UConn Basketball looks to avoid trap versus Xavier in Hartford
In the famous words of Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap!”
The No. 3 UConn men’s basketball team (21-1, 11-0) has won 17 consecutive games (the third longest streak in program history) and sits alone atop the Big East heading into February.
But it looms – a ranked showdown with No. 22 St. John’s in Madison Square Garden on Friday in primetime – and the Huskies are craving revenge. That Pitino can wait, though.
UConn must deal first with Richard Pitino and the upstart Xavier Musketeers (12-10, 4-7) Tuesday in PeoplesBank Arena, in what has quickly become the Huskies’ top trap spot of the 2025-26 season.
Connecticut already downed Xavier once this season, a 90-67 detonation on New Year’s Eve in Cincinnati, and is coming off a spirit-lifting 27-point shellacking of Creighton Saturday.
That doesn’t matter to Dan Hurley, however.
“As a head coach, it’s always not looking where you are, but where you need to get to,” Hurley said before Creighton. “The improvements that your team has to make to play championship-level basketball. We’re clearly not there.”
A comfortable win at home would move the needle ahead of Friday’s duel with the Johnnies. How can the Huskies pull it off?
Opponent Profile: Xavier Musketeers (12-10, 4-7)
It’s the same Xavier team that the Huskies faced over a month ago.
Burly 6-foot-7 forward Tre Carroll is the vanguard of the Musketeer offensive attack, leading the Big East with 18.3 points per game on over 50% shooting from the field. Carroll has scored 20-plus points in each of his last five games, which included 22 on the conference’s second-best defense in Seton Hall.
Outside of Carroll, four other double-digit scorers populate the offensive attack. Sophomore Jovan Milicevic (11.6) followed Richard Pitino from New Mexico and has emerged as a reliable second option on the wing. Veteran guards Roddie Anderson III (11.3) and Malik Moore (10.8) head the backcourt, with Moore serving as Xavier’s top marksman.
The Musketeers play fast (38th in adjusted tempo) and take a lot of 3’s (26.5 attempts per game). They run the rims well (29th in fast break points) and don’t turn the ball over frequently (30th in turnover percentage).
But they struggle to produce in the paint, perhaps the product of playing a small-ball, breakneck style, and haven’t been able to consistently force turnovers on the defensive end.
Ways to Win: No. 2 UConn (21-1, 11-0)
Feed the bear.
Tarris Reed Jr. should be the focal point of Connecticut’s offense early, especially if Carroll, who surrenders nearly four inches to Reed, is the tallest player in Xavier’s starting five. Reed has struggled to produce, especially on the glass, the last four games and is due for a “Kodiak” type outing against an undersized Musketeers squad.
Slow the game down.
Silas Demary Jr. has steadily progressed towards all-conference caliber as the commander of Connecticut’s offense. Forcing Xavier to play slow – hence stymieing its fast-paced style – will make it uncomfortable and over-aggressive on the defensive end, giving Demary the perfect environment to slice apart a defense.
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