No. 5 UConn men’s basketball will wake up in Kansas on Tuesday morning but Auntie Em and Uncle Henry will not be by the Huskies’ bedside to greet them. Instead, UConn (6-1) will walk straight into one of college basketball’s most hostile environments: Allen Fieldhouse, against No. 21 Kansas.
These blue blood programs last squared off on Dec. 1, 2023, making Tuesday’s meeting nearly a two-year anniversary of the Jayhawks’ (6-2) 69-65 win over the Huskies. The road loss was one of UConn’s only three losses that season on its way to its second consecutive National Championship. The Huskies have met Kansas four times in program history but have never come out on top.
“This year’s team has a chance to do something that none of those great teams did,” UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley said.
The Huskies’ Yellow Brick Road coming into Tuesday has been paved with battle-tested success against high-ranking opponents. UConn is 2-1 against opponents in the top 15 earning wins over then-No. 7 BYU and then-No. 13 Illinois.
While Kansas has yet to face a top 15 opponent this season, the team just earned a critical win over then-No. 17 Tennessee in the third-place game of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, who moved to No. 13 on Monday. The Jayhawks battled back from the 12-point second half deficit to finish the event 3-0.
UConn has had a more difficult stretch to this point in the season, but the team has yet to experience a true road test like the one that awaits in Lawrenceville, Kan.
“There’s very few places you play at anywhere near their level of atmosphere. It’s just so unique,” Hurley said. “There’s no simulating the actual environment, because it’s a rare place to play.”
Alex Karaban has played in “The Phog” before. Karaban scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds in the matchup two years ago. Kansas jumped off to a 16-5 start in that game. Karaban told Jared Kotler on the Connecticut Scoreboard Podcast that he remembers his “ears were ringing after the first media timeout.”
Solo Ball also played in that game, making the start as a freshman in the absence of Stephon Castle. Ball has struggled to find his stroke this season, after being one of the top shooters in the country last season with a 41.4% average from deep.
Despite providing Huskies with a jumpstart in the win over Illinois by scoring 13 in the first half, Ball missed seven of his nine attempts from beyond the arc. After the game, UConn legend and Naismith Hall of Famer Ray Allen stuck around in the locker room to talk with Ball about his recent slump.
“Ray is very generous with his time, and not just when the cameras are around,” Hurley said. “He hung out in there with him…talking about fundamentals, technique, having a short memory, next possession.”
Friday marked the first time all season the Huskies had all 15 players dressed and available to play. Freshman Braylon Mullins made his long-awaited collegiate debut against the Illini. The former five-star recruit checked in to a massive ovation from the crowd. He snatched a pair of rebounds and buried a mid-range jumper to start his career at UConn.
Tarris Reed Jr. made his return to the court after missing the prior two games with a sprained ankle he suffered against BYU on Nov. 15. Reed was averaging over 20 points and nine rebounds before getting sidelined.
Both Huskies were held under 15 minutes of playing time as a precaution. Hurley said on Monday that Reed will be a game time decision to play against Kansas.
“We want to get these guys now to the point where maybe going into Tuesday you’re not talking about minutes restrictions, because those two guys are going to change our team a lot,” Hurley said.
The Jayhawks have also not been whole in November. A hamstring injury has kept freshman two-guard Darryn Peterson off the court for the past six games. 247Sports listed Peterson as the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class.
Peterson was the team’s leading scorer before getting hurt, averaging 21.5 points over his first two outings. He put the college basketball world on notice scoring a team-high 22 points against then-No. 25 North Carolina. Peterson’s status to return Tuesday is still not certain.
“He has practiced. He’s gone up and down [in practice]. The hesitancy I have is that before we announce anything is, he has to test out medically from a strength and flexibility standpoint,” Kansas Head Coach Bill Self told 247Sports Michael Swain. “We’ll know that in the morning. So still no answer but we’ll be able to say something definitively in the morning.”
The rest of the Jayhawks’ roster has been forced to step up with Peterson out of the lineup. Flory Bidunga has anchored Kansas on both ends of the floor. The sophomore middleman averages nearly 16 points per game along with eight rebounds. His 21 blocked shots over eight games this season ranks No. 10 in the country.
Bidunga has notched two double double’s this season. One of those came against Princeton, when he scored 25 points, missing just one of his 11 attempts from the field.
“The guy’s a monster, in the most complimentary way,” Hurley said. “I think it’s a great challenge for a young Eric Reibe and a less than 100% Tarris Reed.”
Tuesday’s contest is sure to feel like a game that should be played in March, as two of college basketball’s most storied programs collide once again.
The tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. and can be watched on ESPN2.