Refocused Huskies
UConn aims to avoid 0-2 start in league play
MILWAUKEE — UConn’s history with Marquette isn’t a terribly long one, at least compared to some of the Huskies’ other Big East brethren. The teams have met just 11 times, with Marquette owning a 6-5 all-time advantage.
But there have been some memorable encounters over the years, most of them at Fiserv Forum, where the teams clash on Tuesday (9 p.m., FS1). And while Tuesday night’s game will have a tough time living up to some of the drama of other UConn-Marquette matchups over the past 15 years, it will be about as important an early-season game as there can be for both teams.
UConn (9-3) is coming off a home loss to Providence in its Big East opener on Saturday in Hartford. The Huskies were bumped from this week’s AP Top 25 poll for the first time this season. They’re hoping to avoid a 0-2 start in league play for the fifth time in the last six seasons, and the first time in Big East play since 1989-90.
Meanwhile, Marquette (8-4) has lost its last two games and three of its last four, and will likely be playing with some desperation.
UConn could welcome back sophomore center and second-leading scorer Adama Sanogo, who has missed the past four games with an abdominal injury. Coach Dan Hurley said last week that Sanogo, who averages 15.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, could return soon. The Huskies, who have struggled offensively without him, certainly hope it’s on Tuesday night.
Marquette is coached by Shaka Smart, the former Texas and VCU coach who employs a pressure-filled, havoc-style of play.
The UConn-Marquette history is somewhat short, but sweet:
⏩ On Jan. 3, 2006, in Marquette’s first-ever Big East game (and the secondranked Huskies’ Big East season-opener), power forward Steve Novak exploded for 41 points and 16 rebounds in a 94-79 Marquette victory. That remains the record for most points by a player in his Big East debut, though James
Bouknight came close last season with 40 against Creighton.
Jim Calhoun notched the 800th victory of his Hall of Fame career at Fiserv on Feb. 25, 2009, a 93-82 win keyed by 36 points and a vicious staredown by A.J. Price.
On New Year’s Day, 2013, in Kevin Ollie’s first Big East game as a head coach, the Golden Eagles won in overtime, 82-76. The game is best remembered for the referees messing up which baskets the teams were shooting at to begin overtime, essentially negating a UConn basket (on a Marquette goaltend) off the opening tip.
But despite the calendar, the stakes for Tuesday night’s game will be as high as any of the teams’ prior matchups.
RIM RATTLINGS
Matt Jones, an ESPN Radio personality based in Kentucky reported that
UConn was one of a few schools that Kentucky reached out to to play in a makeup game on Wednesday, after its slated bout with Louisville was canceled. However, UConn was never an option.
For one, it’s a virtual certainty Hurley wouldn’t want his team playing road games against NCAA tournament-quality teams on consecutive nights. More to
the point, the Huskies’ schedule is booked sold with 31 games, and only Big East games remaining. There’s no way UConn could replace a league game with a non-conference opponent, unless, in theory, one of the Huskies’ Big East games gets canceled down the road.