Can Hurley’s Huskies Make a Move?
The Story: The No. 20 UConn men were not in the top 16 of the first NCAA Tournament reveal, but after a win over Seton Hall on Saturday the Huskies have an opportunity to make a strong run for a top seed.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: UConn (20-7, 9-7 Big East) outlasted the Pirates 64-55 behind a stellar game from Jordan Hawkins, who had 20 points, and a career-high 15 points from Andre Jackson.
• Jackson’s 15 points were breathtaking. The offensively shy guard had several powerful dunks and strong finishes and added 10 rebounds, three assists and his usual suffocating defense against the Pirates (16-12, 9-8 Big East).
• Hassan Diarra took the lion’s share of the time at point guard as he played 25 minutes with Tristen Newton ineffective and passive with only four shots and six points in 18 minutes. Diarra struggles to score, but his defense, energy and pace are a plus when Newton goes into a shell. UConn’s best when Newton is active, but there is no floor to Newton when things aren’t going well.
• Where have you gone, Joey California? Joey Calcaterra has had his minutes reduced recently and did not play. We think that’s a mistake. The Huskies need his shooting.
• The Huskies are almost assured of heading to the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year.
• It was a weird game for Adama Sanogo. He took only five shots and scored eight points with six rebounds. We thought the team played better with Donovan Clingan, who had six points and six rebounds, manning the paint.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “We’ve lost these types of ugly, kind of mud-fight type of games — physical, choppy types of games. We knew we had a team coming in here that was kind of in that bubble range and we knew we’d get a great effort from them. So, I’m thrilled to win.”
WHAT ABOUT THE NCAAS? The Huskies aren’t in the top 16 but are knocking on the door. The committee even mentioned as much as the Huskies were strongly considered for a top-four seed in one of the regions and will perhaps earn a regional final in the east.
• UConn is 3-3 against the top 16, including double-digit wins over No. 1 Alabama, No. 11 Iowa State and No. 14 Marquette. The Huskies also have a loss to Marquette and lost twice to No. 16 Xavier, which seems to have taken the last No. 4 seed.
• UConn, which will probably move up in the Associated Press poll today, has a chance to rocket back up the ratings. They are considered favorites in their final four games, which are against Providence, St, John’s, DePaul and Villanova.
• The Huskies are a No. 5 seed with a lot of room to grow. With a strong end of the season and a strong showing in the Big East tournament, they could probably vault to a No. 3 seed. If UConn goes 7-0 to finish the season and ends up 27-7 and the Big East champs, the metrics would probably project the Huskies as a No. 2 seed in that scenario.
UP NEXT: The Huskies will host rival Providence on Wednesday as they look to keep a first-round bye in the Big East tournament.
— John Silver
Huskies Make Statement with Villanova Win
The Story: Even though turnovers remained an issue, the No. 6 UConn women survived a test at No. 14 Villanova on Saturday afternoon and won 60-51 to essentially wrap up another Big East regular-season title.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies (24-4, 16-1 Big East) never trailed after the opening minutes but hung on after their 12-point lead shrank to just two within 3:56 to play after the Wildcats (23-5, 14-2 Big East) rallied with a 10-0 run.
• Lou Lopez Senechal had a team-high 22 points for UConn and Aaliyah Edwards (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Dorka Juhasz (13 points, 14 rebounds) each had double-doubles.
• Lopez Senechal and Nika Muhl each played all 40 minutes, and Caroline Ducharme played 22 minutes and had six points and six rebounds in her second game back after a lengthy absence following a concussion.
TURNOVERS STILL A PROBLEM: We had hoped that the Huskies would have put their turnover woes behind them between Ducharme’s return against Creighton on Wednesday and their seven turnovers, a season low. Instead, they had 22 turnovers against Villanova, which turned them into 16 points.
• The Huskies had nine of those turnovers in the fourth quarter to partly spur the rally by the Wildcats, who scored eight points off them. In fact, as Villanova went on its 10-0 run, UConn had turnovers on four of six possessions.
• Muhl had a career-high seven turnovers, Edwards had six and Juhasz finished with five. The Huskies are averaging 16.8 turnovers per game, which is second only to Xavier for the most in the Big East.
WON AT THE LINE: Each team made 20 shots — UConn went 20-for-47 and Villanova went 20-for-60 — but the bigger disparity was at the free throw line. The Huskies went 17-for-26 on foul shots and the Wildcats went just 6-for-12.
• UConn was up 54-50 with 1:25 left when the Big East’s leading scorer, Maddy Siegrist, went to the free throw line. She missed the first and made the second to trim the deficit to three, and two possessions later, trailing 56-51 with 1:02 left, Lucy Olsen missed a pair of free throws.
• The Huskies shot 3-for-10 from 3-point range, but Villanova fared worse, going 5-for-25 from beyond the arc. None of its players made more than one attempt.
SHUTTING DOWN SIEGRIST: Siegrist, the reigning Big East Player of the Year, entered averaging 29.4 points per game. But Edwards and the Huskies held her to 21 points, tying a season low, just two games after she dropped 50 on St. John’s.
• Siegrist went 8-for-22, including 1-for-5 from 3-point range, while playing all 40 minutes. She notably went 3-for-13 in the second half, including 1-for-6 in the fourth quarter.
ANOTHER BIG EAST TITLE: With a two-game lead on Villanova in the Big East standings and only three games remaining until the Big East tournament starts, the Huskies essentially wrapped up their 29th conference regular-season title and 10th in a row.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “You’re not gonna get any easy games anymore. We don’t have enough offense to just roll in here and say, ‘OK, we’re gonna score 80.’ We just don’t have it. So, we know it’s going to be a close game. We know we have to make just enough shots. We’re not going to make as many as we used to make. And our defense has got to be even better than it usually is.”
UP NEXT: The Huskies will be back on the court tomorrow night as they’ll host St. John’s at the XL Center at 7 p.m.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• The football team finalized the hiring of former wide receiver Kashif Moore as its wide receivers coach and made several other notable staffing changes on Friday. (UConnHuskies.com)
• Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed a capital budget that includes $12 million in each of the next two fiscal years for renovations at Rentschler Field. Those renovations would include new roofing, concrete repairs and technology upgrades that would be part of a larger $63 million plan. (Hartford Courant)
• Diana Taurasi will continue her career with the Mercury after she signed what has only been described as a multiyear contract with the team. Taurasi, 40, still has her eyes on playing in the Olympics next summer and the new contract will prepare her to do so. (Associated Press)
• The baseball knocked off Ohio State 8-6 yesterday after rallying in the seventh inning. At 2-1, it heads into the finale of its four-game set today at 11 a.m. in Florida. (UConnHuskies.com)
• A pair of 3-0 wins over Holy Cross has the women’s hockey team heading into the quarterfinals of the Hockey East tournament on Saturday as the No. 5 seed. (UConnHuskies.com)
• The softball team’s Rosie Garcia hit a two-run triple in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Huskies past Bowling Green 5-4 yesterday. (UConnHuskies.com)
• The women’s lacrosse team couldn’t build on a successful opener and lost 11-7 to James Madison on Saturday in Baltimore. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: Andre Jackson dunks in the Huskies’ home game against Georgetown. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
