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Silas Demary Jr. of the UConn Huskies drives around Cayden Boozer of the Duke Blue Devils during the first half of the Elite Eight game in the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley gave an encouraging update regarding the injured left ankle of starting point guard Silas Demary Jr.
“He’s much better this week,” Hurley said. “He’s got a chance to play at like 90% physically for the Illinois game, which we’re going to need all of that.”
Not only does Demary Jr. lead the Huskies in assists with 5.9 per game, rank fifth in points at 10.4 per game and third in rebounds at 4.5 per game, but he’s also clutch.
Elite Eight Heroics
Even though Hurley said Demary Jr. was only at about 75% health in the regional, he helped launch the Huskies’ miraculous comeback from 15 points down at halftime vs. Duke, the No. 1 overall seed.
Yes, Braylon Mullins was the hero of UConn’s 73-72 victory due to his 35-foot game-winner, but Demary Jr. deflected the pass that led to that shot, and he also hit back-to-back three pointers to cut Duke’s lead to seven points with just more than six minutes left.
“There’s so much attention obviously and rightfully so — the play by Braylon,” Hurley said, “but really those threes that he hit in the second half that to me was — there’s no anything after that without those three-point shots going in when there was a lid on the bucket.”
The previous tournament ended more ominously.
With about nine minutes left in the Big East Tournament Championship Game, Demary Jr. went down with the ankle injury. He headed back to the locker room under his own power before returning later in the second half — only to leave that game vs. St. John’s again.
With Demary Jr. out for the first round of the NCAA Tournament, UConn struggled against 15-seeded Furman, leading by only four at half.
But Hurley knew Demary Jr. would tough out the injury in the next round. The guard’s father — Silas Demary — won Arena League Defensive Player of the Year honors while playing for the Los Angeles Avengers in 2005.
“You get a football player’s mentality in a basketball player,” Hurley said.
Why UConn Needed Demary Jr.
Hurley signed a six-year, $50 million contract to coach the Huskies through the 2029-30 season after winning back-to-back national championships.
To replace his title-winning point guard Tristan Newton, Hurley landed Aidan Mahaney, a big name in the transfer portal. Though Mahaney impressed during his two years at St. Mary’s, he struggled at UConn, playing 12.4 minutes per game and averaging just 4.5 points and 1.3 assists.
“Just knowing the vulnerabilities, the issues that we had with our ’25 team,” Hurley said, “we needed size at point guard. We needed a ballhawk at point guard.”
So he turned to the 6-4, 195-pound Demary Jr. who started 69 games the previous two years at Georgia. And he became the Huskies’ ballhawk, leading them in steals at 1.6 per game.
“We needed a warrior,” Hurley said. “We needed a guy that had tremendous will and a fighter.”
To return to action, Demary Jr. worked tirelessly, using BOSU balls and bands and stretching and taping.
By the second round, he was at about 65% health.
And by the Elite Eight, he was making the play of the tournament, blitzing Duke freshman guard Cayden Boozer.
“I kind of just sold out,” Demary Jr. said. “Either we get the steal here, or they get an open dunk. So just gave them our all, jumped and deflected it, and we recovered it, and Braylon (hit) that big-time shot.”
This article was originally published on Forbes.com
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