UConn men’s basketball’s home loss to Arizona dropped the Huskies two spots in this week’s AP Poll, with the Huskies now at No. 5. The Wildcats jumped up to No. 2 following the win and received 11 first-place
votes, while the 4-1 Huskies received none for the first time all season.
St. John’s is the only other Big East school in the Top 25 at No. 14, but Georgetown and Creighton each received multiple votes. BYU, which UConn beat in Boston last week, stayed at No. 9.
After rolling past Bryant on Sunday night, UConn will head to Madison Square Garden on Black Friday to take on No. 13 Illinois in another high-profile non-conference matchup. While the BYU and Arizona games are in the rearview mirror, the Huskies still will face No. 10 Florida in another MSG matchup on Dec. 9.
UConn is also set to play Kansas on Dec. 2 at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, who received votes this week but fell out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2005. The Jayhawks have been without star freshman Darryn Peterson for the last three games due to a hamstring injury, and it’s unclear whether he will be available when the Huskies come to Lawrence in a little over a week.
UConn is currently ranked 11th overall in KenPom with an offensive efficiency that ranks ninth and defensive efficiency that ranks No. 15. Illinois is currently No. 7 in KenPom, but KenPom also factors in data from the previous season in its rankings until a sufficient sample size is reached. Based on just this season alone, the Huskies rank as the No. 6 team in the country per BartTorvik, another popular analytics site. Using that same criteria, Illinois is ranked No. 3.
The Huskies hope to have star center Tarris Reed Jr., who missed both games last week due to an ankle sprain, available for the top-15 matchup against the Illini. Reed is a game-time decision to play Friday alongside presumed starter Braylon Mullins, who has not yet made his UConn debut after suffering a preseason ankle injury. With the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, it’s unlikely that the team will provide a status update until just before tip off against the Illini.
