With just a week remaining in the Big East regular season, New England rivals conclude their traditional home-and-home series as Providence welcomes UConn to Rhode Island’s capital city for a Saturday contest.
The Huskies (19-9, 11-6 Big East) have won five consecutive meetings in the head-to-head series and enter the 82nd all-time following a 93-79 win over former Providence coach Ed Cooley’s Georgetown on Wednesday.
Tarris Reed Jr. and Solo Ball each scored 20 points against the Hoyas.
Huskies coach Dan Hurley saw it as a possible breakout effort from Reed, who made it a double-double with 10 rebounds.
“If he could ever just unlock himself, this motor and this ferocity and this violence and this dominating mindset — a lot of that is him,” Hurley said. “When he brings that, he’s a difference-making player. The onus is on him to show up with that level of engagement.”
UConn shot 55.9 percent from the floor last time out. One of only two better efforts from the Huskies this season was their 87-84 win over Providence on Jan. 5, a game in which they shot 56.3 percent from the floor.
“Our offense has been really good all year,” UConn guard Hassan Diarra said. “I think (against Georgetown), guys played with a little bit more confidence, definitely made some more shots at the rim.”
The Friars (12-16, 6-11) hope to benefit from home cooking against their rivals following consecutive road losses to Georgetown and No. 21 Marquette. The latter was an 82-52 Tuesday defeat, their sixth in a seven-game span.
Coach Kim English sees the reason for his team’s latest loss as a simple one.
“(Marquette) just played harder,” English said. “The game favors the team that plays the hardest. There was a possession where they got two or three offensive rebounds, and you just know a three is going to go in. … The guys we have, we’ve got to get them playing harder.”
Jayden Pierre led the Friars with 13 points. The game also saw Corey Floyd Jr. return for the first time since Feb. 8 following an auto accident near campus.
“He had some really good practices. He played hard. He had some rust, obviously, after having three games off and a couple of weeks off,” English said.
–Field Level Media
