BIG EAST TOURNAMENT / NO. 1 UCONN VS. NO. 9 XAVIER
Game: Big East tournament quarterfinals
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York
Tip time: Noon (FS1)
Records: UConn 28-3, Xavier 16-16
Last game: UConn beat Providence, 74-60, Saturday; Xavier defeated Butler, 76-72, Wednesday in the Big East tournament first round.
Series: UConn trails, 4-3, sweeping the regular-season series, winning 80-75 on the road on Jan. 10 and at home 99-56 on Jan. 28.
Probable starters: UConn, 6-5 graduate guard Tristen Newton (15.1 pts, 7.1 rebs, 5.9 assists), 6-4 graduate guard Cam Spencer (14.9 pts, 4.6 rebs), 6-6 fr. guard Stephon Castle (11.1 pts, 4.3 rebs), 6-8 r-so. forward Alex Karaban (14.2 pts, 5.1 rebs), 7-2 so. center Donovan Clingan (12.4 pts, 6.9 rebs, 2.3 blks) Xavier, 6-0 sr. guard Dayvion McKnight (12.4 pts, 3.8 rebs), 6-3 grad guard Quincy Olivari (19.5 pts, 5.5 rebs), 6-6 so. guard Desmond Claude (16 pts, 4.1 rebs), 6-10 sr. forward Abou Ousmane (6.8 pts, 6.5 rebs), 6-10 fr. forward Lazar Djokovic (2.5 pts, 2.5 rebs)
Noteworthy: UConn seeded No. 1 for 8th time, first since 2006. Xavier seeded 9th. … First ever meeting in the Big East tournament. … Musketeers are 7-0 in Big East quarterfinal games. … Huskies have won 18 of their last 19 games. … UConn has won seven Big East tournament titles, one shy of record holder Georgetown. … Sophomore Desmond Claude of New Haven earned the Big East Most Improved Player honor. … Top reserve: 6-0 fr. guard Trey Green (5.9 pts). … Only four Huskies – Newton, Karaban, Clingan, and Hassan Diarra – have previous Big East tournament experience, not counting Samson Johnson who played 46 seconds. … Hurley is attempting to become the second person in Big East history to win the title as a player (1993 with Seton hall) and coach. Patrick Ewing did it with Georgetown. … Hot: Karaban 9-for-15 from 3-pt. range in the last two games. Cold: Huskies haven’t advanced past the semifinals in each of the last three seasons. … UConn won seven Big East games by at least 20 points, a league record. … Huskies 25-0 when leading at half. … All three losses this season came when the bench scored under 20 points. … Will be UConn’s 133rd game at MSG in program history, owning a 72-60 record, including 10-6 under Hurley. … Newton and Spencer led the team with 25 double figure scoring games apiece. … Up next: Thursday’s winner plays either No. 4 Seton Hall or No. 5 St. John’s at 5:30 p.m. in Friday semifinals.