UConn, PC renew hoop rivalry for a cause

Tonight’s exhibition at Mohegan Sun Arena to benefit hurricane relief

As far as UConn coach Kevin Ollie is concerned, it's an ideal situation.

There's no better way to prepare for a challenging early-season basketball schedule than to play an old Big East and New England rival during the exhibition season. Plus, it's for a good cause. Proceeds from today's exhibition against Providence at Mohegan Sun Arena (7 p.m.) will be donated to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to aid hurricane victims.

When the NCAA decided to grant a waiver for college basketball teams to play a third exhibition game as long as it benefits hurricane relief, Providence coach Ed Cooley reached out to Ollie, who happily agreed to play.

"Mohegan Sun stepped up and donated the arena for us," Ollie said. "We called the NCAA and got a waiver to play another exhibition game and then it all came about. It's for a great cause, the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. That money is going to go straight toward the victims. That's what it is all about."

"It's not about the rivalry, it's not about Providence and Connecticut and the old Big East, I don't even want to talk about that. It's for these victims that just had a horrible, horrible event happen to them. Puerto Rico and Houston are still recovering, especially Puerto Rico."

Usually Division I programs like UConn and Providence schedule exhibition games against Division II or III teams. That's the case again this year. The Huskies will host Merrimack and Queens College while the Friars will face Carleton University and Baruch College.

So both teams will benefit from playing higher caliber competition.

The Friars return a veteran team that is picked to place fourth in the Big East. They made a program record fourth straight trip to the NCAA tournament last season. Senior Kyron Cartwright and Rodney Bullock are preseason All-Big East second team selections.

With eight newcomers, the newlook Huskies are a mystery. They're coming off their first losing season in

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Only two returning players — junior guard Jalen Adams and sophomore guard Christian Vital — saw significant action last season. No one else played more than four games. Both redshirt freshman guard Alterique Gilbert and redshirt junior swingman Terry Larrier are making comebacks after suffering season-ending injuries last November.

A quality exhibition game will help prepare UConn for early battles against Syracuse, Arizona and Auburn as well as a strong field in the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational that includes an opening game against host Oregon.

"Win, lose or draw, it's a positive," Ollie said of the exhibition. "You get beat by 30 or win by 30, it doesn't matter. You get to talk to them, you get to understand what we have to go up against. We have a great schedule out-of-conference and it starts really quickly. There's no let's walk our way into it or feeling out process. We have some really, really, really good teams on our schedule.

"... It's going to really help us to play against a great Providence team. I think they're going to be really, really good . ... This is a great opportunity. I think the place is going to be filled with a lot of great UConn fans and a lot of great Providence fans. It's going to be rowdy in there."

UConn and Providence will play for the 73rd time in the series that the Huskies lead, 44-28. The last meeting took place on March, 9, 2013, with the Huskies posting a 6359 overtime win at Gampel Pavilion.

Both Ollie and Cooley have expressed a desire to renew the rivalry.

"Just to the closeness of our two universities, I think it would be great," Ollie said. "But there's a lot of things that have got to align. We schedule our non conference games way out . ... But if we can make it happen like we made this game happen, that would be something that both of us would look in the future to see if what could be done. It would be great for the fans."

News and notes

UConn and Providence regularly battle on the recruiting circuit. Take Friar freshman guard Makai Ashton-Langford, a former Brewster Academy standout. Ashton-Langford gave a verbal commitment to UConn but changed his mind when associate head coach Glen Miller was fired. He ended up at Providence. "Everybody has got to go on," Ollie said. "I got an opportunity to meet his family and to meet him as a person. I love him. It's not a contract that we signed . ... His whole family is great. So they made a choice for them. Now I've got to live by that. There's no judgment. There's no ill feelings against Makai. I wish him the best. Not when they play us, but I wish him the best out there." ... Tickets, priced at $50 (courtside), $25 (lower bowl) and $10 (upper bowl) are available through TicketMaster or the Mohegan Sun Ticket Office.

g.keefe@theday.com