The revenge tour may not have been fully successful, with a loss at St. John’s earlier this month, but the fifth-ranked UConn men’s basketball team got revenge from last season.
The Huskies (25-3, 15-2 Big East) earned their best win of Big East play so far, defeating the Villanova Wildcats (21-6, 12-4 Big East), 73-63, at a sold-out Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
Last season, Connecticut was upset at the Finneran Pavilion after Alex Karaban missed both free throws at the end. On Saturday, the two-time NCAA champion had 12 points to lead the team in scoring, five rebounds and two blocks on 5-of-8 shooting.
“I definitely feel a lot better,” Karaban said after Dan Hurley described his movement as a “cargo ship” after Wednesday’s loss to Creighton. “I felt refreshed out there.”
The bench played a massive role in this one, especially during a season that the Huskies’ bench has looked inconsistent in Big East play. UConn’s bench outscored Villanova’s, 22-8, with Eric Reibe leading the way with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting.
“These guys gotta show up consistently like they did tonight,” Hurley said. “With what we got with the starters, we’re formidable.”
Jaylin Stewart had one of his best games of conference play, knocking down two three-pointers to give him six points. He had been held scoreless in the previous three games and had not scored at least six points since a 7-point performance at Creighton on Jan. 31. His two three-pointers were the most since a 72-49 win over Bryant on Nov. 23. He needed a game like this one.
“It was great seeing Stew do his thing,” Solo Ball said. “He’s a tremendous player and incredibly talented. We go to the bench, and Stew stepped up tremendously.”
After the previous four games saw UConn’s defense plummet outside the top 10 on KenPom, the Huskies made a concerted effort to improve on that end of the court. The Huskies had eight blocked shots, tied for the third-most for the team this season. Connecticut held the Wildcats to 40.7% shooting from the field and 25% from three-point range. According to CBB Analytics, the Huskies put up their best defensive performance since Feb. 3’s 92-60 win over Xavier.
“We guarded today,” Hurley said. “It was the first time we’ve guarded in two weeks. It was the first time we looked like ourselves on defense, like really committed to it.”
Even though UConn led by as many as 21 points, the game itself was not particularly easy. In the opening minutes, Tyler Perkins scored Villanova’s first eight points, all with Ball guarding him. Hurley then instantly went to his bench to bring Jayden Ross in, who impressed the two-time NCAA champion on Saturday night after posting a team-high +16.
“J-Ross came in and just immediately fixed our defense,” Hurley said. “Perkins was destroying us to start the game.”
Silas Demary Jr. and the Huskies were not perfect in the first half. The turnovers were ugly, with eight in the first half and Demary having five of them. Connecticut minimized the turnovers to six in the second half, but they did not all come at once as they had in the first half. Hurley had enough of the turnovers in the first half after Villanova went on a 12-4 run to lead 30-27 with 4:29 left.
“It would suck if this team doesn’t get to its potential because we just turn the ball over too much,” Hurley said. “I think they’re so avoidable for [Demary]. They’re a little bit casual. Some of his turnovers come when he’s gotta get the ball to a spot and spray it to someone coming off a screen … he’s gotta get better at that.”
The turnovers were cleaned up from that point on. UConn went on a 7-0 run, while the Wildcats finished the half shooting one for its last nine, resulting in a Huskies 34-32 lead at the midway point.
“We finally — when we didn’t turn the ball over — played elite-level defense and we were pretty sharp on offense when we got shots on goal,” Hurley said.
With some of UConn’s greatest players in the building, the Huskies turned the level up a notch to begin the second half. Villanova went six and a half minutes without a basket, while Connecticut went on an 8-0 run to go up 13 with 14:50 to play.
UConn made an effort to get on the glass in this game, especially against a double-double machine in Duke Brennan. The Huskies dominated the rebounding game, 37-24. Along with that, Connecticut’s free-throw shooting was terrific, going 11-of-13 from the charity stripe. That will do, especially in a game that can decide the Big East regular season title race.
While the Wildcats finished the game on a 7-0 run, UConn’s 10-point win is not as close as the final score suggests.
“I thought the last two and a half minutes maybe was a little bit of a mess, but how we played for 38 minutes was really strong,” Hurley said.
For the first time since 1969, the all-time series between Villanova and UConn is tied, now at 40-40. UConn is now 9-1 in road games this season and 8-4 against the Wildcats since the infamous “better get us now” speech by Hurley.
UConn will host No. 17 St. John’s in Hartford, Conn. for what is likely to be the deciding game for the Big East regular season title.
“We can’t let each other down anymore,” Hurley said. “We have to show up like this. For the rest of the way, St. John’s is not gonna lose any more than two games, obviously they’re coming to us next. We can’t afford to lose another game in the regular season if we want to win the league.”