Storrs – With each passing season as a veteran head coach, Dan Hurley takes a more relaxed approach.

At least until the regular season is about to begin.

“I’ve coached so many games now, just going back 22 years as a head coach,” Hurley said on Wednesday. “You’re more relaxed every year, maybe slightly.

“Just ask me on Sunday when I get home from practice and I’m like on the couch in a fetal position.”

UConn begins the 2022-23 basketball season on Monday by hosting Stonehill College at the XL Center in Hartford.

As a tuneup, the Huskies played a Blue-White scrimmage at Gampel Pavilion on Wednesday. Fans almost filled the lower sections on the two sides of the court.

The scrimmage featured three 10 minute periods and some spirited play.

“It was great to have some fans in here and get some of the jitters out,” Hurley said. “It’s also hard to do that, too – 30 game minutes without many timeouts without a halftime. And the referees really didn’t call much. They let us maul each other. It was like a Big East game.”

One thing that stood out on Wednesday like a giant neon sign at midnight was Jordan Hawkins’s smooth jumper.

Expected to have a breakout sophomore season, Hawkins quickly heated up and showed off his range.

“It was really fun seeing fans in the stands for the first time, getting up and down for the first time since (last season),” Hawkins said. “It tells us that the season is here. It starts in five days and everybody has got to be ready for it.

“… It felt good tonight. I shot the ball well and got my teammates involved.”

Noticeably absent Wednesday on the court was junior Andre Jackson, who remains sidelined with a broken pinky finger. He’s expected to return by the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore., on Nov. 24.

Jackson has started to do some non-live defensive drills in practice.

The Huskies are a different team without Jackson, a starting guard and co-captain.

“Andre is just our identity,” Hurley said. “Him and Adama are our leaders. But he’s a tone-setter. We miss his toughness and we miss his direction out there. He plays with force. We need him back.”

In all, the Huskies played three scrimmages during the preseason.

The two scrimmages against Harvard and Virginia were closed to the public.

Hurley saw potential in a team that’s been rebuilt with transfers and newcomers – eight in all on the roster.

Overall, Hurley gave his team’s performance mixed reviews.

“We probably played better but then you still obviously have more questions than last year’s team because you have the injury to Andre (Jackson) and you don’t have the people that have done it for you at the level that we need them to do for us this year.”

“There’s obviously talent and people that you feel that can do it. … You see the things that you like about the way you put the team together and then you see the question marks about the group as well that the team is going to have to answer.”

Hurley’s biggest concerns right now are at the defensive end and in the toughness department.

“We haven’t guarded well, individually and collectively,” he said.

Competition is still open for the starting point guard, with transfers Tristen Newton and Hassan Diarra battling. Jackson will help out there once he’s back.

“Hassan has an aggressive, attacking mentality,” Hurley said. “Your eyes get drawn to him because he’s all over the court. He’s got to reel it in and play. That’s the biggest issue for him. He can really help us this year. … Tristen, we’ve just got to get him to be more aggressive, more assertive.”

Until Jackson returns, Hurley also is searching for a reliable second perimeter weapon to help out Hawkins.

Hurley is encouraged by the play of Johnson and Karaban at the power forward spot. Karaban missed some time with an ankle injury but saw action in the second closed scrimmage and in the Blue-White game.

“Our four spot, it’s young but talented,” Hurley said.

g.keefe@theday.com