Remember when KU Jayhawks defeated UConn in Allen Fieldhouse? That was December

Kansas coach Bill Self knew way back on Dec. 1 the Connecticut Huskies had one special men’s basketball team.

“They will be a team that can win a national championship again,” Self declared after his No. 5-ranked Jayhawks tripped Dan Hurley’s No. 4-ranked Huskies, 69-65, in an early-season nonconference showdown at Allen Fieldhouse.

It was a Big East/Big 12 Battle contest in which the Jayhawks (7-1 at the time) led by 12 points early, yet trailed the Huskies (7-1) by as many as five points with nine minutes to play.

“They’re sound. They play together. It seems like they really like each other. They are tough and they played without Castle,” Self added, speaking at his postgame news conference.

The Huskies (36-3), who will be trying to win a second-straight NCAA championship Monday night when they take on Purdue (34-4) at State Farm Center in Phoenix, Arizona, were without injured starting guard Stephon Castle on that early December day in Lawrence.

Castle scored 21 points in UConn’s 86-72 victory over Alabama in Saturday’s 2024 Final Four semifinal in Phoenix.

“Danny (Hurley) and his staff … they’ve all done a great job in a relatively short amount of time to put them in a position where I think year in and year out they are going to be a preseason top 5 or 10 team,” Self said after that huge December victory.

KU snapped the Huskies’ nation’s-best 13-game winning streak and also ended UConn’s record-streak of 24 straight double-digit victories over nonconference opponents.

Hurley, who has compiled a 140-58 record in six years at UConn, left Allen Fieldhouse disappointed in the loss, but quite optimistic concerning the big picture.

“Just like Kansas, at UConn we don’t do moral victories or silver linings,” said Hurley. Not only did his Huskies rally from 12 down early, they had a chance to win in the final moments. Cam Spencer (14 points vs. Bama; six vs. KU) misfired on a 3-point try with two ticks remaining and UConn down two points.

KJ Adams, who was fouled on the rebound, hit two free throws with :01 left to account for the four-point margin of victory.

“Tristen (Newton, six 3s, 31 points vs. KU) carried us tonight. That was a virtuoso performance” Hurley noted. Newton had 12 points and nine assists Saturday against Alabama.

“I thought the program and our guys showed a champion’s heart putting ourselves in a position to have a 3 to steal it and get out of here with a win. I like the champion’s heart. I wish we would have played better. I do believe last year’s team on Dec. 1 was better than this year’s team on Dec. 1. I do think this year’s team has a chance to be as good as last year’s team when we are fully healthy and playing in March,” Hurley added.

It should be noted Self’s Jayhawk team had a healthy Kevin McCullar for the UConn contest. McCullar hit three 3s and scored a team-leading 21 points with five rebounds against the Huskies. He hit a 3 with 5:56 left to erase a 54-52 deficit and iced another 3 with 5:10 left to make it 58-54 KU. Hunter Dickinson followed with a 3 with 4:13 to play to give the Jayhawks a 7-point advantage.

“They had struggled shooting,” Hurley said of KU’s team entering the game. “McCullar was the one guy we were really worried about and Furphy (Johnny, two threes, six points). The plan was to go under everything with them. We were so soft on the ball. We might have screwed our guys up by being a little too soft. They threw it wherever they wanted. They played too tight to the 3-point line (KU went 9-of-14 from 3 to UConn’s 11-of-28 mark). I don’t think we did a good job as coaches. I think we had a lot to do with this loss,” Hurley added.

In a much publicized battle of big men, KU’s Dickinson, a 7-foot-2, 260-pound senior, scored 15 points and grabbed nine boards with four blocked shots. UConn’s Donovan Clingan, a 7-2, 280-pound sophomore, scored eight points with seven rebounds.

Clingan scored 18 points with five rebounds and four blocked shots Saturday versus Bama.

“I was really nervous about the (big man) matchup. Hunter is such a technician. Donovan is still a back-to-the- basket player. I think he (Clingan) learned a lot tonight from that matchup in (seeing) how Hunter posted up. We’ve got to get Donovan the ball more. This was a good learning experience especially going into a matchup with Bacot Tuesday,” Hurley added.

UConn defeated Armando Bacot’s North Carolina Tar Heels, 87-76, on Dec. 5 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The Huskies also beat Gonzaga, Indiana and Texas during the nonconference portion of their schedule.

During the NCAAs, UConn has won five games all by double digits: Stetson (91-52), Northwestern (75-58), San Diego State (82-52), Illinois (77-52) and Alabama (86-72).

UConn is 29-2 since the game in Lawrence; KU went 16-10 following that game.

“We’re not accustomed to losing where we’ve got the program at,” Hurley said after the KU game. “Our expectation for this game was it would be really, really hard. Not many teams in the country can come into this type of showdown, a Friday night game in Allen Fieldhouse and have a chance to win it.

“Listen when you are a top tier program and big brand and a blueblood and a national champion you owe it to college basketball, owe it to your fans, owe it to the sport to go play these type of games in your nonconference. Indiana, Texas, Carolina, Gonzaga, Kansas ... we would play Duke if they want to start doing home-and-home. We want to play these types of home-and-homes. I think it’s great for college basketball. We talk to everybody (about scheduling),” Hurley added.

There’s obviously a good chance the Big East and Big 12 schedule makers will have the Jayhawks, national champs in 2022, head to UConn (national champs in 2023 and still alive in 2024, for a rematch between the powerhouses in the Big East/Big 12 battle this upcoming December.

UConn has won five NCAA Tourney titles, all since 1999. KU has won four tourney crowns.

“I think it prepares you for the tournament, more importantly it prepares you for your league,” KU coach Self said of such a matchup. “I’ve always thought your nonconference was your preparation for your league and league was your preparation for the NCAA Tournament. I think it’s a great game. It’s a hard game.

“For three weeks … we already played Kentucky, Connecticut, Tennessee and Marquette (losing only to Marquette). That’s a lot. Then you get Missouri and Indiana (games KU won). You will not find out much about your team unless you play games like this. Granted you don’t have to play top five matchups to learn about your team. My personal opinion is this is what our sport needs because in a time we are getting dominated by what is going on with football and rightfully so (in December) this is the only way you can bring attention to our sport,” Self added.

KU, which is 4-0 all-time against Connecticut, has not played NCAA title game participant Purdue since 2017 when the Jayhawks beat the Boilermakers, 98-66, in an NCAA Midwest Regional Sweet 16 game in Kansas City. KU leads the all-time series vs. Purdue, four games to two.

KU center Dickinson, however, played against Purdue and standout Boilermaker center Zach Edey the last three seasons while at Michigan. His Michigan teams went 2-2 vs. the Boilermakers.

Alexandria, Virginia native Dickinson had 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a 75-70 loss to Purdue during the 2022-23 season in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Edey, a 7-4, 300-pound native of Toronto, Ontario, countered with 19 points and nine boards.

Dickinson scored 28 points with two boards in an 82-76 loss to Purdue on Feb. 5, 2022 in a game at Purdue. Edey had 13 points and nine boards. Michigan won over Purdue, 82-58, on Feb. 10, 2022 in Ann Arbor. Dickinson had 22 points and nine boards; Edey 10 points and six boards.

Purdue lost to Michigan, 70-53, on Jan. 22, 2021 at Purdue. Dickinson had eight points, three boards; Edey four points and eight boards.