For all of No. 4 UConn’s success, winning at Seton Hall has been problematic
No matter the strength of Dan Hurley's teams during UConn's recent run of dominance, the Huskies have failed to do one thing since 2021: Beat Seton Hall on the road.
With how the Pirates have bounced back from a dismal 2024-25 campaign, No. 4 UConn may have its work cut out for it in Tuesday night's game against Seton Hall in Newark, N.J.
UConn has gone 131-33 with two national titles since the start of the 2021-22 season. But four of those 33 losses have come at Seton Hall, Hurley's alma mater.
Even last year -- when UConn was coming off its second straight NCAA title and Seton Hall was suffering through one of its worst seasons in program history -- the Pirates led at halftime, rallied from down seven points in the final 45 seconds of regulation and stunned the Huskies 69-68 on Scotty Middleton's layup with 3 seconds left in overtime.
UConn (16-1, 6-0 Big East) is once again the class of the conference, but Seton Hall (14-2, 4-1) has already doubled last season's win total.
The Pirates have won three in a row thanks in large part to second-half scoring runs fueled by stifling defense at the other end. They won 79-73 at Marquette with a game-ending 13-0 run; stormed back from a 16-point second-half deficit to stun Creighton 56-54 on a last-second layup; and dug out of an 11-point hole to beat host Georgetown 76-67 on Saturday.
"I don't want it to be like that," Seton Hall coach Shaheen Holloway said on his postgame radio interview at Georgetown, but "these guys did an unbelievable job of staying in there and keeping their composure."
Seton Hall got 22 points from Adam "Budd" Clark and 17 off the bench from Tajuan Simpkins. Holloway also credited rotational forward Josh Rivera, who went 3-for-3 for seven points and has shot 13-for-18 (72.2%) for 33 points in his past four outings. He's added 12 rebounds in that span, six on the offensive glass.
"He's just bringing energy, man, bringing passion, getting his hands on loose balls, rebounding," said Holloway, who was Seton Hall's point guard directly after Hurley graduated. "He's doing the little things to keep himself on the court and I told him that from the beginning."
UConn followed a 103-98 overtime win at Providence on Wednesday with a 72-60 home win over DePaul on Saturday. The Huskies are the only remaining unbeaten team in Big East play.
"I was worried about overall flatness, lack of energy with the group," said Hurley, whose team led by as many as 23 before easing off the gas. "I actually thought we handled things pretty well, because that's not the DePaul that's rolled in here that you've seen in recent memory. We guarded at a high level in the first half, but obviously, it's a game we could have won by 20-25."
Braylon Mullins continued a stellar freshman campaign by leading the Huskies with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Alex Karaban scored 15 and Silas Demary Jr. had 14. Karaban is the lone holdover from the first of UConn's back-to-back title teams.
"I don't know that this is like the '24 team, where we were just a destroyer, just a devastating machine," Hurley said. "... I don't necessarily think they're coming into every game with a seek-and-destroy mentality, I don't think they're built like that. But we need these guys to develop more of a killer instinct."
Solo Ball tops the Huskies with 14.8 points per game, while Karaban (14.0) and Tarris Reed Jr. (13.9) are close behind. AJ Staton-McCray (12.3), Simpkins (11.1) and Clark (10.5) are Seton Hall's leading scorers.