The World Is Dan Hurley’s Playground: UConn Strikes Gold with Furphy and Reibe

STORRS, Conn. — Even for a state like Connecticut, the place school basketball is a year-round ardour, there was nothing notably particular concerning the morning of June 28, one other nondescript Saturday amid a searing summer season on this a part of the nation, with far too many weekends remaining earlier than UConn returns to the courtroom.

However issues started to alter shortly after 11 a.m. native time in response to what was occurring throughout the ocean and several other time zones away, as Australia battled the USA within the group part at this 12 months’s FIBA Underneath-19 Basketball World Cup, an occasion held in Lausanne, Switzerland. There in Vaudoise Enviornment, the American roster included bonafide stars like BYU signee AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 total prospect within the 2025 recruiting cycle; Louisville signee Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 8 total prospect; and Arizona signee Koa Peat, the No. 9 total prospect. All of them future first-round abilities. 

And but the participant who outscored all of them — the one whose highlights shortly started circulating the web to enliven Huskies followers a number of thousand miles away — was a far much less recognizable combo guard for the Australians named Jacob Furphy, a product of the NBA International Academy. Although his group wound up shedding by double digits, Furphy poured in a game-high 24 factors on 9-for-18 taking pictures to set social media ablaze, a minimum of throughout the school basketball sphere. His combination of spot-up taking pictures, artful pick-and-roll maneuvers and a singular potential to complete across the rim had UConn supporters salivating at a time when this system’s recruiting class additionally included five-star taking pictures guard Braylon Mullins (No. 15 total) and blue-chip middle Eric Reibe (No. 28 total), who shined for runner-up Germany in the identical occasion. 

“You’re wanting on the market on the ground and there’s lottery picks up and down the lineup for the People and [Furphy] is taking part in nice. He’s hanging with all these guys,” UConn assistant coach Luke Murray advised me final week. “It was simply enjoyable to see him play in opposition to one of the best guys. We already had an extremely excessive expectation for him, and so we have been excited to get to work.”

With two future Huskies competing in Switzerland, the place the USA finally prevailed, Murray and head coach Dan Hurley hopped throughout the pond in help of their signees. They watched giddily because the match developed into a world emergence for Furphy, who averaged 16.7 factors, 4.4 rebounds and a pair of.4 assists in seven video games, and one more affirmation for the long-admired large man Reibe, who put up 15.4 factors, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per sport whereas taking part in a central position for the Germans. Reibe and Furphy even performed in opposition to one another within the quarterfinals — “I appreciated speaking a little bit of s— to him,” Furphy advised me — as on-line chatter concerning the legitimacy of UConn’s forthcoming push for a 3rd nationwide title in 4 seasons intensified.  

The identification and procurement of a participant like Furphy, who dedicated to the Huskies final October, is consistent with the philosophical revolution Hurley underwent following his group’s dispiriting loss to Twelfth-seeded New Mexico State within the first spherical of the 2022 NCAA Event. Slowly however certainly, and whereas collaborating closely with Murray, who’s thought to be one of many keenest offensive minds in school basketball, Hurley availed himself to the chance that junkyard protection and unflinching toughness weren’t the one traits wanted to win on the highest ranges. He adopted Murray down the rabbit gap of advanced offensive actions, high-powered analytics and the pursuit of gamers with extra holistic understandings of the sport, the sort who could make advanced reads in actual time by enacting a set of well-drilled rules. 

“My psychological well being is significantly better embracing offense,” Hurley advised me again in 2024, two months earlier than profitable his second consecutive nationwide title with a group that completed No. 1 within the nation for offensive effectivity.

Lots of the particular participant attributes and schematic concepts that UConn got here to embrace are staples of the worldwide sport, the place freedom of motion and off-ball screening begets lovely group basketball over a number of the one-on-one, isolation-heavy traits within the NBA. That meant it was solely a matter of time earlier than the Huskies, who’re getting into Yr 8 underneath Hurley, started eyeing recruits conversant in these sorts of techniques when figuring out potential targets.

Reibe, who selected UConn over Kansas, Creighton, Indiana and Oregon, was born in Germany and spent a bit of his childhood in Switzerland earlier than finally finishing his highschool profession on the Bullis Faculty in Potomac, Maryland. He possesses distinctive ball expertise for a 7-footer and might function comfortably from both the low put up, the place his delicate contact needs to be an asset for the Huskies, or the perimeter, the place his jumper extends past the 3-point line and his sharp passing can feed cutters. With a number of years of nationwide group expertise underneath his belt, Reibe, who flitted forwards and backwards between a four- and five-star rating, now involves Storrs as the first backup for beginning middle Tarris Reed Jr., the previous Michigan switch. 

