After opening the season with three easy victories, No. 3 UConn figures to receive a test when it battles No. 7 BYU on Saturday night in the Hall of Fame Series at Boston.
The Cougars also have started with three straight victories; they followed a season-opening, neutral-court win over Villanova with two blowouts.
BYU won its three games by an average of 22.3 points, while the Huskies have steamrolled their opponents by an average of 38.
UConn enters a fierce stretch in which it plays five ranked squads in a seven-game run. After facing BYU, the Huskies will host No. 5 Arizona on Wednesday. The other ranked opponents during the span are No. 14 Illinois, No. 25 Kansas and No. 10 Florida.
“This time of year, people are challenging themselves in these nonconference games,” Huskies coach Dan Hurley said. “We’re excited to get a chance to play in Boston this weekend against one of the best teams in the country. So it should be fun. … You just focus on a one-game-at-a-time mentality.”
UConn certainly would like to take down the Cougars since the matchup will be its first tough affair. But more important for Hurley is receiving a good indicator of where the Huskies stand.
“It’s a good barometer for where you’re at,” he said. “I think you have a pretty good sense of where you’re vulnerable, but it’s really going to expose those vulnerabilities, especially when you go into the deep water now with BYU and whoever’s coming up after that.”
UConn cruised to an 89-62 victory over Columbia on Monday behind 23 points from Solo Ball, 20 from Alex Karaban, and 19 from Tarris Reed Jr.
Reed (hamstring injury) missed the season-opening win over New Haven and has team-best averages of 19.5 points and 10 rebounds in two games. Ball is averaging 18.3 points, and Karaban has made a team-best eight 3-pointers while putting up 17.3 per game.
BYU had some issues in its most recent game but overcame a 13-point deficit to record an 85-68 home victory over Delaware on Tuesday.
Richie Saunders had 26 points and 10 rebounds and Robert Wright III recorded 26 points, nine boards and nine assists. Saunders made six 3-pointers while the point total was a career high for Wright, a transfer from Baylor.
“I think we’re definitely still building our identity, but I feel like the way we fought back, it’s just showing that we’re a tough group and we won’t give up,” Wright said.
Freshman phenom AJ Dybantsa added 18 points and seven rebounds. The player billed as the possible No. 1 selection in the 2026 NBA Draft is averaging 18.7 points and a team-tying-high 7.0 rebounds per outing. He’s also from Brockton, Mass., located 25 miles south of Boston, so he’s looking forward to the matchup.
“That should be fun, definitely seeing a lot of familiar faces,” Dybantsa said. “But it’s a top-3 team, as they should be. UConn’s good; they’ve been good. It’s going to be a test for us, but we’ll be ready.”
Saunders is averaging a team-leading 20.3 points and has knocked down a team-high nine 3-points while grabbing 7.0 boards per game. Wright is scoring 18.3 points and has a team-best 4.3 assists.
The balance delivered by Saunders, Dybantsa and Wright make BYU dangerous.
“We got a team of good guys all the way across the board,” Saunders said. “It’s going to be guys stepping up every game, but we’re here to win.”
Meanwhile, BYU starting guard Kennard Davis Jr. (9.0 ppg) was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of drunk driving after being involved in a crash. The school hasn’t said whether or not Davis will be available to play against UConn. He missed the Delaware game with an Achilles injury.
UConn won the lone previous meeting, 58-53 in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
–Field Level Media
