December 31, 2025; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; UConn Huskies guard Silas Demary Jr. (2) controls the ball against Xavier Musketeers guard Malik Messina-Moore (1) in the second half at Cintas Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Image NEW YORK — After dominating the 2024 NCAA Tournament, winning its sixth national title and second straight title, UConn took a few steps back last season.
This season, the Huskies returned to their usual lofty status, staying in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll throughout the regular season and entering the Big East tournament as the No. 6 team in the country.
Still, UConn had some inconsistencies and lost its chance to earn a top seed in the Big East tournament. The second-seeded Huskies will face No. 10 seed Xavier in the quarterfinals Thursday night.
The winner will face the winner of Friday night’s game between No. 3 seed Villanova and No. 11 seed Georgetown in the second semifinal.
The Huskies (27-4) face top seed St. Louis. They finished one game behind St. John’s and suffered two of their three conference losses due to turnovers. UConn returns to Madison Square Garden after committing 15 turnovers in an 81-72 loss to the Red Storm on Feb. 6.
The loss to St. John’s was one of eight times the Huskies had at least 15 turnovers. The Huskies are 6-2 in those games, but their second loss was a 68-62 loss at Marquette on Saturday.
UConn’s offense was unable to overcome 16 turnovers, shooting 35.6% from 3-point range and a season-worst 12.5% (3-of-24). Both were season lows.
“They’ve been a nightmare for this team,” UConn coach Dan Hurley told reporters after practice Tuesday. “It could potentially be the ruin of this team.”
“It’s tough to get four turnovers from one guy, three from another guy, two from this guy, two from that guy, and now you get 14, 15, 16 turnovers, and we can’t overcome that,” Hurley said. “The players need to be more disciplined. They can’t just catch the ball and turn it over. We need to get past that.”
Silas Demary Jr. led the team with 17 points while forcing four turnovers for Marquette, and Tarris Reed Jr. added 16 points.
UConn hopes to improve its ballhandling, while the Huskies are hoping to see better from Alex Karaban, Solo Ball and Braylon Mullins after the trio shot a combined 6-of-31 from the floor and missed 19 of 22 attempts from 3-point range.
Ball’s 13.9 points lead the Huskies, but the guard has shot 34.1% (15-of-44) over his past five games since scoring 20 points in a win over Georgetown on Feb. 14. He shot 40.5% in the regular season.
At Marquette, Karaban’s 2-pointer followed a 23-point outing in a win over Seton Hall, and Mullins has gone 7-of-27 from behind the arc in his last four games after hitting six 3-pointers and scoring 25 points in a win over Creighton on Feb. 18.
UConn won both meetings with Xavier by a combined 55 points. The Huskies shot 53.2 percent and made 13 3-pointers in a 90-67 win at Xavier on Dec. 31 and 56.7 percent in a 92-60 rout at home on Feb. 3.
The Musketeers (15-17) will get their third chance at the Huskies after opening the tournament on Wednesday with an 89-87 win over Marquette.
Xavier has gone 3-6 since meeting the Huskies in February, with three of those losses coming by five points or fewer. Against Marquette, the Musketeers shot 63.3% in the second half and 51.6% overall.
On Wednesday, Jovan Milisevic had 21 points, including the tying goal with 1:14 left. Tre Carroll added 14 of 18 in the second half.
“I think we’re better, I really am,” Xavier coach Richard Pitino said of his team, adding about UConn. “We know they run a very unique offense. They shoot the basketball very well. They are very physical.
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media
