To say the UConn men’s basketball team has been on a roll lately would be an understatement. They are dominating the competition. Riding high off their 71-62 home victory over the Butler Bulldogs, Connecticut will return to action this weekend against the 8-14 Georgetown Hoyas at Capital One Arena.
If the Huskies manage to pull off a win in the nation’s capital, that will mark their 12th straight win, all against Big East opponents. This is a crucial game for the conference standings, as the No. 7 Marquette Golden Eagles trail the defending national champions by only 2.5 games.
An area for UConn fans to narrow in on is how Alex Karaban performs. It seems as though the 6-foot-8 forward is back to full health, as the sophomore played 35 minutes in the program’s most recent game against the Bulldogs. However, Karaban could never get going offensively as he would like to, scoring seven points on 3-7 shooting from the field. While that in and of itself isn’t too concerning for his first game back, the program needs him to get back up to speed as soon as possible, as Connecticut’s schedule only gets harder from here. Marquette comes to town on Feb. 17, and the Huskies will make the trek out to Nebraska three days after that for a marquee matchup against the Creighton Bluejays.
Another player to keep an eye on is Stephon Castle. The Georgia native finally broke out for the program with big-time performances against Providence and St. John’s, although Castle “took a step back” against the Bulldogs. The freshman guard is another guy that the program will lean on for big-time scoring, especially coming down the stretch of these crucial games.
Big man Donovan Clingan is a player who has steadily improved in every game he has played. The Bristol native put on an offensive clinic in his last time out for Connecticut, grabbing 14 rebounds and scoring 18 points in 28 minutes of work. The last game was an encouraging performance down low for Connecticut. A majority of their scoring came within 10 feet of the hoop, and the team has always had an offensive presence in the paint, although they took that to an unprecedented level last game. It will be interesting to see what the offensive game plan will look like early on.
The Huskies winning this way is a significant concern for everyone else in college basketball because they have so many weapons to beat teams with. Players like Karaban, Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton aren’t afraid to let it fly from downtown. Spectators have seen at least one of these guys beat defenses at an absurdly high clip nearly every night. Even if the shots aren’t falling, the program has shown the ability to score 40 points in the paint, which opens up the entire floor and gives their shooters better looks.
While UConn comes into this one as the heavy favorite, don’t count out the Hoyas entirely. 6-foot-2 guard Jayden Epps is putting together a solid offensive campaign, averaging 18 points a night on 39% shooting. Like many other hoopers in all levels of the game, the Georgetown guard is very inconsistent regarding his efficiency from 3-point land. There are nights where he will finish 3-13 in this regard or 6-13. Depending on what version of the sophomore guard we get, it will ultimately dictate whether this is a Connecticut blowout or closer than people expect.
In case you forgot, this is not the first time these teams have squared away this season. On Jan. 14, these two teams clashed at the XL Center, with the Huskies coming away with an 80-67 victory. The Hartford crowd was treated to the Supreme Cook show as the 6-foot-9 forward put up 18 points and 13 rebounds in 31 minutes of work. His down-low performance was a significant reason why UConn barely won the war on the boards, and the game was much closer than anticipated. How he and Epps perform this weekend will have an enormous impact on the end result, so Connecticut fans should keep an eye on those two.
While the Huskies will open as at least 20-point favorites, this is still a Big East matchup. Anything can happen, and this very well could be a single-digit game for most of the way through. While winning is a top priority for Connecticut, how their key players function needs to be considered. The schedule gets much more challenging. It is never too early to talk about postseason considerations, as the annual Big East tournament and NCAA March Madness tournament aren’t as far off as fans might think.