Another Week, Another Top-10 Game

The Story: The No. 5-ranked UConn men will play a top-10 team for the third consecutive week as they wrap up finals week with one last first-semester test on Friday night against No. 10 Gonzaga.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies have embraced the all-or-nothing scheduling philosophy under Dan Hurley. What does that mean? Well, the Huskies play some of the top teams in the country, like Kansas, North Carolina, Texas and Gonzaga, or, if they aren’t Quad 1 opponents, the Huskies will to play the bottom of Division I in Stonehill, Mississippi Valley State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. That hasn’t hurt the Huskies in the all-important metrics, however.

• KenPom, which is known to fluctuate wildly early in the season, has the Huskies as the No. 3-ranked team.

• Don’t like that? How about the all-important NET rating, the official metric of the NCAA tournament? It has the Huskies at No. 7.

• Lastly, the Associated Press poll, our favorite as former voters, has the Huskies ranked No. 5 and the top-rated Big East school.

BIG EAST A TOUGH ROAD: The game against Gonzaga, which will take place in Seattle, is the Huskies’ last against a nonconference opponent before they get into the meat of the Big East schedule.

• As expected, No. 6 Marquette and No. 8 Creighton will account for four games, while Providence is receiving votes in the AP poll.

• The bottom line? The Huskies are going to have a challenging schedule, which come NCAA tournament time is going to help them get a high seed if they can take care of business.

BALL GETS HIS DUE: Solomon Ball was named the Big East Freshman of the Week after he scored 22 points over two games, including a career-high 13 in a win over then-No. 9 North Carolina.

Morning Reads

• Right guard Christian Haynes became the first UConn football player named to an Associated Press all-America team in consecutive years yesterday when he was again selected to the third team. Haynes started 49 games across four seasons for the Huskies.

• The women’s basketball team remained No. 17 in the AP poll despite beating North Carolina, which fell one spot to No. 25. Meanwhile, Paige Bueckers was named the Big East Player of the Week and Ashlynn Shade was named its Freshman of the Week.

• Kemba Walker said that one of the reasons he was eager to play in Europe this season — he’s suiting up for AS Monaco — is because “I wanted to try to experience the world.”

Top photo: Samson Johnson throws down a dunk during the Huskies’ game against Northern Arizona. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)