University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
St. John's University
UConn MBB Heads To MSG To Challenge St. John's
2/24/2023 1:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UConn Athletic Communications / Feb. 24, 2023
The UConn men's basketball team is hoping to make three separate trips to Madison Square Garden this season. The first two are guaranteed – Saturday's BIG EAST Conference game against St. John's (noon, CBS) and the BIG EAST Tournament, scheduled for March 8-11.
The third trip would be for the NCAA Tournament East Regional Championship, set for March 23 and 25 at the Garden.
With that goal in mind, the #18/#23 Huskies (21-7 overall, 10-7 BIG EAST) play their final three games of the regular season at St. John's (Feb. 25), at home (XL Center) against DePaul (March 1) and at Villanova (March 4).
UConn has played 125 games overall at Madison Square Garden and sports a 66-59 record there. Twenty-five of those games have been against St. John's and the Huskies are 12-13 against the Red Storm in those games.
And if UConn needs any extra motivation, it only has to think back to Jan. 15, when the Red Storm handed the Huskies an 85-74 defeat at the XL Center, one of only two home losses for UConn this season.
"I still don't have any explanation for our effort in that game," UConn Coach Dan Hurley said.
UConn, which has won five of its last six games to move into fifth place in the BIG EAST standings, will be trying to solidify its hold on the final place in the standings that receives a bye through the first round of the BIG EAST tourney. But St. John's (17-12, 7-11), although out of the running for that bye, is trying to gain momentum for a postseason run.
Leading St. John's is senior center Joel Soriano, who is the top scorer (15.4) and rebounder (11.9). Posh Alexander (9.7 ppg, 4.4 apg), Dylan Addae-Wusu (8.6 ppg) and AJ Storr (8.6 ppg) are at the perimeter positions, with O'Mar Stanley (4.3 ppg, 2.6 rpg) as the fifth starter. The Red Storm gets high productivity off the bench from forward David Jones (12.9 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and guard Andre Curbelo (9.6 ppg, 4.3 apg).
St. John's shoots a solid .452 field goal percentage and .326 from three-point range. It has a plus-2.5 scoring margin and plus-3.7 rebound margin.
UConn sophomore guard Jordan Hawkins has scored 20 or more points in seven of his last 10 games, including a career-high 31 against St. John's the first time the teams met. Hawkins is now averaging 16.5 ppg, just behind team leader Adama Sanogo (16.8), who is also the Huskies' rebound leader (7.2).
Senior Tristen Newton (10.1 ppg, 4.3 apg), junior Andre Jackson (6.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.1 apg) and freshman Alex Karaban (9.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg) complete the usual starting lineup.
In the first game between the teams this season, the first half ended in a 38-38 tie, but St. John's took advantage of 21 UConn turnovers to gain a lead in the second half and held on for an 85-74 win. Six Red Storm players hit double figures, led by 19 from Soriano. Besides Hawkins' 31, UConn had 16 from Karaban and 14 from Sanogo.
The Huskies will be out to avoid being swept by St. John's for the first time since 1999-2000.
