UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley believes new four-out, one-in offensive system will pay dividends

UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley wants to go back to his roots next season with the implementation of the four-out, one-in motion offense.

Hurley ran the offense, which places four players on the perimeter and one inside the post, during his six-year tenure at Rhode Island but hasn’t in his four seasons with UConn.

“The way we’ve played the last couple of years was determined by who our best players were,” he said. “In terms of having this core group of Isaiah Whaley, Tyrese Martin, and R.J. Cole, our frontcourt, in particular, our best players, have been Isaiah and Adama Sanogo. When Isaiah played the four, he was truly one of our very best players. We had to find a way of playing him.

“It’s really the last couple of years here and because the strength of our team was a great center Adama and Whaley, it put us in more of a three and a half around two or whatever you want to call it.”

This offseason the Huskies’ roster has had quite an overhaul, with eight players gone from the 2021-22 team. Whaley and forward Tyler Polley exhausted their eligibility, while guards Cole and Martin declared their intention to go pro. In addition, Akok Akok, Rahsool Diggins, Corey Floyd Jr. and Jalen Gaffney, entered their names in the NCAA transfer portal.

Diggins will play at UMass while Floyd joins Big East rival Providence. On Wednesday, Gaffney announced he will transfer to Florida Atlantic. Akok has not made a decision yet.

UConn filled up two scholarship spots with the addition of East Carolina guard Tristen Newton and Virginia Tech guard Nahiem Alleyne. Four roster spots remain open.

With the new additions and the core of Sanogo, Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson, this new offensive style fits in well. The starting lineup could look like Newton, Alleyne, Hawkins, Jackson and Sanogo.

If that ends up being the starting lineup, the shortest player would be Alleyne, who is 6 feet 4. Last season, it was 6-foot-1 starting point guard Cole. It is one of the reasons UConn played two bigs on the floor in Whaley and Sanogo.

Hurley wants to take advantage of the spacing the four-out, one-in motion offense can provide.

“The biggest advantage is the spacing that you can play in on the offense end,” he said. “Obviously, we are not playing small perimeter players or small guards. You are talking about 6-foot-4, 6-foot-6, 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-7 types of players. The switchability on defense and 1-4 at times. With guys like Alex Karaban and Samson Johnson have the agility to do that as well. It’s about trying to put better spacing around some outstanding centers we have in Adama and Donovan Clingan.”

With the departure of starting guards Cole and Martin, Hurley brought in Newton and Alleyne, who fit well into the offense with the spacing they provide. Alleyne shot 37.3% from the 3-point line this past season, and Newton shot a serviceable 33.3%.

The offense is built around players that can handle the ball while constantly making decisions on the fly, something both guards excel at.

“More guards can allow us to open up the floor,” Hurley said. “Just having more weapons on the perimeter than we’ve had and, overall, more depth and weapons.”

Hurley feels this roster mixed with this offense will allow him to play an optimal amount of players.

“When it’s all said and done we are going to have a deep rotation,” he said. “We’re going to play the nine guys I like to play. Obviously, by the end of the year, we weren’t playing close to that.”

Hurley’s seen the success Big East rival Villanova has had with this style of play.

“I’ve been coaching four perimeters out, one-in, pretty much my whole career,” he said. “I don’t think I am going to emulate anybody that has played this way because I’ve played this way for a large amount of time. You do see the success Villanova has had, Baylor had the year before with winning the national championship with four really skilled guys around the one interior guy.”

Hurley believes the new offense with this roster will make some noise next season.

“I had some great teams in Rhode Island that could come at with you with so many perimeter weapons, but what I didn’t have on those teams was dominant centers,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to have my best team next season.”

Shreyas Laddha can be reached at sladdha@courant.com or @shre98 on Twitter.