UConn men look to finish a historic season strong as Providence fights for bubble position on Saturday
Dan Hurley already wasn’t happy that his team was scheduled to close out the regular season with three games in six days. Then the busy end-of-season stretch became even more inconvenient.
The team had a charter flight scheduled to take off for Connecticut soon after beating Marquette on Wednesday night, but, because of mechanical issues with the plane, it had to be cancelled. They returned to the hotel in downtown Milwaukee for the night, with their delayed departure scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Once they got to the airport the next day, they found out that one was cancelled, too.
Before the Huskies drove over an hour to Chicago, where they eventually flew out of O’Hare Airport Thursday evening, they were able to get a practice in at the University of Milwaukee.
“We tried to turn lemons into lemonade and get some of the prep work done,” Hurley said Friday. “The preparing for Providence, the breakdown of the good and the bad from Marquette, and then the day-after-game on-court prep work. We were able to get (it) done courtesy of the fine people at Marriott and the fine people at the University of Milwaukee. So great thanks to them, the charter company didn’t do as well for us.
“The night-of-game flight cancellation is understandable, but what transpired the next day was not good and shouldn’t happen to a major sports organization using the company. Late in the year especially, really disappointed in their efforts for us. We drove around, we ended up in Chicago. We got in last night after 11 p.m., almost a 24-hour (trip). Not good.”
Luckily for UConn, the Big East regular-season champion and likely the No. 1 seed in the East Region for the NCAA Tournament, it shouldn’t have to board another flight for awhile.
The next trip is to Providence, where the Huskies (27-3, 17-2 Big East) could set both the Big East record for conference wins and the program record for wins in the regular season.
“We’re a staff and a roster of players filled with great competitors, so I think there’s plenty of internal pride that we all have in winning and performing at a championship level every time we take the court. Plus, we know that we’ve got a chance to potentially post a historic number, both in Big East regular-season wins and (overall) regular-season wins,” Hurley said. “Doing historic things at a place like UConn is like impossible, but we’re certainly talking about that.
“It’s part of a package of things that are motivating us right now to finish the regular season. We know what’s ahead of us, the most exciting time of the year, but we’re going for historic marks in-league and at UConn.”
Providence has lost two of its last three games, though the Friars are still playing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently projects them as the first team out of the field. A win over UConn would put them on the other side of the bubble.
The Friars are led by Devin Carter, a candidate for Big East Player of the Year, and Josh Oduro, who’s stepped up since star forward Bryce Hopkins went down with a knee injury in early January. The duo, both of whom Hurley implied he voted to all-league teams, combined for 40 points and 18 rebounds – 20 points and nine rebounds each – when the teams met Jan. 31 for what was a defensive battle and a foul fest in Storrs.
“Big East games are physical, they are the most physical team in the league. We were dragged into, obviously it wasn’t a pretty game, it was very physical, very defensive, a lot of foul calls. It was an ugly game that we played the first time,” Hurley said. “We’ve got to be prepared for physicality, but it’s also a basketball game. So we’ve got to be prepared to execute but then obviously be physically prepared for everything that goes into the way that they play.
UConn hasn’t won at the ever-hostile Amica Mutual Pavilion, where Providence is 45-6 over the last four seasons, since returning to the Big East. The Huskies could be the fourth team to win inside the building this year, however, after Villanova delivered a significant blow on March 2.
“It’s the last environment that we will face like this,” Hurley said. “This has been a great, great season, and (we) just really want to try to finish (Saturday).”
What to know
Site: Amica Mutual Pavilion, Providence
Time: 8 p.m.
Records: No. 2 UConn: 27-3 (17-2 Big East), Providence: 19-11 (10-9 Big East)
Series history: UConn leads, 48-31
Last meeting: Jan. 31, 2024 – No. 1 UConn 74, Providence 65 at Gampel Pavilion
TV: FOX – Gus Johnson and Jim Jackson
Radio: UConn Sports Network on 97.9 WUCS – Mike Crispino and Wayne Norman
Pregame reading:
