The UConn men’s basketball team wore all black on their way to the bus on Tuesday evening: a sign that they meant business.
That was certainly the case when No. 2 seed Connecticut (28-4, 17-3 Big East) took down No. 10 seed Xavier (15-18, 6-14 Big East), 93-68, to advance to Friday’s semifinal round. This was the Huskies’ first test on the road to a potential ninth Big East Tournament title, which would break a record (tied at eight with Georgetown).
The Huskies had a significantly better night on the offensive end, especially compared to their last game at Marquette. UConn shot 56.7% from the field, with the Huskies knocking down 12 3-pointers. The Huskies’ shooting performance was similar to the first meeting between the two teams this season, a 90-67 rout at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Remember that 87-60 throttling UConn put down in 2024 against Xavier, the last time these two teams met in the Big East Tournament? That was powered by excellent center play from Donovan Clingan and Samson Johnson.
On Thursday night, it was the center tandem of Tarris Reed Jr. and Eric Reibe’s turn to feast in the paint. From the opening tip, that was prominent. Reed finished the game with 17 points and 14 rebounds, recording a double-double by the end of the first half. At halftime, Reed had as many rebounds as Xavier did.
“I don’t know if he always likes to hear this, but Tarris is the difference between us winning this tournament,” Dan Hurley said at the podium after the game. “Tarris is the difference between us getting to the Final Four.”
Reibe was efficient off the bench, shooting a perfect 2-for-2 from the field and finishing the game with 7 points.
“Eric gave some great minutes,” Hurley said. “We had that combo at center that made us dominant in ‘23 and ‘24. The numbers those guys put up has been our recipe for being great.”
Solo Ball, who also got into double figures in the first half with 10 points. The 2024 NCAA champion finished the game with a team-high 19 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including four 3-pointers.
When Silas Demary Jr. committed his second foul early in the first half, Malachi Smith came in and had his best game since a 12-point, 7-assist performance against Providence on Jan. 24. The Bronx, N.Y. native was back in his home city, and he proved to be a crucial part of the Huskies’ success off the bench.
“With Silas getting those two fouls in the first half, [the] halftime situation could have been much different for us and a much tighter game,” Hurley said. “But I thought Malachi was awesome in the first half.”
When asked about the turnovers prior to the regular-season finale at Marquette, Hurley buried his face into his hands and emphasized that the coaching staff was doing everything they could to limit the turnovers. UConn lost that game with 16 turnovers.
Alex Karaban followed a career performance against Seton Hall with one of his worst performances at Marquette. He did not make a shot, which seemed to be an anomaly for the two-time NCAA champion.
It was.
Karaban quickly got into double figures in the scoring column and looked more like himself out on the court. He knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half. For the first time since UConn’s rout over St. John’s in the Hartford finale, Karaban got some rest on the bench. He ended up playing 29 minutes, getting into foul trouble early in the second half, which limited his playing time in the second half.
Karaban was one of four starters to commit at least three fouls, along with Reed, Braylon Mullins and Demary. Xavier was in the double bonus just over midway into the second half, but that did not matter in the end, especially when the Musketeers shot a dismal 15-for-23 from the charity stripe in the second half.
Even with the foul trouble, the Huskies’ bench came to play; it was not just Smith and Reibe. Connecticut finished with 24 bench points in a game where the bench needed to step up to keep Xavier at an arm’s length.
“If we get that type of bench production, we’re going to win a lot of games the rest of this college basketball season,” Hurley said.
UConn is now 44-30 all-time at the Big East Tournament, with an 8-4 mark under Dan Hurley. Since returning to the Big East in the 2020-21 season, Connecticut has not failed to reach the semifinal round of the tournament. The last time UConn lost in the quarterfinal round of the Big East Tournament was in 2009. Sound familiar? The six-overtime game against Syracuse.
One game down, two more to go. The Huskies’ next test will be on Friday at 8 p.m. on FS1, with hopes of avenging last year’s loss in the semifinal round to Creighton.