University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Arizona
#3 UConn Hosts #4 Arizona For Heavyweight Bout
11/18/2025 11:44:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STORRS – A top-five showdown in the Basketball Capital of the World. The No. 3 UConn men's basketball team will host No. 4 Arizona for a blockbuster non-conference tilt on Wednesday night at Gampel Pavilion. Tip-off for the first top-five game on the Connecticut campus in 19 years is set for 7 p.m. and will air on FS1 with Jason Benetti and Bill Raftery on the call.
Wednesday night at Gampel is a full-arena WHITE OUT. It is also $2 Miller Lite night. While supplies last, please drink responsibly.
Wednesday marks the first top-five showdown at Gampel Pavilion since Feb. 26, 2006 when No. 3 UConn topped No. 2 Villanova, 89-75. It will be only the second all-time top-five game in Storrs, the fourth at home in program history and the 15th overall top-five showdown in program history. It is only the third regular season non-conference top-five tilt in UConn history and first at home, joining 12/1/23 at Kansas and 2/6/99 at Stanford. The Huskies are 8-6 in all top-five games.
UConn is 5-2 all-time against Arizona and took the lone meeting in the series at Gampel, a 71-69 triumph on Dec. 9, 2000. Arizona was ranked No. 5 at the time.
The Huskies and Wildcats are both coming off marquee weekend wins. Connecticut downed then-No. 7 BYU in the Hall of Fame Series Boston at TD Garden on Saturday night, going up big and staving off a fierce rally to score an 86-84 win. Arizona also took part in the Hall of Fame Series and knocked off then-No. 15 UCLA by a score of 69-65 at the Intuit Dome. The Wildcats are the second of six top-40 Kenpom foes that the Huskies will face over a 27-day stretch in one of the most grueling non-conference slates in America.
Against BYU on Saturday night the Huskies had a trio of 21-point scorers and built a 20-point lead early in the second half. BYU rallied to within single-digits and was as close as three in the final moments, but Silas Demary Jr. turned on the heroics for Connecticut and hit two clutch baskets in the final minutes and came away with a game-sealing steal in the game's waning seconds. Demary Jr. added seven assists and five rebounds to his 21 points and was named Hall of Series Boston MVP.
Playing mere miles from his childhood home, Alex Karaban shot 8-of-11 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from three and had three rebounds and two steals with his 21 points in the top-10 win. Tarris Reed Jr. was a crisp 8-of-10 from the floor and snared eight rebounds, swatted two shots and dished out two assists to go along with 21 points. Jayden Ross was the fourth Husky in double-figures with 10 points and hit a pair of 3-pointers – part of an offensive outburst that saw the Huskies shoot 56.6 from the floor and dole out 21 assists on 30 field goals.
UConn's offense has once again been among the nation's best through four games of the 2025-26 season. The unit ranks top-10 nationally in field goal percentage and effective field goal percentage and leads the BIG EAST in 3-point field goal percentage and assist/turnover ratio. Defensively, UConn ranks 31st nationally allowing 62.0 points per game and first in the BIG EAST in 3-point percentage defense. Kenpom grades UConn out as a top-15 defense in the country.
Reed Jr. leads the Huskies with 20.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, shooting 74.2 percent from the floor and blocking 2.7 shots per game. Karaban follows him atop the scoresheet with 18.3 points per game. The captain ranks among the national leaders in both field goal percentage (61.9) and 3-point field goal percentage (63.2) while grabbing 5.3 rebounds per game and dishing out 2.8 assists in a team-high 31.2 minutes per game. Solo Ball adds 15.8 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while Demary Jr. has stuffed the stat sheet with 13.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and a league-leading 6.3 assists per game.
Arizona has a pair of quality wins under their belt amidst its 4-0 start, knocking off then-No. 3 Florida in Las Vegas on opening night before the top-15 UCLA win on Friday. The Wildcats are top-15 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, per Kenpom, and ascended to No. 4 in the AP poll this week. Freshman Koa Peat leads U of A with 16.3 points per game on 55.0 shooting from the floor, while Jaden Bradley adds 15.8 points and a team-high 4.2 assists per game. Tobe Awaka nearly averages a double-double off the bench with 9.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game and Anthony Dell'Orso is the third Wildcat in double-figures at 13.5 points per game.
The Huskies return to action following Wednesday night when they host Bryant on Nov. 23 at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
