University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Illinois
#5 UConn Faces #13 Illinois On Black Friday at MSG
11/26/2025 1:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK – The No. 5 UConn men's basketball team (5-1) is back in action on Black Friday for a matinee against No. 13 Illinois (6-1) in the SentinelOne Showdown at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is set for 12:30 p.m. and will air on FOX with Kenny Albert and Steve Smith on the call.
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 any venue outside of their home courts and have compiled a 77-62 (.554) all-time record at the World's Most Famous Arena. Connecticut is 15-8 at The Garden under Dan Hurley and have won eight of 10 in the building. Under Hurley, 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 are facing their third top-15 foe in a two-week span, part of one of the fiercest regular season non-conference gauntlets in the country and in program history. UConn topped then-No. 7 BYU on Nov. 15 in Boston and fell to then-No. 4 Arizona on Nov. 19 at Gampel. Illinois has also split a pair of stiff early tests, topping then-No. 11 Texas Tech on Nov. 11 in Champaign and dropping a game in Chicago on Nov. 19 to then-No. 11 Alabama.
Connecticut and Illinois have squared off four times in the past. The Illini won the first meeting in the 1938-39 season and the Huskies have taken the next three. After sweeping a home-and-home played in 1992 and 1994, the sides did not meet again until the 2024 East Regional Final in Boston. Powered by a now legendary 30-0 run spanning the end of the first half and start of the second, UConn dominated that game and topped Illinois 77-52 to advance to its seventh final four ahead of its sixth national title.
UConn was last in action on Sunday, Nov. 23 in Hartford when it topped Bryant 72-49. The Huskies used a prolonged 22-4 run late in the first half to build a substantial first half lead in the wire-to-wire win. Silas Demary Jr. posted his first career triple-double in the triumph, scoring 10 points and adding career-highs of 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Eric Reibe led the Huskies with career-highs of 16 points and six rebounds, earning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Monday.
Alex Karaban leads UConn's qualified 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 adds 14.2 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, while Demary Jr. scores 12.5 points on 55.3 percent shooting and leads the BIG EAST with 6.3 assists per game. UConn's offense is ranked in the top-10 nationally by Kenpom and a slew of other analytical models, while its defense has graded out as a top-15 unit. The Huskies are 13th 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 enters the weekend tilt on a two-game winning streak after easing to wins over Long Island and UTRGV in its last two. The Illini have one of the nation's top offenses and score over 94 points per game, while also ranking top-20 in defensive efficiency per Kenpom. Andrej Stojakovic leads Illinois with 18.5 points per game and is shooting 58.8 percent from the floor. Kylan 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 has a quick turn before another high-level matchup, set to visit Kansas on Dec. 2.
