STORRS — For only the third time this season, the UConn men’s basketball team has an opportunity to respond to a loss.
The Huskies responded to the December loss at Kansas with a decisive win over North Carolina, and beat St. John’s following an “embarrassing” loss to Seton Hall (coach Dan Hurley’s word), beginning what was a Big East-record 14-game winning streak that came to a close at Creighton Tuesday.
“When you haven’t lost in two months and you’ve done what we’ve done for a pretty long time here,” Hurley said, “Anytime you lose it’s a little jarring, you don’t think it could happen, you don’t think you could have such a breakdown in your identity. And credit Creighton, I think there’s only teams at the upper echelon that have the ability to play that well against us. But we watched the film of it and that wasn’t us.”
Creighton made 14 of its 28 3-point attempts on its way to an 85-66 win over the Huskies in Omaha, the program’s first-ever win over a top-ranked team and Hurley’s first time experiencing a court storming.
“I think we’re pretty pissed off and fired up to get back after it on Saturday,” said Cam Spencer, who was held to just six points and without a 3-pointer for the first time this year. “Villanova’s a tough team, very experienced, so we’re gonna have to bring our A-game and I think we’re ready to respond.”
Villanova comes into Saturday’s matchup at 15-11 on the year and 8-7 in the Big East, looking to make a run at an NCAA Tournament bid.
“At this time of year, we’re only playing upper tier teams in the league like a Marquette or Creighton that are fighting for the regular season, or people that are in or around the bubble that are really good teams or really talented teams and then it’s tournament time,” Hurley said. “(Villanova’s) got one of the oldest teams, one of the most talented teams. I think they’re tough to play against, they’re grown men and their one through eight is as talented as any team in the league. And Kyle (Neptune) has led really well for them, he’s weathered the storm and he has them playing really well.”
The Wildcats had a month-long stretch from early January to February where they lost seven of nine games, but have responded by winning their last three against Seton Hall, Georgetown and Butler. UConn’s tightly-contested 66-65 win in Philadelphia on Jan. 20 came in the middle of a five-game losing stretch.
Tristen Newton, who had 27 points and 12 rebounds in Tuesday’s loss, fueled the Huskies with 25 points and hit critical free throws down the stretch before waving goodbye to the Villanova student section in Philly. UConn held Eric Dixon, the multi-skilled center who leads the Wildcats in scoring (15.9), to just nine points on 1 of 6 shooting in that first relatively even first matchup.
Dixon has averaged 17 points over Villanova’s three-game winning streak. TJ Bamba (10.4) and Justin Moore (10.0) are Villanova’s only other players averaging double figures.
There will be no shortage of energy in Gampel Pavilion on Saturday with ESPN’s College GameDay starting in the morning and Rip Hamilton’s jersey set to be retired at halftime. UConn, two wins away from clinching at least a share of the Big East regular season title, has a chance to improve to 15-0 at home this season.
Dom Amore: Rip Hamilton’s mark has never faded at UConn, and now his No. 32 will be stitched indelibly in time
“It’s hard to win 14 in a row, it’s hard to go two months without losing,” Hurley said. “Eventually your number gets called and you’ve got to respond, you can’t let it spiral.”
ESPN College GameDay returns to Storrs for first time in 10 years
ESPN’s widely popular college basketball preview show will be hosted in Gampel Pavilion for the first time since 2014, airing live from 10 a.m. until noon. UConn hosted the first-ever basketball edition of the show in 2005.
Jay Bilas, one of ESPN’s analysts who will be in Storrs, said Friday that over 9,000 tickets were claimed.
“For the fans, it’s gonna be a blast,” analyst Seth Greenberg said. “Usually we’re at a game we’re going to be covering, but this team, this program, this tradition made it so that everything fell in place and it’s a reward.”
“I’ve been coming here forever because it’s one of the best places in the planet for basketball,” Bilas said. “I was just in practice with Jim Calhoun and we were talking about the old days and then this team this year. It’s just a thrill because there’s so much basketball here. Royalty has played here so it’s great for us.”
What to know
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Records: No. 1 UConn: 24-3 (14-2 Big East), Villanova: 15-11 (8-7 Big East)
Series history: Villanova leads, 39-35
Last meeting: Jan. 17, 2024 – No. 1 UConn 66, Villanova 65 in Philadelphia
TV: FOX – Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson
Radio: UConn Sports Network on 97.9 WUCS – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman
Pregame reading:
- Dom Amore: Rip Hamilton’s mark has never faded at UConn, and now his No. 32 will be stitched indelibly in time
- ‘We didn’t expect this to happen:’ Takeaways from UConn’s upset loss at No. 15 Creighton
- UConn’s Dan Hurley named to Naismith Coach of the Year late-season watch list