MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

NO. 24 UCONN AT GEORGETOWN

When: Saturday, noon

Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.

Records: UConn 17-6 (6-6 Big East), Georgetown 6-17 (1-11 Big East)

TV: FS1

Radio: UConn Sports Network, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCHGreenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Wilimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), 97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973

KEEP AN EYE ON Staying focused: One thing is certain on Saturday: the UConn men’s basketball team won’t become the answer to a trivia question as the first Big East team to lose to Georgetown in nearly two years. DePaul took care of that in an 81-76 loss to the Hoyas on Jan. 24, snapping Patrick Ewing & Co.’s 28-game conference losing streak.

But UConn, fresh off a 14-point win at aforementioned DePaul on Tuesday night, can’t overlook any opponent right now. Even Georgetown, which gave the Huskies all they could handle in a preChristmas bout at Gampel Pavilion, eventually won 84-73 by UConn behind a huge second-half performance from Joey Calcaterra.

UConn was a perfect 13-0 at the time, with all their wins by double digits. Since then, the Huskies are just 4-6 and, somehow, sitting in sixth place in the Big East standings. And Calcaterra, who scored all 14 of his points in the second half against the Hoyas, has scored just 20 points combined over the 10 games since then.

Hoyas trending upward: Georgetown has played better lately. Besides the win over DePaul, the Hoyas battled at Villanova on Jan. 16 before losing by four points, and were edged by St. John’s by two on Sunday. On Wednesday night, Georgetown gave surging Creighton, the preseason Big East favorite, a tough battle in an eventual 10-point loss.

The Hoyas have some high-octane offensive players, led by Hartford’s Primo Spears, one of the Big East’s leading scorers at 16.8 points per game. Old friend Akok Akok has been a nice pick-up, averaging 7.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and a team-best 2 blocks per game. It’s the defensive end of the floor that has given Georgetown the most trouble. The Hoyas give up 80.8 points per game, most in the Big East — shocking for a Ewing-coached team.

Georgetown also struggles in the second half of games, squandering several leads this season. Of course, UConn hasn’t been too good in that department, either, squandering a 17-point first-half lead in a one-point loss at Seton Hall on Jan. 18 and allowing a 20-point lead over DePaul to evaporate to six before holding on for the victory.

Building momentum: Dan Hurley noted after the DePaul win that the Huskies have a chance to build a little momentum right now. Revenge games against Marquette (Feb. 7), Seton Hall (Feb. 18), Providence (Feb. 22) and St. John’s (Feb. 25) await, sandwiched around a huge road game at Creighton on Feb. 11.

A slip-up against lowly Georgetown, however, and that momentum veers right off the road in a hurry.