UConn has been near-unbeatable in its nonconference schedule over the last two years, going 27-1 and winning a national title. But in the Big East, it's gone just 13-8. Why is that?
Even before the UConn men’s basketball team traveled to Newark, N.J., to take on Seton Hall Wednesday night, there was an eerie feeling of apprehension permeating the fanbase.
You could feel it as you logged onto X (formerly Twitter), and saw nervous posts about the bad karma of the black alternate uniforms (very polarizing among fans) and flashbacks to last season’s game against the Pirates when Kadary Richmond tormented the Huskies with 18 points and 10 rebounds and UConn blew a second-half lead to lose 67-66.
Despite the fact that the fifth-ranked defending national champs had for the second straight year rolled through their nonconference schedule, entering the game at 10-1, there wasn’t unwavering confidence from fans heading into the game. This was different now. This was the Big East.
Over the last two seasons, UConn is 27-1 in nonconference games. Twenty-four of those wins have come by double digits, an NCAA record. In the Big East however, the Huskies are 13-8 after Wednesday’s 75-60 loss.
What is it about this conference that’s confounded them so much?
“Big East conference games man, they’re a different animal than nonconference and different from NCAA Tournament,” head coach Dan Hurley said after what he called an “embarrassing” performance at Seton Hall. “They’re way more physical. And we’ve got to be able to adjust to these games.”
Fifth-year guard Tristen Newton agreed.
“The Big East is the most physical league in the country,” Newton said. “It’s something you have to be prepared for, day in and day out. … Nonconference and Big East are totally different. The nonconference has nothing to do with what we’ve got to do in the Big East.
“We’ve got to play a different style. We’ve got to be tougher, more physical, get more rebounds. Just play a lot harder and a lot more physical than we did in the nonconference,” Newton said. “I’ve got to get in the weight room and just get stronger, try and finish through contact and not try to fall over so much, but the guys who were here last year they know what to expect.”
Seton Hall guard Al-Amir Dawes drives to the basket against UConn guards Stephon Castle (5) and Hassan Diarra during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Newark, N.J., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. Seton Hall won, 75-60. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie)
An argument could be made that the Huskies just didn’t show up on Wednesday night in what was clearly their worst performance of the year, far more damning than their 69-65 loss at Kansas.
“You don’t show up ready in the Big East, you get your ass kicked,” sophomore forward Alex Karaban said. “I don’t know if we were too complacent in the nonconference, I don’t know if we thought this would be an easy game, but clearly no game is easy in the Big East.”
Hurley has always said one of this group’s goals is to win the Big East regular-season title, something UConn has, amazingly, not done since the 2005-06 season, when it shared the title with Villanova. Even more incredibly, the Huskies haven’t won the league outright since 1999.
In fact, winning the Big East regular-season title has proven just about as difficult as winning the national championship, given the fact that UConn has accomplished both feats exactly five times since 1999.
Last season, after starting out 14-0 and ascending to No. 2 in the national rankings, UConn went 10-7 during its last 17 conference games and bowed out in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. In the middle of that was a span of five losses in six games, including defeats to unranked Providence, St. John’s and Seton Hall. Of course, once Big East play was over, the Huskies then went on to challenge the NCAA record for average margin of victory in an NCAA Tournament title run.
There’s another quirky stat that makes all of this so confounding. Since the 2004-05 season, UConn is 4-15 in conference openers. That includes a 1-5 mark in the American Athletic Conference from 2013-19, but it still leaves the Huskies 3-10 in Big East openers in that time. UConn also lost its conference opener in national title winning years in 2011 and 2014. In 2004, it defeated Rutgers, 75-74. Maybe that was the reason for the apprehension fans felt on Wednesday.
Whether it’s the physicality, different style of play, or just the familiarity that Big East teams have with UConn, it’s clear that conference play has been a different animal for the Huskies.
But however UConn fares in the league, history has shown that the conference grind will only make the Huskies tougher come tournament time.