#5 UConn Faces #13 Illinois On Black Friday at MSG

NEW YORK – The No. 5 UConn males’s basketball staff (5-1) is again in motion on Black Friday for a matinee in opposition to No. 13 Illinois (6-1) within the SentinelOne Showdown at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off is about for 12:30 p.m. and can air on FOX with Kenny Albert and Steve Smith on the decision.

UConn will return to Madison Square Garden for the primary of at the least 4 video games in Manhattan this season. The Huskies have performed extra at MSG than any venue exterior of their dwelling courts and have compiled a 77-62 (.554) all-time document on the World’s Most Famous Arena. Connecticut is 15-8 at The Garden below Dan Hurley and have received eight of 10 within the constructing. Under Hurley, UConn is 5-2 in common season non-conference video games at MSG and is on a four-game successful streak in such contests.

The Huskies are going through their third top-15 foe in a two-week span, a part of one of many fiercest common season non-conference gauntlets within the nation and in program historical past. UConn topped then-No. 7 BYU on Nov. 15 in Boston and fell to then-No. 4 Arizona on Nov. 19 at Gampel. Illinois has additionally cut up a pair of stiff early exams, topping then-No. 11 Texas Tech on Nov. 11 in Champaign and dropping a sport in Chicago on Nov. 19 to then-No. 11 Alabama.

Connecticut and Illinois have squared off 4 occasions prior to now. The Illini received the primary assembly within the 1938-39 season and the Huskies have taken the following three. After sweeping a home-and-home performed in 1992 and 1994, the edges didn’t meet once more till the 2024 East Regional Final in Boston. Powered by a now legendary 30-0 run spanning the tip of the primary half and begin of the second, UConn dominated that sport and topped Illinois 77-52 to advance to its seventh ultimate 4 forward of its sixth nationwide title.

UConn was final in motion on Sunday, Nov. 23 in Hartford when it topped Bryant 72-49. The Huskies used a chronic 22-4 run late within the first half to construct a considerable first half lead within the wire-to-wire win. Silas Demary Jr. posted his first profession triple-double within the triumph, scoring 10 factors and including career-highs of 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Eric Reibe led the Huskies with career-highs of 16 factors and 6 rebounds, incomes BIG EAST Freshman of the Week on Monday.

Alex Karaban leads UConn’s certified scorers with 14.3 factors and 5.2 rebounds per sport, taking pictures 52.6 % from the ground and 50.0 % from 3-point vary by way of six contests. Solo Ball provides 14.2 factors and three.5 rebounds per sport, whereas Demary Jr. scores 12.5 factors on 55.3 % taking pictures and leads the BIG EAST with 6.3 assists per sport. UConn’s offense is ranked within the top-10 nationally by Kenpom and a slew of different analytical fashions, whereas its protection has graded out as a top-15 unit. The Huskies are 13^th within the nation in scoring protection (61.3 ppg) and among the many nationwide leaders in discipline objective share (51.0), help/turnover ratio (1.98), turnover margin (+5.5) and assists per sport (18.8).

Illinois enters the weekend tilt on a two-game successful streak after easing to wins over Long Island and UTRGV in its final two. The Illini have one of many nation’s prime offenses and rating over 94 factors per sport, whereas additionally rating top-20 in defensive effectivity per Kenpom. Andrej Stojakovic leads Illinois with 18.5 factors per sport and is taking pictures 58.8 % from the ground. Kylan Boswell provides 16.1 per sport and David Mirkovic scores 15.1 with a team-high 10.3 rebounds per sport.

Following the journey to the Big Apple UConn has a fast flip earlier than one other high-level matchup, set to go to Kansas on Dec. 2.