The No. 25 UConn men’s basketball team (15-6, 7-3 Big East) avoided an abysmal loss on Wednesday, Jan. 29, to DePaul and now need to bring their A-game for 40 minutes as they visit the No. 9 Marquette Golden Eagles (18-3, 9-1 Big East) on Saturday night.
January has been rough for the Huskies in the past few seasons. They went 3-5 in January 2023 and finished the opening month of 2025 at 5-3. Every one of their wins this past month has come against teams who are .500 or worse in league play.
5-3 is impressive when Liam McNeeley has been absent with an ankle injury ever since the second half of a win at DePaul on New Year’s Day. Before Wednesday’s game, UConn head coach Dan Hurley said McNeeley was more likely to not play than to play but was considered a game-time decision. He did not participate in warmups but there is a possibility he could play on Saturday based on his status in Tuesday’s media availability.
Marquette is widely considered the best team in the conference, with only one loss since Dec. 18 (at home to Xavier on Jan. 18.)
Kam Jones is a candidate for Big East Player of the Year, averaging 18.9 points, 6.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. The Memphis native is shooting 49.5% from the field, 32.7% from deep and 70.9% from the free-throw line. Jones has not failed to score less than 10 points in a game this season and has scored as high as 32 points twice.
The game could be decided when Connecticut has the ball. The Huskies have the best offense in the Big East in terms of efficiency but will go up against the No. 13 defense in the country.
The Huskies were excellent in transition in the second half on Wednesday, scoring 13 of their 15 total points off turnovers. The Golden Eagles are a threatening team in this category, averaging 19.7 points off turnovers this season (fifth in the country). They also take care of the ball on offense well, ranking first in the nation in turnover percentage (11.2%).
It will be a tough task for Marquette big Ben Gold in the paint. UConn has been more reliant on scoring points in the paint, with 52.4% of their points coming in the paint (third in the country). While Gold is not relied on for scoring in the paint (in the 19th percentile nationally in points in the paint per game at 1.5), he is impactful on the fast break. He ranks in the 90th percentile in fast break points per game (1.5). 19% of his points scored will come in transition (91st percentile nationally).
Alex Karaban is coming off the worst shooting night of his career, going 1-14 from the field and missing all six of his 3-point attempts. He still leads the team in scoring at 15 points per game but has seen some inconsistency this season due to his high usage. He ranks second in the Big East in minutes per game at 35.8, behind Georgetown guard Micah Peavy by 0.2. Since McNeeley went down, Karaban has averaged 37.9 minutes per game, which ranks in the 100th percentile nationally. Three of the last four games have seen him fail to score in double figures, which raises questions about his inconsistency lately.
It is the first time these two programs have met since the 2024 Big East Championship game and features the two most successful teams in the conference for the 2020s so far. Since Jan. 10, 2007, the Huskies are 11-7 against the Golden Eagles.
Saturday night begins a crucial three-game stretch that could determine UConn’s ceiling for the season. Following their first top-25 opponent since defeating Gonzaga on Dec. 14 at Madison Square Garden, they will host No. 15 St. John’s at Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 7 before traveling to Omaha in hopes of a revenge game at Creighton.
It will be the second time in the last three games that Connecticut is featured in the Fox Primetime Hoops broadcast. They lost last Saturday at Xavier and hope to build momentum as the calendar turns to February.
The Huskies’ third top 25 matchup of the season will tip off at 8 p.m. and be televised on Fox.