UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- The UConn Huskies men's basketball team is back in action on Tuesday night in East Lansing, Mich. when it takes on Michigan State for the second consecutive preseason.

This game comes one week after the Huskies defeated the Syracuse Orange at Mohegan Sun Arena in the exhibition opener. The Huskies were imperfect in that contest, but they played well enough to win 72-52 - even without Braylon Mullins.

UConn's defense was swarming, especially in the backcourt, and transfer Na'jai Hines dominated in the front court by scoring 17 points and pulling down eight rebounds.

If you want to see the Huskies get back to the national title game this season, Hines will be at the forefront of the conversation as he tries to replace Tarris Reed Jr. and Alex Karaban.

And head coach Dan Hurley seems to know how important Hines is too, and he spoke after the Syracuse win about the consistency needed from him moving forward.

"But you saw, I mean, just he was, the most impressive player on the court. And I just think for us, and, you know, the time he spent at Seton Hall with Shaheen (Holloway) was very helpful.

You know, we've got to get him where he's doing it like you just saw, and like he did three practices ago, every single day. Steps on the court, same focus, same intentions.

We want him to like really earn it. I think we got a responsibility. We give, and it's across the board, I think we give young people a lot.

You still have to make them earn some things. Young people are just given a lot of things that maybe they haven't earned.

And, you know, like, you gotta earn a starting position for us by what you're about every single day. The bar is so high for him. It's tougher for him to get to his bar every day than this for another guy who's just got average talent.

So we know how important he is to what we could contend for this year. So we're just, you know, we're on his ass."

Hines did not start in the exhibition opener against the Orange, which is what Hurley referenced by saying he has to "earn it."

With that in mind, it will be curious to see how how Hurley handles things on Tuesday night - and how Hines has responded to the apparent challenge from his head coach.

He comes to Storrs after a season with the Pirates, where he averaged 6.5 ppg and 5.5 rebounds. He also blocked 2.2 shots in 18 minutes a game. As noted by CBS Insider Jon Rothstein earlier this summer, when he played more than 20 minutes a game, his numbers improved to 10 points and eight rebounds a night.

Of course, the expectation is that he's going to play more than 20 minutes for Hurley, and that he'll be that expected force while doing it.

Tip-off time is at 7 p.m. ET.