University of Connecticut Athletics
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#5 UConn Set To Face #18 Florida in Jimmy V Classic at MSG
12/8/2025 1:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK – The No. 5 UConn men's basketball team is back on Broadway on Tuesday night, heading to Manhattan to take on No. 18 Florida in the 2025 Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. The top-20 showdown between the last three national champions is scheduled to tip at 9 p.m. and air on ESPN with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Kris Budden on the call.
UConn is participating in the Jimmy V Classic for the sixth time. It last appeared in the annual event to benefit the V Foundation and fund cancer research in 2023, topping No. 9 North Carolina on Dec. 5. This year's matchup is a rematch of the 2025 NCAA Tournament Second Round, a narrow 77-75 win by the top seed and eventual national champion Gators.
The contest is the second of at least four for the Huskies this year at their home away from home of Madison Square Garden. Dan Hurley is 16-8 as the UConn head coach at the World's Most Famous Arena, including a 6-2 mark in non-conference regular season games. The Huskies have won 10 of 12 at MSG and are 15-3 in the state of New York since the start of 2022-23.
Both among the 'new bloods' of college's basketball's top tier, Connecticut and Florida have combined for nine national titles since 1999. The two squads have faced seven times in the past in a dramatic series that includes three NCAA Tournament bouts. The Huskies and Gators first met in the 1994 Sweet 16, a 69-60 overtime victory for UF. UConn won the next five meetings, beginning with the first leg of a home-and-home in the 2013-14 season. The win in Storrs was highlighted by Shabazz Napier's buzzer-beating game-winner, one of Gampel's most iconic moments.
Before the return game in the series the Huskies and Gators would meet again in the 2014 Final Four in Arlington, Texas, a 63-53 win for Napier and the Huskies en route to the program's fourth national title. UConn took the return game on Jan. 3, 2015 in Gainesville. Another home-and-home series kicked off in the 2019-20 season and was returned in 2022-23 due to pandemic scheduling shifts. The Gampel game on Nov. 17, 2019 was a marquee win early in the Hurley era, while the UConn win at Florida on Dec. 7, 2022 was a 21-point rout to mark the largest winning margin for either side in the series.
UConn is coming off a win over East Texas A&M on Dec. 5 in Storrs. Solo Ball led four Huskies in double figures with 14 points in the wire-to-wire win and the Huskies shot 52.3 percent on the day. Ball leads qualified Huskies with 14.6 points per game, followed by Alex Karaban add 13.4 a night. Karaban adds 5.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 'stocks' per game while shooting at 49.4 percent clip from the field and a 41.5 percent mark from three. Silas Demary Jr. is the third Husky averaging double-digits at 10.4 points per game, adding a team-high 5.6 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game.
The Huskies have graded out metrically to a top-10 defense this season, currently sitting at No. 7 in Kenpom defensive efficiency. UConn is sixth nationally in scoring defense (60.4 ppg), eighth nationally in effective field goal percentage against (42.5 percent) and top-20 in the NCAA in both field goal percentage defense (37.4) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (26.8). Offensively, the Huskies are top-20 in America in fewest turnovers (9.6/g) and assist/turnover ratio (1.87). UConn checks in with a top-15 offense per major metrics.
Florida is off to a 5-3 start and has faced a top-flight schedule, holding wins against Florida State, Miami and Providence with losses to Arizona, TCU and Duke. Thomas Haugh leads the Gator offense that includes five double-digit scorers with 18.6 points per game, shooting 47.5 percent and adding 7.6 rebounds per game. Alex Condon adds 15.1 per game on 53.6 percent shooting with 9.0 rebounds a night, while Boogie Fland scores 12.5 and Ruben Chinyelu averages a double-double with 10.2 points and a team-high 11.2 rebounds per game.
Following the tilt with Florida, UConn returns home to face Texas at PeoplesBank Arena in the non-conference finale on Friday, Dec. 12.
