Houston — Sophomore Jordan Hawkins, one of the driving forces behind UConn’s NCAA tournament run, missed his team’s open practice and press conference at NRG Stadium Friday due to a non-COVID illness.

Hawkins remained at the team hotel, where he’s in isolation.

Redshirt freshman Alex Karaban said Hawkins is dealing with a stomach issue.

“I haven’t seen him yet this morning,” Karaban said. “I just heard that he wasn’t feeling too well. It’s kind of like a stomach thing with him right now. … He’s resting right now.”

The news came a day before UConn plays Miami in the Final Four national semifinal Saturday night at NRG Stadium.

“I think we've got like three doctors on this trip with us,” coach Dan Hurley said. “So you hope that we could navigate it. We obviously isolated him. He started to not feel well (Thursday) night.

“For him to miss today obviously tells you he's not in a great way. But you hope that we contained it in time. We moved him out, moved his roommate out and obviously kept him away from the team. Hopefully it just doesn't continue to spread and hopefully Jordan's good to go or at least give us something.”

A starting guard, Hawkins has played a pivotal role in the Huskies reaching this stage.

In four NCAA tourney games, Hawkins is second on the team in scoring at 17.3 points per game and shooting 51.6% (16-for-31) from the 3-point line. He’s also averaging 3.0 rebounds.

Hawkins was named the West Region’s Most Outstanding Player on Saturday after an Elite Eight win over Gongaza during which he scored a game-high 20 points.

“Jordan Hawkins is one of the premier shooters in the country,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said.

If Hawkins is unable to play, the Huskies will not only lose a big offensive weapon but it will impact the team’s depth.

His teammates are confident Hawkins will be well enough to play.

“I think he’ll be just fine,” Karaban said. “He’s just as excited as anyone else. I know he won’t want to miss this one.”

Junior Andre Jackson said there’s “no doubt” that Hawkins will be ready to go.

“He’s a tough guy and he’s going to show up for us, and I know that,” Jackson said. “He loves to play the game and this is the biggest stage. So I have complete confidence that he’s going to show up tomorrow, especially if he’s up for it.

“Even if he’s not, we’re going to be good. We have a lot of guys on the team that can step up. But I have complete confidence that Jordan will be playing tomorrow.”

g.keefe@theday.com