No. 5 UConn looks to avoid its third loss in five games on Saturday when it travels to play Villanova on Saturday.
The Huskies (24-3, 14-2) have lost two of their last four games and are ranked No. 51 in net rating over their last five.
UConn had its conference slate derailed by Creighton on Wednesday night. The Huskies fell 91-84 in front of their rowdy home crowd. They missed 2-of-16 during a nine-minute stretch in the second half, which allowed the Blue Jays to go up 10 late in the game.
Braylon Mullins hobbled off the court in the second half amidst a career night where he scored a personal best 25 points. He was put in a knee brace while the trainers tended to him on the bench, but later checked back in and finished the game.
Mullins assured the media that he would be ready to play on Saturday at the press conference following the game.
Hurley was unaware that Mullins was ever in a brace after the game and said that both Mullins and Alex Karaban are both dealing with “something” injury wise, which he neglected to elaborate on. He did say that Karaban had a “leg thing” after the win over Georgetown on Saturday.
Karaban’s mysterious lower body injury was prevalent against Creighton. He scored just two points on 1-for-6 shooting. Hurley even second guessed if playing him hurt was the right decision, saying he was moving like a “cargo ship” on the court.
Wednesday night was the most points the program has allowed in regulation since 2019 against St. Joseph’s.
The Huskies’ defense, which was once the team’s identity, has begun to deteriorate in recent weeks. Their four worst performances in defensive efficiency this year have occurred over the last five games.
“Our defense has just been so bad these last four games…we’ve been playing with fire,” Hurley said.
UConn’s defense was rated as high as No. 2 this season. It now sits at No. 13.
“There’s multiple players on our team that are great individual defenders and are getting worse as the season’s getting later, and it’s not fatigue,” Hurley said.
The Wildcats (21-5, 12-3) enter the game on a six-game winning streak, juxtaposed to the Huskies’ recent struggles. Their last loss? An overtime battle on the road against UConn in January. Solo Ball scored 24 points in that game, including five three pointers.
The Huskies dominated the overtime period 14-4 and shut the game out on an 8-0 run following a back-and-forth affair in regulation.
The Huskies allowed 37 total points from the Blue Jays back court tandem of Josh Dix and Nik Graves. Their defense will be tested by another high scoring guard duo against the Wildcats in Acaden Lewis and Tyler Perkins.
Lewis scored 21 points in Villanova’s overtime win over Xavier on Tuesday. The freshman is averaging over five assists per game which ranks No. 3 in the conference. The Huskies held him to just four points in their first meeting of the year.
Perkins is the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 13.7 points per game. He is shooting a career best 36% from three this season and has scored at least 15 points in each of Villanova’s games since Jan. 13.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and the game can be watched on truTV and TNT.