No. 1 With a Win?
The Story: The UConn men could rise from No. 4 to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll next week if they take care of Georgetown at the XL Center on Sunday (noon, Fox).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies (14-2, 4-1 Big East) had one of their best victories of the season on Wednesday at Xavier and, with a win, would be in contention to be crowned as the No. 1 team in the country.
• UConn could be in that position following losses earlier this week by No. 1 Purdue (at Nebraska), No. 2 Houston (at Iowa State) and No. 3 Kansas (at UCF). No. 5 Tennessee also lost this week as it fell at Mississippi State. The only problem is that Houston’s loss was its first of the season, and Kansas, which now has two losses, was responsible for one of UConn’s two losses on Dec. 1.
• If it happens, the Huskies would be No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time since Feb. 16, 2009 (there are no postseason polls). They hit No. 2 for two weeks last season, but couldn’t get over the hump.
• “Having No. 1 next to your name is something everybody wants,” Hassan Diarra said after beating Xavier. “That would be an accomplishment and super, super cool. But, we just want to focus on one game at a time and doing what we needed to do to get better. And focusing on our next opponent, which is Georgetown.”
WHAT DO THE COMPUTERS SAY? Some would argue the metrics are a better evaluation of true strength than 63 poorly dressed hacks scarfing down free meals courtside (we can say this; we each used to be one).
• As of last night, KenPom had UConn at No. 5, Evan Miya and Bart Torvik each had UConn at No. 7, the NCAA’s NET ranking had UConn at No. 8, and ESPN’s Basketball Power Index had UConn at No. 11 (😬). And remember, most of those metrics are updated live.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? I mean, really, it’s not. The only thing that matters is who’s No. 1 the first week of April, which UConn did a pretty good job of pulling off last year. But still, doesn’t every college kid who screams into the camera after commercial breaks want to be able to say their team is No. 1, and it actually be true?
ANYWAY, GEORGETOWN … : The Hoyas (8-8, 1-4 Big East), led in their first season by money-grabber Ed Cooley, already have more wins than they did in each of the last two seasons under Patrick Ewing. They lost to Holy Cross in their second game and have already chalked up Big East Ls to Butler, Creighton, Marquette and Seton Hall.
• Sophomore guard Jayden Epps, who transferred from Illinois, leads the Hoyas in scoring at 18.2 points per game. He had 30 points in their last game, a 74-70 home loss to Seton Hall on Tuesday. Senior forward Supreme Cook, a Fairfield transfer, has a team-high 7.9 rebounds along with his 10.6 points per game, and Dontez Styles, a junior forward who transferred from North Carolina, is at 13.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
• Georgetown is pretty good at limiting opponents’ effectiveness from 3-point range, allowing just 30.5 percent from beyond the arc, and is grabbing 12.1 offensive rebounds a game. That could stress UConn a few ways, especially if Alex Karaban is forced to continue playing additional minutes at center because Samson Johnson can’t stay on the court.
— Zac Boyer
Huskies Finding Groove In Tough Times
The Story: The No. 13-ranked UConn women haven’t looked better at any point during their nine-game winning streak than they have in recent days, but their momentum and depth will be tested tomorrow at St. John’s (2 p.m., SNY).
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies (13-3, 5-0 Big East) are down to just nine players following the season-ending injury to Aubrey Griffin, and that depth will be tested each night as they’ve only just crossed the halfway point of the regular season.
• UConn got a bit of a lift from its bench in the 85-41 win over Providence on Wednesday, with freshmen Ice Brady and Qadence Samuels each playing 19 minutes, Amari DeBerry and Ines Bettencourt each on the court for nine, and the four combining for 17 points. But they were playing against a clearly overmatched opponent and only saw so many minutes because the starters battled foul trouble.
• Geno Auriemma is no stranger to a short bench. He loves having a rotation of just seven players. But Paige Bueckers is in no position to play 40 minutes every night, Aaliyah Edwards had three or more fouls in seven of 16 games and Nika Muhl plays relentlessly. Plus, if UConn continues to press to make up for its small lineup, fatigue and exhaustion will only run stronger. Reinforcements will be needed.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “I think we’ve come up with a good way to conserve energy. Anytime we feel like we need a breather, we just smack somebody or grab them, punch them, grab their shirt. Anything to get a breather and let them shoot free throws. They’re smarter than I give them credit for.”
ABOUT ST. JOHN’S: The Red Storm (10-7, 4-1 Big East) are always on the cusp of a breakthrough in the conference but rarely ever able to get it together. They beat then-No. 19 Marquette 57-56 at home on Jan. 3, but have also lost to Monmouth, VCU, Jackson State and Fairfield.
• Redshirt senior guard Unique Drake leads St. John’s with 19.6 points per game and sixth-year senior forward Jillian Archer has a team-high 7.4 rebounds and is second with 11 points per game.
• The game will be held at UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders. The teams played there last year, too, but drew just shy of 3,000 fans.
— Zac Boyer
Mora Lands All-American RB Transfer
The Story: Durell Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound running back who was named to the Under Armour All-America team following the 2022 season, will transfer from Charlotte to UConn, he wrote last night on social media.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Robinson, from just outside Washington, D.C., played in the first four games for the 49ers last season and ran for 166 yards and a touchdown on 40 carries before sitting out the rest of the season.
• Robinson originally committed to Boston College in September 2022 before decommitting that December and then choosing Charlotte. He had more than two dozen scholarship offers, including Penn State, Ole Miss, Louisville, West Virginia, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Indiana.
• He’s the second running back who has chosen the Huskies in recent weeks, with Gardner-Webb’s Jayden Brown also set to head to Storrs. The duo will join Victor Rosa and Cam Edwards in forming a formidable rushing attack — something Jim Mora wants to emphasize.
HE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE: UConn also landed a commitment from Akron wide receiver Jasaiah Gathings last night. The 6-foot, 190-pounder broke out with 55 catches for 586 yards and a touchdown for old friend Joe Moorhead as a redshirt sophomore last season.
• UConn received commitments from two wide receivers, Wisconsin’s Skyler Bell and UCLA’s Keegan Jones, last weekend, meaning the offense will look significantly different than last season.
• Their additions come as Cam Ross, who burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2019 but struggled to stay healthy in 2021 and 2022, has decided to transfer.
• Mora, who said late in the season he wanted to add 12-14 players via the transfer portal, has now landed 15. Many of them come with college credentials or high school bona fides, and while you can’t win games in the offseason, you can surely make progress toward doing so. It seems like Mora has.
— Zac Boyer
Morning Reads
• Former UConn defenseman Yan Kuznetsov said his NHL debut with the Flames on Tuesday was “surreal,” even if his time with the team is expected to be short.
• The No. 12-ranked women’s hockey team (12-6-2, 9-3-1 Hockey East) will head to Merrimack tonight before returning home to host Boston University tomorrow afternoon.
• Cue up “Brass Bonanza,” as the men’s hockey team (8-9-2, 4-6-1 Hockey East) will host No. 7 Maine tonight at the XL Center for Whalers Night before completing the two-game home series tomorrow at 3 p.m. UConn was thumped 7-3 at Maine earlier this season.
Top photo: Dan Hurley directs his players in the Huskies’ Big East tournament game against Providence at Madison Square Garden. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
