University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Xavier University
Top 25 Matchup Awaits No. 2 Huskies At Xavier
12/30/2022 4:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UConn Athletic Communications / Dec. 30, 2022
CINCINNATI, Ohio – The No. 2/2 UConn men's basketball team closes out the 2022 portion of its schedule with a Top 25 match-up against No. 22/25 Xavier at the Cintas Center on Saturday (noon, FOX).
The Huskies (14-0 overall, 3-0 BIG EAST), 2-0 in true road games this season, will be meeting a ranked team for the second time this season, joining their 82-67 win over then-No. 18 Alabama at the Phil Knight Invitational on Nov. 25.
Clearly, UConn could not have had a better 2022 portion of the 2022-23 season with 14 straight wins, all by double digits except for Wednesday's eight-point triumph over Villanova, leading to its highest national ranking in 14 years.
However, the Musketeers (11-3, 3-0) figure to offer UConn its toughest challenge to date. On a seven-game winning streak of its own, Xavier boasts as much size, strength, skill and experience as any team in the BIG EAST.
Xavier's starting lineup includes two grad students, two seniors and a junior. The spots up front are manned by 7-foot grad student Jack Nunge and 6-9 senior Zach Freemantle, with 6-4 senior Adam Kunkel, 6-6 junior Colby Jones, and 6-3 grad Souley Boum on the perimeter. All five are averaging in double figures, led by Boum's 17.3 ppg. Nunge and Freemantle combined average 15.5 rebounds per game.
The Musketeers, 7-1 at home this season, are shooting an impressive .506 overall as a team this year and .408 from three-point range. Their scoring margin over opponents is plus-9.9 points and their rebounding advantage is plus-6.5 rebounds.
UConn is off to its best start to a season since the 1998-99 NCAA Championship team began the season with 19 straight wins.
"We've got three incredible coaches (assistants) who prepare these guys so well for games that they know that there's not a team that we're going to face that's going to be better prepared than we are," UConn Coach Dan Hurley said.
As for the mounting pressure of being undefeated and the target on UConn's back that gets bigger with each victory, Hurley shrugged them off.
"Pressure is being 6-8," he said with a smile. "There's no pressure on us, we're good. We've won our first 14 and we've got a good team. We have a lot of confidence in what we do and also have daily reminders about taking the confidence of a 14-0 start, but not the complacency of it. There's posters all over our facility about where we were picked in the preseason in the Coaches Poll and the Top 25 preseason rankings. These guys know that this team wasn't ordained from the start, and that we're earning every single thing that we get.
"These guys play with a lot of joy and love the fact there's an excitement around the program that's been missing for a long time."
As opposing teams have geared up to stop UConn inside threat Adama Sanogo, the team's top scorer (17.8) and rebounder (6.8), the Huskies have found other ways to score – chiefly the outside shooting of sophomore Jordan Hawkins (14.9 ppg), who is actually the Huskies' top scorer in BIG EAST games (16.3 ppg).
"He's got the ultimate gunslinger confidence," Hurley said of Hawkins. "He's knows he's one of the best shooters in the country and that's his mindset."
Senior guard Tristen Newton (9.9 ppg, 4.4 assists), freshman forward Alex Karaban (9.8 ppg) and versatile junior Andre Jackson (6.0 ppg, 4.8 assists per game) complete the regular starting lineup.
The reserves – freshman center Donovan Clingan, grad guard Joey Calcaterra, senior guard Nahiem Alleyne and junior guard Hassan Diarra – allow Hurley the luxury of going nine deep.
"I loved where I coached before," Hurley said. "And I wouldn't have left that place except to get to a place where you could get to this level at college basketball – where you're playing some of the hottest games of the day in college basketball and where you could have a team that could go real far."
