UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley is surely used to recruiting players to play for the Huskies, but it might be a bit of a new feeling having to recruit one of his own guys to stay with the program.
Following junior forward Samson Johnson’s career night on Monday during the Empire Classic championship game, Hurley revealed that was something that he had to do as UConn chased a national title last season.
Johnson has started all five of UConn’s first five contests this season, which included Monday night’s 81-71 win over Texas under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden.
He had a career-best 15 points and eight rebounds, which served as a reminder to Hurley why he fought so hard to keep Samson as other coaches tried to convince the 6-foot-10 forward to enter the transfer portal.
“When schools were trying to recruit Samson and get him to go into the transfer portal, which unfortunately goes on in our business while you’re trying to play out your season, we actively recruited him back in because we knew a position change to center would unlock his incredible abilities,” Hurley told Fox Sports.
The UConn coach told the outlet that he and his staff made sure that they held onto Johnson and kept him from going to another program.
The junior was limited to just 12 games during the 2022-23 season after he suffered a foot injury during the season opener and was out until January.
So far, the move has paid off for the Huskies, as Johnson seems to be proving Hurley’s feelings.
Johnson had a number of highlight-reel plays on Monday night, including an alley-oop slam in the second half.
He’s averaged 8.2 points and 1.4 blocks through the first five games.
The Huskies are 5-0 to start the season after winning the program’s fifth NCAA title in April.
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