After No. 9 UConn and Georgetown each had their winning streaks ended earlier this week, both will be eager for quick bounce-back performances when they meet Saturday in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, UConn (12-4, 4-1 Big East) nearly earned a second straight double-digit comeback win but ultimately fell short at Villanova 68-66. Alex Karaban, who leads the Huskies at 15.9 points per game, scored 10 points but missed two free throws with 3.1 seconds remaining that could have forced overtime.
The loss was the Huskies’ first since going 0-3 in Maui in November.
Afterwards coach Dan Hurley had some advice for his star junior who has played a major role in helping UConn win the last two national championships.
“He’s the winningest player in college basketball,” Hurley said about Karaban, who also shoots 41.5 percent from 3-point range and averages five rebounds per game.
“What I told him to do is when he feels sad tonight…. do what I did after Maui and pull your box of rings out and maybe just kind of play with your back-to-back national championship rings and get ready for Georgetown.”
UConn, which has won 27 of its last 30 Big East regular season games, will be without Liam McNeeley (right foot injury) for the third straight game. McNeeley is the Huskies second leading scorer (13.6 ppg) and rebounder (5.8 rpg).
Jaylin Stewart played a season-high 32 minutes and scored 14 points at Villanova in helping fill in for the injured freshman. In UConn’s 87-84 win over Providence on Jan. 5, it was fifth-year guard Hassan Diarra who scored a career-high 19 points to help pick up the slack.
“Winning at Georgetown is going to be tough,” Hurley said about life without McNeeley. “Any game with Liam out is going to be tough.”
UConn last lost two straight league games in January 2023.
Despite losing 74-66 at No. 7 Marquette on Tuesday, Georgetown (12-3, 3-1) remains one of the bigger early surprises in the Big East. Both Georgetown and UConn find themselves in a group of four teams all with one conference loss, sitting just behind undefeated leaders Marquette.
The Hoyas led by as many as 14 in the first half in Milwaukee before fading down the stretch in large part due to turnovers. Georgetown turned the ball over 19 times and is first in the Big East in turnovers in conference games with 14.8.
“I thought the biggest thing in this game was the turnovers,” Hoyas coach Ed Cooley said after the Marquette loss.
“You limit three of those turnovers, Georgetown walks out of this building with a win. Two or three turnovers changed the whole game.”
Thomas Sorber earned his fourth Big East Freshman of the Week award on Monday and followed it up with 11 points and 13 rebounds in the Marquette loss. Sorber leads the Hoyas in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.4 rpg).
Jayden Epps, the Hoyas’ second leading scorer at 14.7 points per game, was out for the second time over the last three games due to a lower-body injury and has played just four minutes since Dec. 22.
Georgetown has lost eight straight meetings with UConn. The Hoyas last beat the Huskies in a Big East game on Feb. 1, 2012. The programs split a pair of meetings as nonconference foes during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
