No. 5 Connecticut is staring down history ahead of its Black Friday afternoon clash with visiting Manhattan in Hartford, Conn.
After downing Indiana and No. 15 Texas to win the Empire Classic, the Huskies (5-0) have now won 22 consecutive nonconference games by double digits, which is one shy of matching the all-time record.
Coach Dan Hurley’s team has a chance to tie and break North Carolina’s all-time standard of 23 — set in 2008-09 — during a set of back-to-back home games.
Following the Manhattan game, UConn hosts New Hampshire on Monday in Storrs.
“I just think the program’s got so much confidence,” Hurley said. “You win a national championship, you step onto the court with just a lot of belief that you’re supposed to win. And we’re pretty relentless, the coaches are relentless, the players are relentless, we’re going to beat you by as many as we can beat you by.”
UConn kept its streak alive with Monday’s 81-71 win over Texas.
Alex Karaban led the Huskies with 20 points, making several key baskets late in the game. Samson Johnson posted a career-high 15 points and eight rebounds off the bench. Tristen Newton averaged 15.5 points, seven assists and 7.5 rebounds en route to Empire Classic MVP honors.
With those contributors and star freshman Stephon Castle sidelined due to a knee injury, Hurley knows that his Huskies have great potential to improve as the season goes along.
“We’ve got a lot of new pieces. Steph’s a huge piece that’s not in the mix. He brings a dimension that we don’t have right now,” Hurley said. “But even players like Alex and Donovan (Clingan) — Jordan Hawkins, (at the) beginning of his sophomore year, was a much different player than he was at the end of his sophomore year. This team will continue to get better.”
UConn will mark Manhattan’s (3-1) second straight opponent in the Nutmeg State following a 67-63 win Sunday at Central Connecticut.
Freshman Seydou Traore had 15 points and eight boards, and Shaquil Bender scored a team-high 16 points to help the Jaspers erase a nine-point halftime deficit.
“Love the second half, love the comeback, and our toughness,” said first-year coach John Gallagher, whose squad shot 60 percent from the field and hit four 3-pointers in the second stanza.
Traore, who has scored at least 12 points in every game, leads the Jaspers with 15.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
The MAAC’s Jaspers have not shied away from a challenge this season. They have already played at No. 1 Kansas, losing 99-61 on Nov. 10.
The UConn game is a homecoming of sorts for Gallagher, who led Hartford to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2021 before the program transitioned to Division III.
“What Danny (Hurley) has done is remarkable,” Gallagher told CTInsider.com. “He rebuilt it. He’s one of the best one or two or three coaches in America right now and he deserves everything because of the work he’s put in.”
The Huskies and Jaspers have met just once — in 2018, a 61-46 UConn victory — since they regularly faced off from 1955-83.
–Field Level Media
