Alex Karaban a game-time decision as UConn prepares for Big East battle against Butler; What to know

HARTFORD – The UConn men’s basketball program was involved in only eight games decided by five points or less over its last two national championship seasons. Through 18 games this year alone, the Huskies have matched that number, dropping to 4-4 in games decided by such a margin with a 68-63 loss to Creighton on Saturday.

It was the program’s first loss in Connecticut in nearly two years as its 28-game home winning streak came to an end.

One of those close wins came at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Dec. 21, when Butler cut down an 11-point deficit midway through the second half and fought back to get within two in the final seconds, but couldn’t overcome Alex Karaban‘s clutch shooting in a 78-74 Huskies’ victory.

Karaban has been up-and-down since, notably scoring eight points on just 3-for-12 shooting as the streak of nearly two calendar years came to an end on Saturday. He tweaked his ankle in the second half of the game and will be a game time decision, coach Dan Hurley said, on Tuesday.

“He didn’t practice (Monday), but he shot, so we’ll see how he feels with that ankle,” Hurley said. “It’s a sprain, I don’t think it’s as bad as the one he had last year against Providence, where he didn’t play in the St. John’s game at MSG.”

Tuesday’s game will be UConn’s fifth without standout freshman Liam McNeeley, who scored 17 points with five rebounds and seven assists in the first matchup against the Bulldogs. His absence has been critical as the Huskies continue to struggle on the defensive end, on both backboards and with their tenaciousness, which Hurley called out over the weekend.

Dom Amore: For Dan Hurley’s Huskies, the grace period has expired. It’s time for tenacity

“We’ve given up close to 47% from the field in Big East or high-major games this year. Our past teams, those numbers, even years when we had early exits in the tournament, we were holding people to 40% from the field,” Hurley said. “I think just our defense, our rebounding and our overall toughness, we’ve become a finesse offensive team that runs a lot of good stuff on offense, but we’ve got to get our toughness back… (Liam) will fix a lot of our issues when he gets back, but our defense overall, you’re not going anywhere doing that. You can’t compete for anything when you’re 126th.”

UConn, which is ranked No. 7 on offense and No. 127 on defense by KenPom, has never lost to Butler in the 10-game all-time series between the programs, which met for the first time in the 2011 national championship game.

The December loss for Butler came in the middle of a nine-game losing skid, which ended Wednesday as the Bulldogs claimed their first Big East win of the year against Seton Hall. They’ll come into the XL Center on Tuesday after six days without games.

It was the Bulldogs’ frontcourt that gave UConn the most trouble in their previous matchup, as 6-foot-9 forward Patrick McCaffery and 7-foot-1 center Andre Screen scored 17 points a piece. Screen grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots as Butler claimed a 32-31 advantage on the glass – one of four times UConn has been outrebounded in its six Big East matchups. The last three have come in four games without McNeeley, who was the team’s second-leading rebounder when he went down.

Hurley will look for a bounce back game from Tarris Reed Jr. – one of the players who possesses the “nice guy” trait that he is trying to weed out – after he fouled out with just seven points in the previous matchup against Butler. Reed was minus-17 in 16 scoreless minutes on Saturday.

“We’ve got to play better across the board, especially the center spot,” Hurley said, reiterating that Reed needs to play with more force and ferocity. “(Butler is) hard to guard, with (Pierre) Brooks and (Jahmyl Telfort), McCaffery, it tells you just how hard it is to still win Big East games, no matter what the NET says, no matter what the KenPom says or any of the analytics. It’s a tough league to win games in, especially if you look at some of the firepower that they’ve got at the wing there and two pretty good centers and good guard play – and a great coach in Thad (Matta).

“It’s gonna be a hard game for us. We’re gonna be coming in banged up, short rest – they’ve had a week off – and we’re gonna need a great crowd and a real pick-me-up from playing in XL after the haunting experience at Gampel the other day… In an instance where you just lost one at one place, I kind of like the fact that I’m going to my other place.”

As the team continues to find its identity, more will and force across the board, those close games will persist. For now, especially if Karaban joins McNeeley in street clothes, the Huskies just need to find a way to win.

“These games are tougher, they’re grittier, it’s good to be a part of. It’s fun. You want to be in close games, you want to be in these Big East battles,” fifth-year point guard Hassan Diarra said. “We have to continue to do the right things so we can come out on the right side of them.”

UConn announces plan for Coaches vs. Cancer

Dan Hurley’s wife, Andrea, will again lead her memorial button initiative as the Huskies host their annual Coaches vs. Cancer game on Jan. 29 against DePaul. Fans will be able to find Andrea at a table on the XL Center concourse near section 124 when the doors open at 6:30, where they will be able to have a printed out photo (3″ or smaller) turned into a memorial button. Fans can also pre-submit photos by email at UConnHuskies.com/CvC. Cancer awareness ribbons will also be available at the table for fans to wear.

New this season, doctors from the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center at UConn Health will be set up on the concourse to offer free cancer screenings and education, as well as skin cancer checks prior to the game in the atrium. Patients from the Connecticut Children’s Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders will be honored on the court during the game.

What to know

Site: XL Center, Hartford.

Time: 7 p.m.

Records: No. 19 UConn: 13-5 (5-2 Big East), Butler: 8-10 (1-6)

Series: UConn leads, 10-0.

Last meeting: Dec. 21, 2024 – No. 11 UConn 78, Butler 74 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

TV: FS1 – Jason Benetti, Bill Raftery

Radio: Fox Sports 97-9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman

Pregame reading: