Storrs – UConn newcomer Stephon Castle showed flashes of his star potential during the annual Blue-White Night on Wednesday at Gampel Pavilion.

He also had some shaky moments typical of a freshman, moments that might earn him a seat on the bench during a game.

“He just can’t afford to start the way he did,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “In college basketball at the level that we’re trying to play it at, we would dig quite a hole, or I would have to try to get him off the court.”

When told of Hurley’s remarks, Castle said: “Playing here, you can’t have slip-ups like that. The season is coming up soon, so I’m going to sharpen it up.”

It will be hard to sit a player of Castle’s caliber this season.

A five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American, Castle, a 6-foot-6 guard, is receiving plenty of preseason hype.

Big East coaches named Castle the league’s preseason Freshman of the Year.

“I’m still coming to the game with the same mentality, trying to impact winning games,” Castle said. “If I can do that and help us go a long way, I’ll get the job done. But that’s not in the back of my head when I play.”

Castle definitely made an impact during the scrimmage after a slow start during which veteran guard Hassan Diarra blocked his dunk attempt. He started out with the Blue team, which was comprised of mostly projected starters, including Tristen Newton, Alex Karaban and Cam Spencer.

With starting center Donovan Clingan (foot strain) watching from the sidelines, Samson Johnson also started for the Blue team.

Castle scored 12 points, had his share of flashy assists and made a few terrific defensive plays during a scrimmage.

On one impressive play, Castle stripped freshman Jayden Ross and went in for a dunk.

“He showed his talent,” Hurley said.

Spencer, a graduate transfer, and Newton were the two best offensive players, finishing with 19 and 18 points apiece. A lethal 3-point weapon, Spencer buried a game-tying 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds in the third and final quarter. He drained five 3s overall.

With the loss of perimeter shooters Jordan Hawkins and Joey Calcaterra, UConn will be counting on Spencer this season to fill that void.

Veteran guard Hassan Diarra, who had 11 points, was tasked with playing with four freshmen at times – Jayden Ross, Solo Ball, Jaylin Stewart and Youssouf Singare – on the White team.

Hurley wants Diarra to step up as a leader this season.

“Leadership is what I’m focused on,” Diarra said. “I want to get better at it. I want to be that guy that people can lean on regardless of how everything is going.”

Overall, the night provided the Huskies a final opportunity to play before a crowd before their season opener on Nov. 6 against Northern Arizona.

The Huskies ran some drills and then played three 10-minute quarters before about 3,500 fans. They signed autographs and posed for pictures afterward.

The scrimmage was far from perfect.

Fatigue contributed to sloppy play at times.

“We got out of it what we hoped to,” Hurley said. “You see a team that probably knows each other really, really well and know a lot of what we’re doing on offense. A little clunky to start, but they got over some of the jitters with having bodies in here and then played a little cleaner.”

“We’re close to needing to play some schools. We’re tired of playing against each other… Up until late when we got fatigued, we were a little grimy defensively, which I like to see.”

UConn will play its second closed scrimmage of the preseason on Saturday, hosting Harvard.

The Huskies will be without Clingan and likely Karaban, who will have some wisdom teeth removed on Thursday.

Clingan took some shots during warmups Tuesday but didn’t play. He’s getting closer to returning to action.

“Thursday is an important day for him,” Hurley said. “He goes back to the doctor and then we’ll proceed from there.”

g.keefe@theday.com