“Coach Murray watches a number of EuroLeague and tries to implement some stuff from there after which mix it with the stuff from [the United States],” Reibe stated. “They type of combine it collectively, and I see a number of similarities.”

McDonald’s Excessive Faculty All-American Eric Reibe (22) poses throughout a photograph shoot.  (Picture by Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photos)

Furphy, in the meantime, was born in Tasmania, an island off the southeast coast of Australia, and traveled forwards and backwards to the mainland a number of occasions annually as his basketball profession progressed. He finally relocated to the capital metropolis of Canberra, which is smack in the course of Melbourne and Sydney, to hitch Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence and the NBA International Academy, a program that has produced gamers like Andrew Bogut, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills and Josh Giddey. 

As with Reibe, the versatile Furphy has been a part of his nation’s worldwide pipeline for a number of years and even made his debut with Australia’s senior group within the 2025 Asia Cup qualifiers. He, too, acknowledged the offensive overlap between the type of basketball he is been taught and the core tenets Murray described to him throughout recruiting conversations.  

“That was one factor I talked to my agent about as quickly as I discovered that UConn was ,” Furphy stated. “It’s a mode that I like taking part in and I’ve performed just about rising up my entire life. That was one of many foremost points of interest for certain.”

Jacob Furphy of Australia drives to the basket through the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2025. (Picture by Vianney Thibaut/FIBA by way of Getty Photos)

This summer season, Australia’s U19 nationwide group ran a lot of their offense by way of Furphy on the FIBA match by asking him to return off screens or come by way of actions after which make the precise choices with the ball in his arms, even when he wasn’t technically the group’s level guard. Murray was impressed with Furphy’s consolation stage in a high-usage position and lauded his understanding of methods to change speeds as a cutter. Hurley got here away from the journey to Switzerland happy with how Furphy carried himself on the courtroom: He was the primary participant out and in of each huddle; he was consistently speaking with teammates and coaches; he ran all over the place he went — at all times some extent of emphasis with Hurley. 

Now, Furphy will probably be a part of a deep guard rotation that features returner Solo Ball and newcomers Silas Demary Jr. (Georgia switch), Malachi Smith (Dayton) and Mullins. He tasks as a taking pictures guard or undersized small ahead who’s able to sliding over to level guard when mandatory. And whereas his taking part in time as a real freshman will probably be lower than what Furphy was used to with Australia, he is expert sufficient to contribute instantly in a reserve position. 

“We simply love his versatility,” Murray advised me. “He’s a screener, he’s a cutter, he’s an initiator of offense, he’s a extremely good pick-and-roll participant. Traditionally, we haven’t been a group that performs a ton out of choose and roll, however he’s going to be a man that we’re going to offer extra freedom to play that approach. 

“He’s going to must proceed to get higher defensively and get extra accustomed to coping with dimension and athleticism when he’s making his reads as a passer — simply getting extra accustomed to how that size presents itself on the courtroom, presents itself on the rim when he goes to be a scorer — however yeah, we’re tremendous enthusiastic about him.”

That Furphy spent his whole childhood on the opposite facet of the world means the Huskies did not turn out to be conscious of him till receiving a tip from a journalist who focuses on masking the NBA Draft. The advice despatched Murray down one other rabbit gap of learning Furphy on tape from his time with each the nationwide group and the NBA International Academy. 

Murray appreciated him sufficient to ask fellow assistant Tom Moore to go to Atlanta when one in every of Furphy’s groups was competing in the USA final summer season. Moore liked what he noticed, simply as Murray hoped he would, and the Huskies’ recruitment of Furphy accelerated as soon as the workers returned to campus and Hurley caught up on the newest movie. They satisfied Furphy to signal with UConn over Illinois, one other program mining worldwide expertise at a excessive stage, and have been thrilled with the choice ever since — even when he was ranked outdoors the highest 130 gamers within the nation within the last 247Sports rankings. 

However fast-forward to this summer season and the FIBA match turned Furphy’s formal introduction to the American basketball world. It marked the primary time that Hurley watched his incoming freshman play in particular person, and what a string of performances he and Murray noticed. 

“He doesn’t essentially have one of the best physique, he doesn’t have unbelievable size or large athleticism or nice pace,” Murray stated of Furphy. “However that’s a part of the explanation individuals didn’t suppose [former UConn star] Cam Spencer was that good in highschool, you already know, or didn’t suppose he was that good at Loyola [before entering the transfer portal]. 

“So once more, I believe a number of it’s about becoming stylistically. He will not be an ideal match for everyone, however he’s an ideal match for us.”

Michael Cohen covers school soccer and school basketball for FOX Sports activities. Observe him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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