’d happen,” he said. “It’s been an honor, it’s been a privilege and it’s been a dream. I’ve been going through a dream for these last four years and it’s something I’d never trade and something that I’ll always be proud of.”
“I don’t think you could ever imagine someone would have his career or his impact,” Hurley said. “You never could dream that could happen.”
Everything they expected it to be, and more
Malachi Smith is still hearing about his Dayton team sending the Huskies home from Maui without a win last November. Ironically, his choice to spend his final year at UConn was solely based on winning.
“I knew what I was getting into. I could’ve taken a different route, but I wanted to come here. My main priority was to win, have an impact on a winning team, and that’s what I’m doing,” he said. “I feel like I’ve learned a lot and I’m happy I came here, I wish I could get a couple years here, but I’m trying to make the most out of the one year I have.”
Dwayne Koroma was in a similar boat, having spent the majority of his college career bouncing around mid-major programs.
“It’s been everything that I expected it to be, and more,” he said. “For my last year, I just wanted to go somewhere and really give myself a chance to win something. Obviously, all the schools I’ve been at, they’ve never really been contending schools. So coming here, this program and this culture is something that I really wanted for myself and wanted to be a part of.”
A native of Berlin, Germany, UConn flew Koroma’s mom and his little brother in to see him play this week for the first time since he went off to college. They were in attendance in Hartford on Wednesday, when he scored four points at the end of the blowout, and will escort him on Saturday.
Alec Millender’s role on the team was clear as he frolicked over to speak with the media for the first time. Reed and Silas Demary Jr. joined the scrum, smiling ear to ear from start to finish. “He’s been an excellent practice player and he’s been maybe the best guy in the locker room this year. And selfless, because most teams in the country, he’d be playing,” Hurley said.
“It’s been everything I asked for, everything I dreamed of,” Millender said. “Getting coached hard, bringing intensity to practice, just being a leader, being a veteran. When they told me to come here, it was just about getting better, the doors that would open for me.”