Few things excite UConn basketball fans more during a game than Amida Brimah emphatically swatting away a shot.

Brimah brought a roar from the Gampel Pavilion crowd all nine times he blocked a shot in a season-opening rout of Maine on Friday.

Brimah finished with a career-best in that defensive department, falling just one shy of tying the single game school record.

Coach Kevin Ollie was just, if not more, interested in another number: seven.

That's the number of rebounds that Brimah grabbed.

He averaged only 4.4 rebounds as a sophomore, far short of what Ollie expects from his 7-foot center. Ollie wants Brimah to lead the American Athletic Conference in that category this season.

"He can't average four rebounds," Ollie said. "He can't do it. I'm still challenging him on that. I'm going to stay on him, stay on him, stay on him to get rebounds. We want him to run the court and rebound. That was my big challenge to him."

Brimah and his UConn teammates host New Hampshire (1-0) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion. It is the second of three non-conference home games before the 19th-ranked Huskies head to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament next week.

The Wildcats are an up-and-coming team, returning the bulk of their roster from last season's school-record tying 19-win program.

"They're a good team," Ollie said. "They're going to come out and play. They're going to present us a different challenge. We've got to be ready to step up and play good, solid basketball."

Tuesday is another opportunity for Brimah to build his rebounding average, facing a smaller America East team.

Brimah has improved in other areas, returning with a more polished jump shot. His scoring average should climb from last season's 9.1 average. He's always going to get his share of dunks, usually courtesy of lob passes from Daniel Hamilton. Ten of his 18 points against Maine came by dunk.

Staying out of foul trouble is another point of emphasis. Brimah battled foul trouble last season, fouling out a team-high five times.

"I want him to not make silly fouls like he made last year where I had to pull him out of the game the first two minutes and have to sit him down the whole first half," Ollie said during the off-season. "I want him to eliminate some of those foolish mistakes that he did.

".... Junior year you've got to start eliminating some of those mistakes and staying on the court. I think he understands that. I think he's heard that a lot from me, that he's getting really, really aggravated with me saying that, which is a good thing."

The longer UConn's intimidating rim protector remains in the floor, the better the Huskies will be.

New teammate Shonn Miller, a transfer from Cornell, has already discovered Brimah's impact.

"You never want to get beat on defense but if you do there's a pretty good chance he's got your back," Miller said.  "That's a good feeling."

Brimah needs just one block to move into sole possession of fourth place on the school's all-time list. He has 222, trailing Emeka Okafor (441), Hasheem Thabeet (417) and Donyell Marshall (245). He led the country in 2014-15 with 121.

Those elite members of UConn's Swat Club also excelled as rebounders; Okafor averaged 10.6 in his career, with Thabeet and Marshall grabbing 8.5 and 7.6, respectively.

With Ollie's encouragement, Brimah's rebounding average will rise this season.

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe