UConn will return to Madison Square Garden for the first of at least four games in Manhattan this season. The Huskies have played more at MSG than at any venue outside their home court and have an all-time record of 77–62 (.554) in the world’s most famous arena. Connecticut is 15-8 at The Garden Under dan hurley And the building won eight out of 10. Under Hurley’s leadership, UConn is 5–2 in regular season non-conference games at MSG and is on a four-game winning streak in such contests.
The Huskies face their third top-15 foe in a two-week span, part of one of the fiercest regular season non-conference gauntlets in country and program history. UConn was top then-No. 7 BYU in Boston on November 15 and fell to then-No. 4 Arizona, November 19 at Gampel. Illinois has also split some tough early tests, taking on then-No. Losing a game to then-No. 11 Texas Tech in Champaign on November 11 and a game to Chicago on November 19. 11 Alabama.
Connecticut and Illinois have faced each other four times before. The Illini won the first meeting in the 1938–39 season, and the Huskies won the next three meetings. Having won home-and-home games played in 1992 and 1994, the two sides did not meet again until the 2024 East Regional Final in Boston. With a commanding 30–0 lead at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second half, UConn dominated that game and defeated Illinois 77–52 to advance to its seventh Final Four before claiming its sixth national title.
UConn was last in action on Sunday, November 23 in Hartford when it defeated Bryant 72–49. The Huskies used a long 22-4 run late in the first half to build enough lead in the wire-to-wire win. Silas Demery Jr. Posted his first career triple-double in the win, scoring 10 points and adding career-highs of 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Eric Riebe Led the Huskies with career highs of 16 points and six rebounds, and earned Big East Freshman of the Week on Monday.
alex karban Leads UConn’s elite scorers with 14.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, shooting 52.6 percent from the floor and 50.0 percent from 3-point range through six contests. solo ball While, adds 14.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game Demari Jr. Averaged 12.5 points on 55.3 percent shooting and led the Big East with 6.3 assists per game. UConn’s offense is ranked top-10 nationally by KenPom and several other analytical models, while its defense is classified as a top-15 unit. the huskies are 13th Ranked first in the country in scoring defense (61.3 ppg) and among the national leaders in field goal percentage (51.0), assist/turnover ratio (1.98), turnover margin (+5.5) and assists per game (18.8).
Illinois entered the weekend on a two-game win streak after picking up easy wins over Long Island and UTRGV in the previous two games. The Illini have one of the top offenses in the country and score over 94 points per game, while also ranking in the top-20 in defensive efficiency according to KenPom. Andrej Stojakovic leads Illinois with 18.5 points per game and is shooting 58.8 percent from the floor. Kylen Boswell adds 16.1 per game and David Mirkovic scores 15.1 with a team-high 10.3 rebounds per game.
Following the trip to the Big Apple, UConn takes a quick turn before another high-level matchup, set to visit Kansas on Dec. 2.
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