Why Duke vs. UConn in Elite Eight is ‘dream come true’ for Huskies’ Silas Demary
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Demary returns from grade‑2 high‑ankle sprain and calf injury to play.
- Raleigh native Demary praises Hurley’s tough coaching and growth.
- Demary calls facing Duke a 'dream come true' and eyes Final Four.
Silas Demary Jr. was in a walking boot Saturday, the Connecticut guard still recovering from a foot injury.
But on Sunday, Demary will be on the floor, competing for the Huskies in the NCAA East Region final against top-seeded Duke. He’ll be playing in pain, the Raleigh native and former Millbrook High star said Saturday, but he will be playing with a berth in the Final Four just one step away.
“You’ve just got to be able to deal with it,” he said. “Through it all, pain or not, I’m going to try and be out there on the floor. I feel like if I can at least get to a certain percent where I can get on the floor and impact the game, I’m going to do that.”
Much was made of Duke’s Caleb Foster returning from foot surgery to help the Blue Devils push past St. Johns on Friday in the regional semifinals. Foster, who fractured a bone in his right foot March 7, played 18 minutes and scored 11 points in Duke’s gritty 80-75 comeback victory.
“I know Caleb and I knew there was no chance he wasn’t going to play, especially with the stature of the (NCAA) game,” said Demary, who once played AAU ball with Foster. “I know he’s a warrior to be able to play through what he’s playing through. Through his career, he’s never run from adversity.”
Demary injured in Big East title game
Demary suffered a grade 2 high ankle sprain and calf injury in the Big East championship game March 14 against St. John’s. That can shelve a player for weeks, and the Huskies needed the experienced 6-foot-4 junior, who has averaged 10.4 points and 6.1 assists while shooting 40% on 3’s.
But after missing UConn’s NCAA opener against Furman, Demary came back eight days after the injury to help the Huskies blow past UCLA in the second round.
“I knew I was going to be back at some point,” Demary said Saturday. “I knew I wanted to put my body on the line for this team and for this program. I came here to have a shot at winning it all .... so I knew no matter what I was going to work my tail off to get back.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley referred to Demary as a “remarkable warrior” after the win. Demary followed that up with 23 minutes Friday as the Huskies turned back Michigan State in the regional semifinals.
“We’re marveling at what Silas is doing,” Hurley said Saturday. “Silas hasn’t taken a live rep in practice since the Big East championship game. I mean, that’s how big of a gamer and a warrior that this guy is.
“Just to have a guard with his experience, two-way player, excellent defender, great decision-maker, shooting I think over 40 percent from 3, calming influence.”
Demary’s Raleigh roots
Flash back to March 2021. Demary, then a junior at Millbrook, had 22 points and seven rebounds in a state 4A championship game against Ardrey Kell that went to overtime.
Demary had grown up playing junior basketball in the Raleigh area, saying he was with Team Wall, the WCBA and Team Curry, “And I’ve got to shout out Raleigh’s Finest, playing with them over COVID,” he said, smiling.
Demary left Millbrook to transfer to Liberty Heights in Mooresville and later Combine Academy in Lincolnton. He first signed with Georgia, playing two seasons for the Bulldogs in the SEC, before transferring to UConn.
“I was overlooked going through high school,” Demary said. “I was a late bloomer, and I used the doubters as a way of pushing myself every day.”
UConn ‘felt like home’
Demary said Duke did not recruit him out of high school but did contact him once he was in the NCAA portal. But UConn, he said, “felt like home.”
“On my visit, I felt the love in being around the coaches and players,” he said. “They welcomed me with open arms, and I knew Coach was going to push me every day.”
The coach being Hurley. Ever intense, Hurley hardly is adverse to tough love with his players and Demary said it has only helped him.
“When I first got here it was tough with a coach who’s going to be on you 24/7,” Demary said. “But as the season went on I understood why he was coaching me so hard. I think I’ve grown so much as a player and it has helped me become a better person.”
Demary said he was excited when the NCAA brackets were announced and “Duke” showed up in the same region. In addition to Foster, Demary said he also is friends with the Devils’ Isaiah Evans, saying the two played together last summer at the Chris Paul and Jason Tatum Elite camp in Las Vegas.
“He’s incredibly talented as a player,” Demary said. “You’ve got to get into his face and make him put the ball on the floor. Catch and shoot wise, he’s deadly. You’ve got to crawl into his face and try to make him make plays off the dribble.”
St. John’s tried that defensive approach, too, but Evans finished with 25 points Friday in the 80-75 victory with an assortment of 3-pointers and drives.
Demary, who might be matched up against Evans at times, said he is ready for the challenge and the opportunity to face Duke, pain or no pain.
“It’s real cool,” he said. “Growing up, being from North Carolina, you’re around N.C. State, North Carolina and Duke, and just to be able to play against Duke, being a Carolina kid, is cool.
“It’s kind of like a dream come true to do something like that. I can’t wait to get out there.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2026 at 6:33 PM.
