Home Sweet Home for Huskies?
The Story: The No. 6-ranked men's basketball team will try to get back on track on Sunday when it hosts St. John's at the XL Center (noon, FS1).
RIGHT THE SHIP: The Huskies (15-3, 4-3 Big East) have lost three of their last four games, though they have come against some of the tougher competition in the conference in No. 12 Xavier, No. 19 Providence and No. 25 Marquette.
• The opportunity against St. John's (12-6, 2-5 Big East) is the start of what appears to be a chance for the Huskies to get themselves together. They will play five of their next six games against teams in the bottom half of the conference, and the sixth game is a rematch against Xavier at Gampel Pavilion in two weeks.
ROAD STRUGGLES PERSIST: UConn must find what it takes to improve on the road. It is 0-7 in road games against ranked opponents in Dan Hurley's five seasons, and it hasn't won any of its last 17 games against ranked opponents away from home & a stretch that dates to January 2014.
• The good news is the Huskies have already played their toughest road games of the season. Remaining on the schedule are games at Seton Hall, DePaul, Georgetown, Creighton, St. John's and Villanova, and only the one against the Bluejays appears remotely daunting given how the Big East looks.
CAN SANOGO GET RIGHT? UConn only got 19 minutes out of junior center Adama Sanogo in its 82-76 loss at Marquette on Wednesday. Hurley said after the game that it just wasn't Sanogo's night, but a player who's that highly regarded and vital to his team's success can't afford that many of them.
• UConn received a strong performance from center Donovan Clingan, whom Marquette could not match. But its guards also continued to struggle, and it will be interesting to see how Hurley begins to divide minutes in his backcourt between Tristen Newton, Hassan Diarra, Nahiem Alleyne and Joey Calcaterra. Will anything change on Sunday?
ABOUT ST. JOHN'S: The Red Storm snapped a five-game losing streak with a home win against Butler on Tuesday and look a bit different than they did earlier this season after their 10-0 start.
• Three players are averaging double figures in scoring: senior center Joel Soriano, who has team highs of 16.4 points and 12 rebounds a game; junior forward David Jones, a DePaul transfer who's at 13.6 points a game, and junior guard Andre Curbelo, an Illinois transfer who's at 10.5 points per game.
• Then, of course, there's always Posh Alexander, the junior guard who was the Big East Freshman of the Year in 2020-21 and has been a thorn in UConn's side the last few seasons.
Fudd: 'It Felt Good to Be Out Here'
The Story: Sophomore guard Azzi Fudd was pleased with her return to the No. 4-ranked women's basketball team on Wednesday night, and after the Huskies won at St. John's, they'll turn their sights to Georgetown on Sunday at the XL Center (4 p.m., SNY).
SEAMLESS RETURN: Fudd had 14 points and three rebounds in 20 minutes, though she didn't play the first portion of the first quarter and sat for a majority of the fourth once the outcome was in hand.
• She injured her right knee in the Huskies' game at Notre Dame on Dec. 4 when junior Aaliyah Edwards fell into her while trying to fight through a screen. The Huskies (14-2, 7-0 Big East) lost that evening and again at Maryland on Dec. 11, but they've won their last seven games.
GETTING HEALTHY: Fudd's return coincided with those of Geno Auriemma, who sat out the previous two games with an illness, and Edwards, who injured her right ankle while chasing a loose ball and diving into the stands in the win at Xavier on Jan. 5.
• Although Edwards didn't technically miss a game, her absence was part of the reason why the game against DePaul scheduled for Sunday had to be postponed. The Huskies didn't have seven scholarship players healthy.
• With Fudd back, the Huskies are just waiting on sophomore guard Caroline Ducharme and freshman forward Ayanna Patterson to recover from concussions. They'll be at (relatively) full strength once that happens, but there's no timeline for their returns.
WHAT DID CD SAY? "I thought she did great. If someone turned on the TV and they were watching the game, I'm not sure they would know that she hadn't played since Dec. 4."
WHAT DID FUDD SAY? "[Being injured] sucked. Any injury for anyone is always the worst. I mean, just having to sit on the side for so long and having to watch everyone with all the injuries we've been dealing with, having to watch our team go through these ups and downs and knowing that I can't be on the floor helping them, it's been the worst."
ABOUT GEORGETOWN: The Hoyas (8-8, 1-6 Big East) are on a four-game losing streak after losing 72-48 at Butler on Wednesday.
• They're led by junior guard Kelsey Ransom, who is averaging team highs of 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds, and freshman guard Kennedy Fauntleroy, whose surprising 28 points in a win at Xavier on Jan. 4 have her averaging 11.6 points per game.
• The Hoyas are another team that prefers to slow the game down, and they shoot just 63.3 percent from the free throw line. It shouldn't take much for UConn, which has won the last 33 games in the series dating to Feb. 27, 1993, to get them out of their comfort zone.
Hockey Teams to Open Toscano Forum
The Story: The Toscano Family Ice Forum will host its first games this weekend, with the No. 15-ranked women's hockey team welcoming Merrimack tonight and No. 11 Vermont tomorrow afternoon and the No. 11-ranked men's hockey team facing Northeastern tomorrow night.
HOW WE GOT HERE: The university was required to upgrade its hockey facilities as part of the men's team's move to Hockey East in 2014 — and it's been a long time coming. The Freitas Ice Forum, which opened in 1998, was a glorified barn that replaced that dreadful old kind-of-inside-but-not-really-outside hodgepodge rink that had previously been on the site.
• The Toscano Forum has 2,600 seats, cost $70 million and will be the full-time home to both programs. There were objections to the building's combination of cost and size when it was announced, but it was finally approved by the Board of Trustees in April 2021.
• The intimate building has club lounges and a dedicated section for students, and only 20 percent of its seating is bleachers.
WHAT ABOUT THE OLD PLACE? The Freitas Ice Forum will remain open to the community for the rest of the winter, but plans call for it to be repurposed in the near future. There's nothing set in stone as to what that will be, however.
• The men's hockey team won't play any more games at the XL Center this season, but there are plans for it to continue to use the building in the coming years.
Morning Reads
• A recent mock draft has Jordan Hawkins going to the Knicks with the No. 22 pick and Andre Jackson joining the Magic at No. 35. (The Athletic)
• Former Delaware defensive back Noah Plack-Tallerico has decided to transfer to UConn for his sixth season and will join longtime friend Ray Eldridge, a defensive tackle who transferred from Richmond last week. (Rivals.com)
Top photo: Donovan Clingan watches the action during the First Night event at Gampel Pavilion. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
