Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
STORRS, Conn. — Even for a state like Connecticut, where college basketball is a year-round passion, there was nothing particularly special about the morning of June 28, another nondescript Saturday amid a searing summer in this part of the country, with far too many weekends remaining before UConn returns to the court.
But things began to change shortly after 11 a.m. local time in response to what was happening across the ocean and several time zones away, as Australia battled the United States in the group phase at this year’s FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, an event held in Lausanne, Switzerland. There in Vaudoise Arena, the American roster included bonafide stars like BYU signee AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting cycle; Louisville signee Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 8 overall prospect; and Arizona signee Koa Peat, the No. 9 overall prospect. All of them future first-round talents.
And yet the player who outscored them all — the one whose highlights quickly began circulating the internet to enliven Huskies fans several thousand miles away — was a far less recognizable combo guard for the Australians named Jacob Furphy, a product of the NBA Global Academy. Though his team wound up losing by double digits, Furphy poured in a game-high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting to set social media ablaze, at least within the college basketball sphere. His mixture of spot-up shooting, crafty pick-and-roll maneuvers and a unique ability to finish around the rim had UConn supporters salivating at a time when the program’s recruiting class also included five-star shooting guard Braylon Mullins (No. 15 overall) and blue-chip center Eric Reibe (No. 28 overall), who shined for runner-up Germany in the same event.
“You’re looking out there on the floor and there’s lottery picks up and down the lineup for the Americans and [Furphy] is enjoying nice. He’s hanging with all these guys,” UConn assistant coach Luke Murray instructed me final week. “It was simply enjoyable to see him play towards the perfect guys. We already had an extremely excessive expectation for him, and so we had been excited to get to work.”
With two future Huskies competing in Switzerland, the place america 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 couple 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 recreation whereas enjoying a central function for the Germans. Reibe and Furphy even performed towards one another within the quarterfinals — “I appreciated speaking a little bit of s— to him,” Furphy instructed me — as on-line chatter in regards to 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 in line with the philosophical revolution Hurley underwent following his staff’s dispiriting loss to Twelfth-seeded New Mexico State within the first spherical of the 2022 NCAA Event. Slowly however certainly, and with various nudges from Murray, who’s considered one of many keenest offensive minds in faculty 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 complicated offensive actions, high-powered analytics and the pursuit of gamers with extra holistic understandings of the sport, the sort who could make complicated reads in actual time by enacting a set of well-drilled ideas.
“My psychological well being is a lot better embracing offense,” Hurley instructed me again in 2024, two months earlier than successful his second consecutive nationwide title with a staff 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 recreation, the place freedom of motion and off-ball screening begets stunning staff basketball over a few of the one-on-one, isolation-heavy developments within the NBA. That meant it was solely a matter of time earlier than the Huskies, who’re coming into Yr 8 beneath Hurley, started eyeing recruits aware of these sorts of methods when figuring out potential targets.
Reibe, who selected UConn over Kansas, Creighton, Indiana and Oregon, was born in Germany and spent a piece of his childhood in Switzerland earlier than finally finishing his highschool profession on the Bullis College in Potomac, Maryland. He possesses distinctive ball expertise for a 7-footer and might function comfortably from both the low submit, the place his tender 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 staff expertise beneath his belt, Reibe, who flitted backwards and forwards 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 College 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 backwards and forwards to the mainland a number of instances every year 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 World 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 staff 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 enjoying and I’ve performed just about rising up my entire life. That was one of many most important 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 time, Australia’s U19 nationwide staff 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 fingers, even when he wasn’t technically the staff’s level guard. Murray was impressed with Furphy’s consolation stage in a high-usage function and lauded his understanding of easy methods to change speeds as a cutter. Hurley got here away from the journey to Switzerland happy with how Furphy carried himself on the court docket: He was the primary participant out and in of each huddle; he was consistently speaking with teammates and coaches; he ran in all places he went — at all times a degree of emphasis with Hurley.
Now, Furphy will likely 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 initiatives as a taking pictures guard or undersized small ahead who’s able to sliding over to level guard when essential. And whereas his enjoying 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 function.
“We simply love his versatility,” Murray instructed 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 staff that performs a ton out of choose and roll, however he’s going to be a man that we’re going to present extra freedom to play that manner.
“He’s going to must proceed to get higher defensively and get extra accustomed to coping with measurement and athleticism when he’s making his reads as a passer — simply getting extra accustomed to how that size presents itself on the court docket, presents itself on the rim when he goes to be a scorer — however yeah, we’re tremendous enthusiastic about him.”
That Furphy spent his total childhood on the opposite aspect of the world means the Huskies did not develop into conscious of him till receiving a tip from a journalist who makes a speciality of masking the NBA Draft. The advice despatched Murray down one other rabbit gap of finding out Furphy on tape from his time with each the nationwide staff and the NBA World Academy.
Murray appreciated him sufficient to ask fellow assistant Tom Moore to go to Atlanta when certainly one of Furphy’s groups was competing in america final summer time. Moore liked what he noticed, simply as Murray hoped he would, and the Huskies’ recruitment of Furphy accelerated as soon as the employees 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 exterior the highest 130 gamers within the nation within the ultimate 247Sports rankings.
However fast-forward to this summer time and the FIBA match grew to become Furphy’s formal introduction to the American basketball world. It marked the primary time that Hurley watched his incoming freshman play in individual, and what a string of performances he and Murray noticed.
“He doesn’t essentially have the perfect physique, he doesn’t have unbelievable size or great athleticism or nice velocity,” Murray stated of Furphy. “However that’s a part of the explanation folks didn’t assume [former UConn star] Cam Spencer was that good in highschool, you realize, or didn’t assume 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 might not be an ideal match for everyone, however he’s an ideal match for us.”
Michael Cohen covers faculty soccer and faculty basketball for FOX Sports activities. Comply with him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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