PROVIDENCE, R.I. — From the first day on campus, it was a clash of titans, one in size and stature, the other in the force of his personality.

For the latter, coach Dan Hurley had the towering task of bringing out the towering abilities of Tarris Reed Jr., the center from Michigan who joined the two-time champs via the transfer portal.

“He is like the nicest guy, literally, that’s walking around on the planet,” Hurley said. “The nicest guy, a beautiful guy. But when the game starts, you’ve got to become a killer, a very serious man, a relentless warrior out there.”

This is not unusual for basketball’s big men. Smaller players are used to being attack dogs to get what they want on the court. Guys the size of Reed, 6-foot-10 and 260, can be easy going, jolly giants, or too-gentle giants that can drive a coach crazy.

But Hurley is not one to stop pushing buttons until he hits the jackpot.

“Plan A for me is always to yell at them,” Hurley said. “And to make them feel bad about not doing the things we need him to do, and he needs to do in order to bring the value to his career.”

The carrot for Reed was to be driven to be the player he wanted to be, to have the future he wants to have. The stick was the hard coaching, and it’s reaping huge benefits for UConn at the best time.

Reed checked in for Samson Johnson after 53 seconds on Saturday, and the monster game he played kept him on the court for 31 minutes. Career highs across the board, 24 points, 18 rebounds, six blocks in the Huskies’ 75-63 victory over Providence at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

It was darn near impossible to take this version Reed off the court.

“This is the first time we can look at him and say ‘Okay, he’s done it a couple of games in a row,'” Hurley said. “Maybe the switch is coming on with the guy … You just try to tell him, ‘Hey, everything we’ve tried to do with you the whole year was to bring out the most in you. If you start showing up consistently like you have at certain points of the year, you’re going to add so much value to your career. Your whole life is going to change.”

With the onset of March, UConn (20-9, 12-6 in the Big East), is suddenly looking like a team in which the pieces fit together. Improved health from point guard Hassan Diarra is a factor, improved shooting from Alex Karaban another, solid games from Solo Ball and Liam McNeeley another, more free-flow, fewer set plays still another. But dominant play from Reed at center has been the hub holding all those spokes in place.

“He’s always had the talent,” Karaban said. “His confidence has grown a lot, and his toughness. For him to believe in himself as much as we believe in him, he’s one of the strongest teammates I’ve ever had, and use his physicality against opponents, it really gets him going.”

Reed played through an 8-24 season at Michigan, became numb to losing while the Huskies were here relentlessly pursuing their second straight championship. When he arrived on campus, with Donovan Clingan’s shoes to fill, Adama Sanogo’s footsteps to follow, there was to be some adjustment.

“(Hurley) set the tone on Day One,” Reed said. “There was a definitely a culture shock, it took me a while to get used to it. Coach was on me like crazy. It was on my part, I wasn’t bought in, doing what I needed to be doing, sacrificing my body for the team. But once you get used to it? This place is like rocket fuel for growth.”

Hurley’s main challenge for Reed was, “What kind of player do you want to be?” He used the bear analogy that he did with Sanogo, be ferocious like a grizzly, not a bamboo-chewing panda.

It has come in fits and starts. Ferocious one game, too nice the next. When Reed scored 22 against Memphis, but UConn lost the game in November, something hit him. He broke down afterward.

“At the end of the day, Coach wants to win,” Reed said. “So you’ve got to look in the mirror, ask yourself how much do you want to win? I had the talent and the skill, it comes down to just playing hard.”

Reed wasn’t visible in the loss at Seton Hall on Feb. 15, playing only nine minutes, the low point of the UConn season. His performance and minutes have been on the increase since. He played 27, went 8 for 10 from the floor, 20 points, 10 rebounds in the win over Georgetown this week.

“When that version of Tarris shows up, he’s going to be on the floor 28 minutes,” Hurley said.

The version that checked in Saturday was even better, 10 for 13 from the floor. He ate the Friars up at both ends.

“I’ve told Tarris many times he’s the most talented player on this team,” said Diarra, who had 10 assists, most of them feeding Reed in the post. “He’s got the tools to do so much. He’s really responded, especially the last two games. He’s understanding his role.”

“I definitely saw flashes of Adama,” Karaban said.

Reed, from St. Louis, begins each interview with a shoutout to “the Lord for putting me in this position.” He likes to tell jokes and make his teammates laugh. He plays a little saxophone, too, an artist at heart.

But he went to Michigan, and now to UConn, to be great at basketball, and if that has meant some hurt feelings now and then, he has taken it the right way. Mamadou Diarra, UConn’s director of player development, was often the one to sit with Reed, go over film and explain what the coaches were demanding of him and why.

“Sometimes, Coach would yell at me and then I’d sit down and talk to ‘Mo,'” Reed said. “Get back to my game and I’d be good to go. Looking back, I can see what Coach was doing. Just trusting him, trusting the process. There were days when it was tough to go in the gym, but sticking with the process, learning that coach was doing it for my best interest. There were times I’d get angry, but it was listen to the message and not the tone.

“I had to figure this thing out, and now it’s starting to show. … If you want to be a better player, you come here, you’re going to be pushed to the limit. That’s why I came here, that’s why the Lord placed me here for.”

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