Can the Huskies bounce back from Saturday’s loss to Creighton?
UConn men’s basketball will look to get back on track Tuesday as the Huskies (13-5, 5-2 Big East) welcome Butler to the XL Center. The 8-10 Bulldogs just picked up its first Big East with an 82-77 win over Seton Hall, snapping a nine-game losing streak against quality competition, with all teams ranking within the top 101 in KenPom.
The Huskies have not lost back-to-back games since melting down at the Maui Invitational in November, but will need a strong performance to take a down a Butler team that played UConn very close earlier this season at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Given that the Huskies will be without Liam McNeeley and potentially Alex Karaban, UConn will need to rely on its depth to band together and take down the Bulldogs.
TV: FS1
Radio: UConn Sports Network
Odds: UConn -12.5, over/under 144.5
Location: XL Center — Hartford, Connecticut
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 80, Butler 69 (83 percent win probability)
Series History
UConn and Butler have played 10 times previously, with the Huskies winning all 10 of those matchups. The two teams first met in the 2011 national championship game, where the Huskies won 53-41 for the program’s third national title.
What to Watch For
Injury update
UConn will once again be without star freshman Liam McNeeley against the Bulldogs as he continues to recover from an ankle sprain. The Huskies are just 2-2 in the four full games that McNeeley has missed. Forward Alex Karaban is also dealing with an ankle injury, as the redshirt junior suffered the injury in the loss to Creighton on Saturday, and played through the pain to try and help the Huskies come back and grab the win.
Per head coach Dan Hurley, Karaban is a game-time decision for the Butler game. Karaban missed one game last season due to an ankle sprain, and Hurley told the media that this year’s sprain is “probably not as severe” as last year’s injury. Karaban struggled against Creighton with just eight points on 3-12 shooting and missed two games earlier this season as he recovered from a concussion.
Alex Karaban game time decision tomorrow. Hurley says his ankle sprain probably not as severe as one that kept him out of last years St. John’s game.
— David Borges (@DaveBorges) January 20, 2025
Disciplined defense
UConn lost to Creighton despite being relatively equal on the boards and having less turnovers largely due to the fact that the Huskies’ propensity for fouling once again reared its ugly head. The Bluejays hit 14-15 of its 15 free throws to complete the upset over UConn, while the Huskies had just five free throw attempts.
Butler loves to create contact and get to the foul line, as the Bulldogs rank eighth nationally in free throw attempt/field goal attempt ratio at 44.9 percent, with free throws making up almost a quarter of the team’s points. Butler took 28 free throw attempts to UConn’s 16 when the two squads faced off earlier this year, with Andre Screen, Pierre Brooks and Patrick McCaffrey all perfect from the stripe.
Huskies bigs Tarris Reed and Samson Johnson will have to do their best to keep Screen from getting to the line. The 7-foot-1 big was 9-9 from the free throw line against UConn and is shooting 71.7 percent on the season. Screen excelled at creating contact in the last matchup, with Reed fouling out of the game and Johnson picking up three fouls in 16 minutes.
Big Bulldogs
With Screen, McCaffrey, Brooks and Jahmyl Telfort, Butler can comfortably roll out a dangerous lineup with four players 6-foot-6 or taller. Without McNeeley and potentially Karaban to help with this size, the Huskies will likely need to rely on sophomores Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross to showcase their versatility on the defensive end.
Telfort was largely kept in check earlier this season when these two teams played, but the fifth-year senior is a versatile scorer and a matchup nightmare who has scored 20 or more points six times this season. Telfort failed to get to the free throw line at all against UConn — the only time he has done so all season — but ranks 14th in the Big East in fouls drawn per 40 minutes. As a major focal point in his Butler offense alongside Screen, Telfort will need to kept in check for the Huskies to avoid a second loss in a row.