UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- Last week, the UConn Huskies men's basketball team defeated the Syracuse Orange in the exhibition season opener at Mohegan Sun Arena. The 72-52 win for the Huskies provided lots of good things for Dan Hurley's team to build on, and it came without Braylon Mullins on the floor. The star sophomore missed the game with injury, so the Huskies will clearly be better when he's available to play.

After the game, Hurley spoke about many things, including the play of Duke transfer Nik Khamenia, but he also discussed his high hopes and belief in this team's defense.

"You get Silas (Demary), who's maybe the best ball-hawking point guard in the country. And, you know, we're really tall there. I mean, whether it's Braylon (Mullins) or Colben (Landrew), who's 6-foot-6, and then it's Jay Ross at 6-foot-7, and Nik, who's 6-foot-8 and got some length to him. And then you bring Junior County in, who looks like the guy's grown even a little more. Guy looks like he's like 6-foot-5 out there.

You know, the centers are both big, physical, strong, athletic. You know, like J. Mac's done a great job in the summer and the preseason with these guys, getting these guys stronger. And I thought, you saw that physicality out there."

That's high praise for Demary, who is a senior now, but it's not unfounded high praise. Demary certainly did his part to hound the Syracuse backcourt last week and he'll be expected to do the same thing on Tuesday night when the Huskies play exhibition game No. 2 against Michigan State in East Lansing (7 p.m. ET).

Demary was an All-Big East selection a year ago after averaging 10.1 ppg, 4.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists.

We all expect the Huskies to be good this season, but they will certainly be different without Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr., who are in the NBA, and Solo Ball, who is going to miss significant time with wrist surgery.

Without them there, Demary will need to take on more of a scoring role, and he also will have to be even better at facilitating to a different group of players.

And yes, his defense will be expected to help turn defense into offense. The Huskies will need another All-Conference type of season from him if they want to get back to the national title game for the fourth time in five years.

The UConn women will be back in action on Monday night at 7 p.m. ET against Texas at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. UConn won its exhibition opener last week against Syracuse 88-60. We've covered the three biggest things we want to watch here.

The regular season begins for both programs on Nov. 2. The men's program is coming off a trip to the national title game, where it lost against Michigan. The women's program is coming off a trip to the national semifinals, where it lost against South Carolina.

The women finished last season at 38-1.