No. 4 UConn, underperfoming Marquette tangle in Big East clash
No. 4 UConn will look to keep its dominant start to Big East conference play rolling along as the Huskies host Marquette on Sunday afternoon in Storrs, Conn.
The Christmas break did nothing to slow down the Huskies (13-1, 3-0), who took down Xavier 90-67 on Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
Alex Karaban led the way with 19 points and seven boards, while Braylon Mullins and Solo Ball each added 17. The Huskies knocked down 13 of their 28 3-point attempts (46.4%).
"I thought Alex set a tone and played a game. He's been Big East Player of the Year, All-American level player for us," Huskies coach Dan Hurley said. "Most under-appreciated great player in college basketball."
Ball leads a balanced scoring attack with an average of 15.5 points per game, with Karaban (14), Tarris Reed Jr. (14) and Mullins (10.2) not far behind. Silas Demary Jr. leads with 5.9 assists per game.
Marquette (5-9, 0-3) meanwhile is coming in off perhaps the most disappointing loss of a season that has been full of such setbacks.
The Golden Eagles held a double-digit lead midway in the second half and led by seven with three minutes left against Seton Hall on Tuesday, putting their first conference win and by far the best win of the season well in reach.
Then, the Golden Eagles missed their final 10 shot attempts and saw Seton Hall go on a 13-0 run to close out a 79-73 win in Milwaukee.
"That was as tough of an ending as I've seen in a while. There was a stretch in the second half where we were as lost in the fight and as present as we've been all season," Marquette coach Shaka Smart said. "That's a bitter, bitter pill to swallow."
With the loss, Marquette's best win on the season remains an overtime struggle against Valparaiso that it won 75-72. The Golden Eagles fell against all five Power Four opponents they faced in nonconference play and have lost second-half leads in two of their three Big East games.
Despite their struggles, Marquette does have one of the brighter talents in the Big East in Chase Ross, who leads the team with an average of 16.6 points per game.
However, even Ross' numbers have taken a dive as he had a rough month of December. Over the past five games, he is shooting 27.9% on 2-point attempts and 20% from deep.
Freshman Nigel James Jr. has led the team in conference play, averaging 17.3 points and 4.3 assists and shooting 50% from the floor across the three contests.
This was becoming one of the strongest rivalries in the Big East after Marquette took two of three from UConn in the 2022-23 season and won both the regular season and conference tournament titles.
However since then, the Huskies have won five in a row over Marquette.
The Golden Eagles have not won in a true road game at Connecticut since the 2011-12 season. UConn leads the all-time series 13-8.