UConn men’s basketball (24-3, 14-2) will look to shake its recent struggles in a crucial game this weekend, as the Huskies travel to Philadelphia to take on Villanova (21-5, 12-3) at Xfinity Mobile Arena in a battle between two of the three best teams in the Big East.
The Wildcats rank No. 27 in KenPom, with the No. 32 offense in the country, No. 33 defense, and 29th NET ranking. In Kevin Willard’s first year as the head coach, Villanova is trending towards making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the post-Jay Wright era. Since losing in overtime in Hartford around a month ago, the Wildcats have won six games in a row and are getting hot at the right time, with March right around the corner.
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UConn sits No. 5 in the AP Poll, No. 13 in KenPom, and No. 10 in the NET. They have the 13th-most efficient defense in the country and 24th-most efficient offense. The Huskies had a total defensive failure on Wednesday in a 91-84 loss at home to Creighton. Despite a career-best 25 points from Braylon Mullins, UConn was unable to get stops down the stretch, and the offense went cold at the wrong time, handing the team their third loss of the year.
The loss means UConn has lost control of a potential Big East regular-season title, needing to defeat St. John’s and have the Red Storm lose again to claim it. If both teams finish 18-2, St. John’s would get the title due to the tiebreaker rules and head-to-head against the teams in descending order in the standings.
Last time the Huskies played Villanova, they needed overtime to come away with the win. Can UConn bounce back from the Creighton loss and add a quality road win to their resume on Saturday?
Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 18, 7:00 p.m.
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TV/Stream: TNT, truTV
Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius XM 84, Sirius/XM online streaming
Odds:
Location: Xfinity Mobile Arena – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn
Series History
The Huskies and Wildcats have played 79 times in their history, with UConn holding a slim 41-38 advantage. The Huskies have an 8-4 edge since they rejoined the Big East in 2020, but the teams did play three times while UConn was in the American Conference, with Villanova winning all three. They last faced off on January 24, 2026 when UConn beat Villanova 75-67 in overtime at PeoplesBank Arena. Solo Ball led four Huskies in double figures with 24 points.
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Availability report
As of now, everyone should be available for the Huskies. The Big East availability report comes out three hours before tip-off.
What to Watch For
Defensive woes call for change?
The past four games for UConn on the defensive end have been dreadful. The 91 points that they surrendered to Creighton are the most they’ve allowed in a home conference game since giving up 95 to Boston College in 2003. Teams are taking advantage of weaknesses that the Huskies have on that end of the floor, exploiting flaws and building momentum that has proven to be too much to overcome in two of the past four games.
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“Coaches are smart, they’re targeting our guys that can’t guard. And if we can’t fix that, we’re gonna obviously have issues moving forward, Dan Hurley said.”
Hurley didn’t specify any names in his postgame assessment, but it was notable that Solo Ball and Alex Karaban were on the bench for most of the late-game moments in favor of Jayden Ross and Malachi Smith. Ross tied a career high with 27 minutes played against the Bluejays, thanks to being one of the few players who showed signs of life on defense.
When asked if changes could be coming after another lackluster effort, Hurley sai,d “Possibly, yeah. Maybe just a jolt.” Could we see a starting lineup change, and if so who enters? If there is one, I’d bet it’s Ross entering and either the banged-up Karaban sitting out or Ball shifting to the bench.
Threes keep falling all around
Even in the loss, the shots from the perimeter keep dropping for the Huskies at a rate they didn’t earlier in the year. Wednesday marked the sixth time in the past seven games that UConn hit double-digit threes, connecting on 11-30 shots from deep, headlined by six from Mullins.
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What’s hurt the Huskies, though, is their three-point defense as of late. Opponents have made double-digit threes in each of the last two games as well, accounting for half of the instances against UConn all year. A combination of missed assignments and poor closeouts gives teams advantages from three that weren’t there in the opening months of the year.
With Mullins, Ball, Karaban, and even Silas Demary Jr., UConn has the talent to win shootouts from time-to-time, but if one or two of those players have off nights and the defense doesn’t take a step up, the results will look closer to the Creighton game.
Breakout star in Philly
Villanova’s Tyler Perkins has been one of the more surprising players in the Big East this season and provides a great test for the struggling UConn D. The junior guard is the lone returning player from last year’s team that played any minutes under Kyle Neptune and has really broken out over the past few weeks, scoring the basketball. In his past 10 games, a stretch in which the Wildcats are 8-2, Perkins is averaging 17.8 points per game and he’s scored at least 15 in all 10.
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When Nova visited Hartford, Perkins had his first of now two double-doubles this season with 16 points and 10 rebounds, driving to the rim and finishing around the basket as well as getting to the free-throw line. This style of play is what’s really hurt the Huskies the past couple of weeks, players assuredly driving to the rack and blowing by the defense. It will be paramount for the defense to try to limit that, as well as try to force the lefty to his right hand as often as they can.
Interior battle
Similar to Perkins, another engine that has fueled Villanova this year has been big man Duke Brennan. The Grand Canyon transfer has emerged as one of the top rebounders in the sport with 10.7 rebounds per game and 12 double-doubles, including in Hartford when he had 16 and 14. Tarris Reed Jr. and Eric Reibe are going to have their hands full once again down low, especially seeing how Brennan had a career high six assists in the Wildcats last game against Xavier, dishing out to open shooters all night long.
The paint points have been on the list of growing concerns for UConn, surrendering 30 to Creighton on Wednesday. The Donovan Clingan-esque shot blocking presence doesn’t exist on this team, even though it feels like it should and could with either one of Reed or Reibe. Looking at how centers have fared on this negative stretch, Zuby Ejiofor had 21 & 10 for St. John’s. Drayton Jones and Yohan Traore combined for 29 for Butler. Vince Iwuchukwu had 16 for Georgetown. They did a better job on Jasen Green for Creighton, but he still scored eight points at the free-throw line. The center defense has to be much improved on Saturday for UConn to have any chance at a win.
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Seeding changes?
Looking bigger picture, the Creighton loss makes it an uphill climb for UConn to be a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament, mostly due to the opportunities of quality games remaining compared to some of the other teams in contention. Would the Huskies be a 1-seed if they win out, including multiple wins over Villanova and St. John’s? I’d like to think so, but the odds of it happening seem to me more and more unlikely as the days go on.
So now what? It feels like, as of today, UConn is firmly on the two-line with the resume they’ve put together, more likely than not. The loss to the Bluejays stings, but seeing how bad the Big East is, it could have been a lot worse. The Huskies will still be in Philadelphia for the first round games, barring something extreme in the next three weeks. Where they would potentially go after that remains up in the air.
