HARTFORD, Conn. — Silas Demary, Jr.’s leadership skills were evident before the point guard ever donned a UConn uniform.
During last season’s Final Four in Indianapolis, Huskies head coach Dan Hurley recounted his first meeting with Demary and his family, an official visit that occurred right after the then-Georgia transfer had wrapped up a visit with UConn’s Big East rival, St. John’s. The younger Demary led his parents, Hurley and the UConn coaching staff in prayer before dining together, the first sign of Silas, Jr.’s ability to command a room and hold an influential voice for his new family. Demary committed to UConn shortly thereafter.
The senior’s legend has already grown through one year in Storrs, becoming an integral piece of a UConn team that reached the national championship game for a third time in four seasons, and doing so on an injured ankle. Demary’s warrior mentality continued through the offseason, transitioning into the face of the Huskies following the departures of Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed, Jr., and now begins its newest battle Tuesday as UConn faces Syracuse in its first of three exhibition games before its November 2 season opener. Demary was named the Big East Preseason Player of the Year earlier this month, but the accolade is merely a bullet on his resume in comparison to what he is looking for from his final journey in the basketball capital of the world.
“It was cool, an accomplishment that you see some of your hard work paying off, but I think it doesn’t mean anything now in October,” he admitted. “I think me trying to lead my team, me trying to get better every day as a leader, as a player and becoming the best man I can be every day will help determine that factor later down the road. It’s a cool accomplishment, but it’s something that’s like, way past what I’m not even thinking about. I’m worried about getting better every day and leading this team to victory every night.”
Demary has always managed to make an impact on the floor no matter what the situation or final numbers may indicate. Whether it was his triple-double last November against Bryant, gutting out 22 minutes in the NCAA Tournament against UCLA while Karaban had a career night with 27 points, or his deflection in the final seconds against Duke to help set up Braylon Mullins’ now-immortal dagger, the point guard has been in the middle of everything, a trait that has enabled his role to expand this offseason alongside a continuity that has become more valued with the ten new players UConn has spent the summer incorporating into its principles.
“He’s creating a lot more offense for us off script,” Hurley revealed. “What we’re really looking for (is) to get outside of a lot of the things that we do and have done that are unique to our style of play in the half-court. For Silas, he’s a two-way player that’s on the backboard, that’s consistently gotta be flirting with a triple-double, but we just want to see him generating offense off script and taking some pressure off of our play sheet in terms of having to run things to generate offense. We need him to create more offense for our team.”
“I think last year, there were times where I was looking for play calls,” Demary reflected. “But now, (Hurley) lets me go make plays off script and just lets me play my game so we don’t have to always slow down the pace. We’re trying to get more points in transition and just create more opportunities without having to call something. I think these upcoming exhibitions we have will be able to showcase us being able to play our script, us being able to defend at a high level and being a young team, showing how close and how much we’ve been working since June.”
One other area in which UConn has grown this season is having a vocal leader on and off the floor. While Karaban led by example during his time as a Husky, Demary has been less reserved about using his voice when necessary, and the results have manifested before the ball has even been tipped.
“Last year, I was a leader, but kind of like a backseat leader,” Demary said. “This year, Coach is on me every day about using my voice and talking at all times, and making sure everybody’s at the standard. I think it’s helped my game grow a lot.”
“Knowing we have one of the best, if not the best coaches in America, knowing that he’s giving me that confidence just to play my game and to be free, why can’t I go out there and just play mistake-free? So, them giving me that much confidence, I think I’ve seen my game grow a lot over the summer and I think it’s just time for us to just showcase those abilities.”
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