The Wildcats handed the Huskies its first Big East loss of the season.
UConn men’s basketball suffered its first Big East loss of the season Wednesday night as the Huskies fell to Villanova 68-66 on the road. The loss snapped UConn’s eight-game win streak since the Maui Invitational. Here are some our staff’s biggest takeaways from the game.
There should be absolutely no Alex Karaban negativity
Shawn McGrath: The final 30 seconds were not kind to Alex Karaban on Wednesday. He missed a 3-pointer, then had a shot blocked cleanly in the paint and missed two free-throws when making one would have tied the game and hitting both would have secured a lead. He had the ball in his hands a ton with the game on the line and he came up empty.
However, there should be nary a peep regarding the forward’s performance that don’t include the words “I feel bad for him.” He has given a ton to the program since he enrolled in January 2022 and been a more-than-steadying presence through his freshman and sophomore seasons, with an indispensability this year.
He leads the team in minutes, field goal percentage (minimum 100 attempts) and points per game. He’s second in blocks, 3-point percentage (minimum 10 attempts) and assists, and is third in rebounds. Without Karaban, the Maui Invitational likely wouldn’t like the aberration it currently does.
He missed a decent 3-point look as a career 39.4 percent shooter and didn’t hit his free-throws that put a small dent in his now-career 83 percent rate. He is an exceptional shooter but just wasn’t able to do it. It happens. Simple statistics say, based on 83 percent, he misses both less than 3 percent of the time. That’s a fluke and absolutely not an indictment on his ability to come up big in tough moments. Anything to the contrary is reactionary and a disservice to a player that had a big role in not one, but two national championships.
Point guard play will make or break this team’s future
Zach Carter: With Liam McNeeley sidelined for a high ankle sprain, head coach Dan Hurley along with every UConn basketball critic understood there was an opportunity for somebody to step up. They thought it could be Jayden Ross. They thought it might be Jaylin Stewart (who impressed last night with 14 points). Against Providence last Sunday, it was Hassan Diarra. Just for the Huskies to have a chance to win, he posted a career high in points (19), eight assists and three steals.
Diarra played well again last night, but he found himself in foul trouble early. For most of the first half, the team’s main ball handlers were a combination Aidan Mahaney and freshman Ahmad Nowell. Neither took many shots — it seemed their instructions were to simply bring the ball up and run the offense — but they still struggled on the floor.
Mahaney has yet to take the steps defensively that Hurley and the rest of the coaching staff have wished to see by now, and it seems defenders will target him when looking for easy buckets. His threes didn’t fall and his ball security looked questionable at times. Fans know the true Mahaney is locked up somewhere inside — the same Mahaney that scored 17 points in 23 minutes on very efficient shooting splits in UConn’s October exhibition win over URI. He’s in there, and there’s no better time than now to let him out. Nowell is just a freshman, and his development will take time. He is also a Philadelphia native, which could explain some of the minutes he saw last night.
If UConn wants to keep up its winning ways, the point guards will have to be its driving force. The Huskies will have to count on Diarra to continue to play at the high level he has this season and Mahaney to take the big jump forward coaches and fans have been anticipating.
And they need McNeeley back. Badly.
Jaylin Stewart, Come on Down
Patrick Martin: Stewart made his starting debut against Baylor when Karaban was concussed, but had more of a lunch-pail type impact doing the dirty work. Awarded a similar opportunity last night, he took the next step, pouring in 14 points — 12 in the first half — to go with three rebounds and two massive blocks on future All American Eric Dixon. Drawing the primary assignment against the Villanova star, the 6-foot-7 sophomore’s combination of size and length made life difficult for Dixon. On switches guarding the lightning quick Jahmir Brickus, he stayed in front and forced tough turnaround jumpers. On offense, he showed the spurtability and shotmaking that seems to be inherent in Seattle ballers.
Long-time holders of Stewie stock knew it was coming; the kid is just too talented and was bound to put it together with more minutes and seasoning. Per Bart Torvik, his Box Plus/Minus (BPM) is highest against top 50 opponents even though he’s not getting a lot of designed sets run for him. With McNeeley’s absence and Karaban going through a shooting cold spell, Stewart needs 25-plus minutes to build on the momentum he started last night.