The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies face a Villanova team looking to snap skid
STORRS — The good news for UConn is that Villanova clearly isn’t the same team that won a national championship last season, beating the Huskies by 20 in Hartford in the process.
The Wildcats have dropped a home game to Furman this year and also lost to Penn, and in fact enter Saturday’s bout with UConn at Madison Square Garden (12:30 p.m., CBS) having lost their last two games.
Or maybe that’s the bad news.
A proud program that has won two of the last three national titles and is coached by future Hallof-Famer Jay Wright can be a little more dangerous on a two-game losing skid.
“It’s not ideal,” UConn coach Dan Hurley confessed after practice on Thursday. “We would rather them come in being over-confident, on a roll.”
In truth, it probably doesn’t matter a whole lot. The culture at Villanova is so strong, even with four of last year’s stalwarts now in the NBA, that UConn is likely to get the Wildcats’ best effort on Saturday — losing streak or not.
“Villanova is Villanova,” Hurley added. “They didn’t lose their last two games because they didn’t play real hard, they weren’t locked in. They just didn’t play as well as they would have liked to have played. Every time they play, they’re desperate, they look desperate, and we expect our guys to look the same. It should be a really, really physical, hard-played game.”
As both teams round out their respective nonconference schedules, neither is “desperate” for a win. Too early for that, plenty of time to make hay in league play. But let’s just say both teams could really use a victory.
UConn (9-3) is searching for a signature nonleague win that could surpass an 83-76 victory over Syracuse five weeks earlier in the Garden that isn’t as shiny now, given the Orange’s current woes.
Villanova (8-4), meanwhile, is looking to avoid its first three-game losing streak in nearly six years.
“We know this is a whole different magnitude of a game,” UConn junior guard Christian Vital noted. “Us vs. them, at the Garden, right around Christmas so a lot of families are gonna be there. And a lot of tristate guys are playing in this game, as well. It’s definitely gonna be a big one, but we know them coming off two losses doesn’t really matter. They’re definitely gonna bring it, and we’re gonna have to be ready, as well.”
Soon after he was hired in March, Hurley showed his team a video of some examples of why it went 14-18 a year ago, mistakes the Huskies couldn’t continue to make if they wanted a better season. One of the highlights (lowlights?) of that clip was a sequence in last season’s 81-61 loss to ’Nova on Jan. 20 at the XL Center, when UConn allowed four straight offensive rebounds.
“That came up in practice (Thursday) when we blew a block-out and gave up one offensive rebound,” Hurley noted. “The message to the team was, those possessions weren’t rebounds at a high point above the rim. They were balls being picked up off the ground. They were below netlevel rebounds. That’s effort, having a nose for the ball, want-to.”
Added Vital: “That was definitely a play that, myself especially, I remember vividly. We’ve got to correct those things. We can’t let them get multiple opportunities on the ground off the offensive glass and hold them to one shot.”
The Huskies have certainly shown more heart and intensity this season, though rebounding has at times been an issue.
UConn boasts a plus-4.7 rebound margin, though the Huskies have garnered exactly one more rebound in their four games against Power Five foes (and have been outrebounded by more than four per game if you throw out the Syracuse game).
Vital said last season Villanova simply wanted it more in that Jan. 20 game. Now, he’s looking for some revenge.
“We dropped one at home, and we’re not supposed to do that,” he noted. “It’s definitely a revenge game. This one has been circled for a while. It’s fun that we get to go out and compete each other again, because we know it’s gonna be a hard-fought game. Whoever wins, they’re gonna earn it.”
It may just come down to which team wants it more — needs it more.
“We can’t allow them to be more desperate than us to win the game on Saturday,” said Hurley, “because we’ve won 30 games in two years, so we should be plenty desperate.”
“Hopefully, every game my team plays, in terms of effort they give, looks like they’re desperate and it’s our Super Bowl,” the coach added. “That’s how it should look. Your effort, intensity, focus and passion should all be out there. It’s a chance to play the defending national champion at the Garden in New York City, right before Christmas on Saturday on CBS. It’s just a great thing to be a part of, and a great opportunity for these guys to play their hearts out.”
RIM RATTLINGS
⏩ Kwintin Williams, the little-used senior forward, was missing from practice on Thursday after also missing Tuesday night’s win over Drexel.
“Kwintin’s still under the weather,” Hurley said. “I don’t know what his availability is. He hasn’t been able to go the last couple of days in practice, or in weightlifting ... or pretty much anything.”
While the timing may seem suspicious, to say the least, with prized recruit Akok Akok expected to join the team at some point within the next couple of weeks, school sources insist the team has no intention of giving Williams’ scholarship to Akok.
⏩ Speaking of Akok, he may be at Saturday’s game — in the stands, not on the bench. UConn isn’t expecting any other recruits and/or signees at the game at this point.
“We can’t allow them to be more desperate than us to win the game on Saturday, because we’ve won 30 games in two years, so we should be plenty desperate.”
UConn coach Dan Hurley