No. 3 UConn carries dream start into matchup vs. flailing Georgetown
It's next to impossible to come up with something UConn hasn't accomplished over the last quarter-century of men's college basketball.
However, the current group of Huskies has found a way to separate itself at a UConn program that has claimed six national championships since 1999.
No. 3 UConn opposes Georgetown on Saturday afternoon in Washington trying to continue its best start in Big East play since the 1998-99 season.
Despite the impressive record, it hasn't come easy as of late for UConn (17-1, 7-0 Big East).
On Tuesday, the Huskies held on for a 69-64 road victory over No. 25 Seton Hall after watching an 18-point second half lead evaporate down to a point with under a minute to play.
In UConn's previous road game on Jan. 7, the roles were reversed as the Huskies needed to come back from down 13 in the second half and force overtime before winning 103-98 at Providence.
Four-year starter Alex Karaban (13.9 ppg) has seen it all during his time at UConn.
"We've learned how to stay together, we've learned how to battle through adversity," Karaban said after the win against the Pirates.
"Just always finding that will to win a game. That's what we did. That's what we found out here and at Providence, and now we just have to take what happened and learn from it and move forward."
Tarris Reed Jr. put up a game-high 21 as UConn won for the first time in its past five visits to Newark. Coach Dan Hurley didn't want to make too much about ending the losing streak at his alma mater's home court and instead focused on the larger picture in what some see as a down year in the league.
"I don't think that we define our level of success at UConn based on just what our records are at certain places," Hurley said Tuesday.
"We are taking it one game at a time trying to compete for the regular-season Big East championship. There's not a lot of Quad 1 games for us in this league this year, so being able to get it for what we are trying to do in the NCAA Tournament, this was a big win for us from that standpoint."
UConn started 11-0 in the Big East in 1998-99 before finishing 16-2 and then winning its first national title.
Georgetown (9-8, 1-5) is a team headed in the opposite direction while on a five-game conference losing streak, but coach Ed Cooley is hopeful that a rare sellout home game in the NBA arena the Hoyas share with the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals can provide a spark.
"We haven't won a Big East game since Dec. 17," Cooley said Thursday when speaking with local media. "We need to feel the pride of us and hopefully the energy from that building, and the excitement from that building could get us over the hump."
The Hoyas will need another strong effort from their starting backcourt of KJ Lewis (15 ppg) and Malik Mack (14.5) to snap a 10-game losing streak against UConn. Mack scored 17 while Lewis added 14 in the Hoyas' 86-83 overtime loss at Creighton on Tuesday. It was Georgetown's third straight defeat when leading in the second half.
The Hoyas' last victory over UConn came in January 2017 when the Huskies were a member of the American Athletic Conference.
Georgetown has dropped 23 consecutive games against AP Top 25 opponents since defeating then-No. 17 Creighton in the 2021 Big East tournament final.