January has had many close games for the No. 2 UConn men’s basketball team (19-1, 9-0 Big East). Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown and now, Villanova.
The Huskies were led in part by Alex Karaban, who scored 17 points — all coming in the second half and overtime. Karaban put the game away with a pair of free throws, redeeming himself after missing crucial shots at Villanova last season.
“It was ironic that I was at the line to finish the game, but I wasn’t thinking about it,” Karaban said after the 75-67 overtime win. “I learned from that game. I grew from it. I put it behind me and just saw it as a learning opportunity from last year.”
Solo Ball also made a notable impact, breaking out of his slump with a season-high five 3-pointers and finishing with 24 points, leading all scorers. This was his highest 3-pointer tally since hitting seven at Marquette last season. The Coaches vs. Cancer theme for Saturday’s game provided added motivation for the 2024 national champion.
“One thing that made me tear up was seeing the flashlights go up and see my mom holding up her flashlight — that’s what really sparked this for me,” Ball said. “I was always thinking about my mom the whole game.”
The game started with poor offense from both teams in the first half. Villanova led 31-27, but neither team shot over 40% from the field. The most significant difference was six 3-pointers in the first half for the Wildcats, while UConn only connected on three. Despite a 42-39 advantage on the glass, Dan Hurley was not pleased with the rebounding once again. UConn trailed at the half in that column, 20-17.
“The rebounding is an issue,” Hurley said. “Our wings and our guards need to get on the glass. Our guys on the perimeter got to rebound the ball better…Tarris [Reed Jr.] has got to rebound the ball…he can’t end that game with four defensive rebounds. Tarris should have had 15 [rebounds] tonight.”
A significant factor moving forward is the status of Braylon Mullins, who took an inadvertent elbow to the head by Villanova’s Acaden Lewis.
“He obviously goes into the concussion protocol, so we’ll see what happens,” Hurley said. “Obviously, we’ll take good care of him like we did with Alex [Karaban] last year.”
Saturday felt like deja vu for Hurley. James Breeding is officiating the game, and Villanova is coming to Hartford. During the 2021-22 season, for those who do not remember or know, Breeding threw Hurley out on back-to-back technical fouls, which led to a brilliant effort by associate head coach Kimani Young to grind out a win over then-No. 8 Villanova in Hartford.
Then, Breeding t’ed him up with 15:06 left in the second half after Hurley thought Karaban got fouled on a loose ball on the offensive end.
“History almost repeated itself,” Hurley said. “I was proud of my impulse control as well as James gave me a little bit of a leash there…You should have saw me and James the rest of the way. I thought we were great together.”
He also quipped that he did think about having Young pinch-hit like he did in the 2022 game.
UConn’s defense made stops at the end and limited the two best players for Villanova. Lewis, a contender for Big East Freshman of the Year, shot 1-for-13, while Bryce Lindsay went 0-for-8.
“I think it was a total team effort,” Demary, who had the assignment of guarding Lewis, said. “We all kind of honed in on [Lewis] being a heady playmaker…I think the overall game plan that us all being able to play team defense kind of affected his game, and we did what we needed to do to make sure he didn’t make as many plays as he usually does.”
Despite the low production on offense, Lindsay made a game-saving play for the Wildcats with a steal in the final seconds to force overtime.
15-straight wins for Connecticut is the program’s longest streak since the 1994-95 season. That season went quite well for the most part, but Hurley and the Huskies hope this season does not end as that one did.
“The season’s gone great for us,” Hurley said. “But my responsibility as a coach is to be concerned about the things that will prevent us from winning the Big East regular season, winning the Big East Tournament and get to the Final Four [and] try to win a national championship. We’re just not playing at that level yet. It’s late January. We’ve got to get this [stuff] tied up within the next week.”
Villanova will remain in front of the all-time series, 40-39, but this is the third consecutive win over the Wildcats for UConn.
Next up, another old-school Big East rivalry with a struggling, but pesky Providence team coming to Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday night.