Sports: UConn men look to end two-game slide tonight against Butler
A two-game losing streak is hardly cause for alarm when competing in the fiercely competitive Big East. Every team experiences a dip during the season.
UConn is trying to prevent a stumble from turning into a free fall as it entertains Butler tonight (8:30, FS1) at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs.
In the first meeting on Jan. 9 in Indianapolis, the Huskies posted a 12-point win while playing their first game without star guard James Bouknight. The victory was part of a three-game road sweep.
Since that trip, UConn (7-3, 4-3) has dropped two straight. The Huskies fell out of the Associated Press top 25 on Monday.
Coach Dan Hurley reminded his team about its wins with Bouknight on the sideline. Bouknight (elbow injury) will miss his fifth straight game.
"It's had a little bit of a psychological effect on the team just from a confidence standpoint," Hurley said on Monday. "Our best stretch of winning was at the end of last year in the AAC, definitely a great way to end the season. But this is a much, much different level of competition for us. And the best stretch that we've had in years here of winning was three straight against Marquette, Butler and DePaul on the road. And (Bouknight) played some against Marquette and didn't play well.
"We've got to find a way to rally around that. Obviously, when you lose one of the best players in the country and you're in year three of rebuilding a program and you've now gone up in level significantly in a conference, this is not an easy situation. But we did win three in a row basical
ly without him."
UConn and Butler have traded situations from the previous meeting. This time, it's the Bulldogs (5-7, 4-5) who are rolling. They've won two straight, stunning No. 17 Creighton and downing DePaul by 14.
Butler briefly went on pause late last week and had its game Friday against Seton Hall postponed before resuming team activities on Saturday after learning a COVID-19 test result was a false positive.
"It's a flip of the script with the first game when we were riding high and they were struggling coming in," Hurley said. "For me, it's about (Aaron) Thompson and (Bryce) Nze and (Jair) Bolden, a tremendous shooter. We've got to be better defensively in the game, we've got to get back to that identity. We've had two lackluster defense efforts the last couple of games and we have very little chance of winning in this league if we don't defend."
In the last two games, UConn's opponents have averaged 74 points and shot 50 percent from the field.
A shorthanded roster — UConn's down to nine healthy players — has hogtied Hurley a bit. He relies on quality depth to play his usual brand of high-pressure defense.
"It's had a big effect," Hurley said. "The effect is guys are making mistakes or getting driven or scored on and I want to take them out of the game. Guys are making defense mistakes that normally would get them on the bench. And they're being allowed to play through it."
The Huskies also have tried to play through some offensive woes. They missed a ton of layups, putbacks and short shots in Saturday's 74-66 loss at Creighton. They're the worst team in the conference at converting two-point attempts, according to Hurley.
Hurley says he needs more from seniors Josh Carlton, Isaiah Whaley and Tyler Polley. Polley had one of his best games in the win over Butler (19 points). But he's scored just 19 points in the last three games.
"We get really good shots," Hurley said. "It's painful to watch the day after in games that you lose by small margins. We just can't convert around the basket, or we can't convert quality looks. We just have to keep going and keep getting good shots and hopefully we start making them. You have to make them if you want to win, otherwise you're just going to continue to lose in excruciating fashion."
There's even more sense of urgency to stop the losing streak with No. 3 Villanova visiting Storrs on Thursday night.