DePaul @ Connecticut preview
Madison Square Garden
Last Meeting ( Jan 11, 2021 ) Connecticut 60, DePaul 53
Third-seeded UConn will carry a four-game winning streak into the Big East Conference tournament when it tips off against 11th-seeded DePaul on Thursday night in New York.
The Huskies (14-6) finished the regular season with two wins against Georgetown sandwiched around single victories over Marquette and Seton Hall. UConn had a bye in the opening round of the conference tournament and is hoping for a deep run to bolster its seeding for the NCAA Tournament.
UConn coach Dan Hurley, who signed a two-year contract extension last week, cannot wait to get started.
"With recruits, we always stress, and it's 100 percent true, that it's the best conference tournament in the country," Hurley said. "The excitement, the venue, the energy in the building, the Big East tournament is the best and I don't think it's debatable.
"You can debate which conference is the best in any given year, but I don't think you can debate which conference tournament is the best. It's a big recruiting tool, to get to the biggest stage in the most important time of the year."
The Huskies will face a surprise opponent in last-place DePaul (5-13), which stunned sixth-seeded Providence 70-62 on Wednesday in opening-round action. The win snapped a three-game skid for the Blue Demons, who won only two of 15 games in conference play during the regular season.
DePaul lived to play another day thanks to strong performances from Javon Freeman-Liberty and Charlie Moore, each of whom finished with 21 points and seven rebounds against Providence.
Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao is particularly familiar with UConn. He served as a Huskies assistant coach from 1986-94 and again from 1996-2002, working under longtime head coach Jim Calhoun.
"(UConn runs) a great program and continues to do so on both sides, the men and the women," Leitao said after his team's win over Providence. "A piece of my heart will always be there. Danny has a (heck) of a team that is physical and has a tremendous out punch in (James) Bouknight."
Bouknight will take part in his first postseason action as a standout sophomore. He averaged 20.2 points and 5.6 rebounds in 12 games during the regular season, and NBA scouts will be watching him for the rest of March.
The Brooklyn, N.Y., native will be close to home for the conference tournament at Madison Square Garden.
"You sense with him that he knows what he has done for the program," Hurley said. "Listen, he's helped us take a big step as a team, and the profile he's created in terms of being one of the best players in the country and being a potential lottery pick, it's meant so much to UConn and us rebuilding this thing. But he also knows that he wants to try to turn the end of the season into part of his legacy."
UConn went 2-0 against DePaul during the regular season. The Huskies cruised to an 82-61 win at home on Dec. 30, and they followed up with a 60-53 road win on Jan. 11.
--Field Level Media