The No. 4 UConn men’s basketball team returns to action after a 10-day layoff following its 72-54 win over DePaul on Dec. 21. The Huskies are back on the road yet again as they travel to Cincinnati to face Xavier (9-4, 1-1) on Wednesday afternoon at the Cintas Center. The Musketeers rank No. 100 in […]
The No. 4 UConn men’s basketball team returns to action after a 10-day layoff following its 72-54 win over DePaul on Dec. 21. The Huskies are back on the road yet again as they travel to Cincinnati to face Xavier (9-4, 1-1) on Wednesday afternoon at the Cintas Center.
The Musketeers rank No. 100 in KenPom, with the No. 119 offense in the country, and 116th in the NET. These numbers aren’t great for a program that made two of the last three NCAA Tournaments, including just last season, but new head coach Richard Pitino has done a solid job building a team essentially from scratch that was competitive in non-conference play, perhaps more than a lot of people expected. The Musketeers beat both West Virginia and Cincinnati and lost by just one to Georgia.
As for UConn, the Huskies sit at No. 7 in KenPom and No. 8 in the NET. They have the fourth-rated defense in the country per KenPom, a continued step in the right direction from last season. The 12-1 Huskies’ only loss was to now- No.1 Arizona by four points in a game where Tarris Reed Jr. and Braylon Mullins were both out with injuries. In their last game, Alex Karaban led the charge with 21 points and three triples against the Blue Demons.
The Huskies look to start 3-0 in Big East play for the third time in their six seasons since rejoining the Big East, as the team did so in 2022-23 (3-0) and last season (4-0).
Date/Time: Wednesday, Dec. 31, 5:00 p.m. EST
TV/Stream: Peacock, NBC Sports Network (for YouTubeTV subscribers)
Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius XM 85, Sirius/XM online streaming
Odds: UConn, -12.5
Location: Cintas Center, Cincinnati OH
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 79-67
Series History
The Huskies and Musketeers have played 12 times, with the past 10 coming in Big East play. UConn has a narrow 7-5 advantage over Xavier with a 6-4 split in conference action. They last faced off on January 25, 2025, when Xavier beat UConn, 76-72 at the Cintas Center. Solo Ball led four Huskies in double figures with 20 points.
Inactives report
As of this writing, all players are expected to be available for Wednesday’s game. This includes Solo Ball, who sat out the Huskies’ previous game on 12/21 with a wrist injury. Dan Hurley said he’s been able to practice and will be good to go.
What to Watch For
Deja Vu?
Remember the last time a Top 5 UConn squad traveled on the road on New Year’s Eve to Xavier? It ended in a Musketeer win. The 14-0 Huskies led by Adama Sanogo and Co. suffered their first loss of the year in a game where the Musketeers used a big second half to pull away and hand the Huskies their first loss, more or less starting that infamous January of 2023 where the eventual national champs really struggled.
That’s not a one-off either. In fact, UConn has lost 3 of 5 games on the road at Xavier since joining the Big East. In addition to that game in 2022 and last year’s matchup while Liam McNeeley was out, the Huskies lost during the 2021-22 season by six points despite a combined 40 points from RJ Cole and Tyrese Martin.
That Xavier team in 2022 had names like Colby Jones, Jack Nunge, Zach Freemantle, and Souley Boum. The 2025 Musketeers don’t have that, not even particularly close, but somewhere deep in the mind of Dan Hurley, he’s having flashbacks from the past.
Who’s that?
With the new head coach in Pitino, no scholarship players from last year’s Xavier team who played a single minute are back with the program. The lone returner is Roddie Anderson III, but he sat all of last season in a redshirt year. Pitino brought in players from all different levels of college basketball to construct the roster.
Leading scorer Tre Carroll comes over from Florida Atlantic, where he was a key component to that Owls team that made the Final Four in 2022-23. Jovan Milicevic and Filip Borovicanin were both rotational frontcourt pieces for Pitino at New Mexico last year. Anthony Robinson and Pape N’Diaye were both reserve bigs for Virginia and UNLV, respectively, a year ago and retain that role for the Musketeers.
In the backcourt, All Wright (one of the best names in the sport) comes over from Valparaiso fresh off a great freshman year. Malik Messina-Moore and Isaiah Walker are both seniors from the mid-major level that have a lot of experience and games under their belts. Overall, this group has a good mix of veteran leadership and promising young talent.
Mixed results
Xavier has played two completely different games to kick off Big East play this season. In their opener, they hosted a struggling Creighton team that was searching for a big win. The result? A 41 point Bluejay win that saw them knock down 16 threes and shoot 60% from the field. Carroll only scored 7 points, by far his season low. The Musketeers looked lost on both ends of the floor and were down 27 by halftime. It was looking like that eighth place pick in the preseason poll may have ended up being too high.
Then just a few days later the Musketeers traveled to Washington D.C. to take on Georgetown. After losing by over 40 points at home, it only made sense that they picked up a gritty road win on the road later on in the week. Carroll scored 22 points and Borovicanin had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds in the 80-77 victory over the Hoyas.
Sneaky struggles?
With how well the Huskies have been playing early on in conference play with a pair of 18+ point victories, it’s easy to overlook some players who may be struggling or not playing up to their full potential that they’ve shown in non-con play.
Malachi Smith is averaging 1 PPG and 1 APG through the first two Big East games after closing non-con with back-to-back 9-assist efforts vs. Florida and Texas. The Dayton transfer hasn’t been able to get a good rhythm going yet in league play, but he is averaging fewer minutes (15.5 in BE play, 19.8 in non-con).
Eric Reibe was everything UConn could have asked for and more in non-con play. With Reed Jr. in and out of the lineup, dealing with numerous injuries, he stepped it up and was the key reason for some big wins, such as on the road at Kansas. He played well in the Big East opener against Butler with six points, seven rebounds, and a career high four blocks. He followed it up, however, with arguably his worst game as a Husky against DePau,l going scoreless in 12 minutes with three fouls and two turnovers
Share the sugar!
Both UConn and Xavier do a good job of getting everybody involved in the offense, and it shows. The Musketeers are first in the league in assists per game at 18.6, but the Huskies aren’t far behind at 18.2. Those are on 27.1 and 29.2 made field goals per game, respectively, too, so both sides rack up assists at a rate north of 60%. Borovician and Messina-Moore combine for 8 APG, and Carroll and Anderson each average 2.8. For the Huskies, Silas Demary Jr.’s 5.8 and Smith’s 4.0 carry the load, but Karaban and Reed Jr. each average at least 2 as well.
Category: General Sports
