UConn men’s basketball (30-5) is looking to punch its ticket to the East Regionals in Washington D.C. next weekend, as the Huskies are set to take on 7-seed UCLA (24-11) in the Round of 32 on Sunday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.
The Bruins finished tied for sixth in the Big Ten regular season standings, making a run to the semifinals in the conference tournament before falling to Purdue on the way to the Boilermakers’ eventual title in Chicago last week. Head coach Mick Cronin has
UCLA playing great basketball, most recently holding off a feisty UCF squad on Friday night in the first round to advance to Sunday. The Bruins rank No. 27 in KenPom and have the 22nd ranked offense in the country.
The Huskies sit at No. 11 in KenPom and are fresh off a scare from No. 15 seed Furman on Friday night, holding on for an 11-point victory thanks to a historic 31 points and 27 rebounds from Tarris Reed Jr. and some timely shot making from Alex Karaban.
The Huskies are looking to advance to the second weekend after coming up short in this round last year against Florida. Can UConn avenge last season’s early exit and punch its ticket to the Sweet 16? Should the Huskies advance over UCLA, they would take on either the 3-seed Spartans in the Sweet 16 on Friday at Capital One Arena.
Date/Time: Sunday, March 22, approximately 8:45 p.m.
TV/Stream: TNT, HBO Max, March Madness app
Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius XM 204, Sirius/XM online streaming
Odds: UConn -4.5, over/under 136.5
Location: Xfinity Mobile Arena — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 72, UCLA 68 — 63% win probability
Series History
The Huskies and Bruins have played just once all time coming into Sunday’s matchup. Back in the 1995 Elite Eight in Oakland, UCLA defeated UConn 102-96 to prevent the Huskies from getting to their first Final Four in program history. Ray Allen had 36 points and Doron Sheffer chipped in 24 in the loss.
Availability report
Both Silas Demary Jr. and Jaylin Stewart were unavailable for Friday’s win over Furman. Hurley mentioned during his availability on Saturday that both will be questionable heading into Sunday’s game, citing they both are trying their all to be out there. We will know more at 9 p.m. the day before the game and two hours before game time as the NCAA has mandated the injury reports at those times during the postseason.
What to Watch For
Did that really happen?
Tarris Reed Jr. had one of the greatest individual performances in NCAA Tournament history on Friday night. He scored 31 points on 12-15 from the field and grabbed 27 rebounds and almost singlehandedly carried UConn to the win.
“My mindset coming into the game is really just to be dominant,” Reed said after the win. “This is my last March Madness. My days are numbered in college basketball. Just giving all I got and having fun with the guys around me. We have a special team and special coaching staff.”
Eleven of Reed’s 27 rebounds came on the offensive glass, including a crucial stretch where he grabbed three in a row before Karaban finally knocked down a three to increase the lead. What’s even crazier about a night like that is that the Huskies needed every bit of it. If he “only” goes for 20 and 15, UConn could easily be on its way back to Storrs by now. It’s arguably the greatest individual performance in a program that’s had a plethora of them.
Banged up on both sides
The Huskies and Bruins have each been plagued by the injury bug the past week or so. As mentioned, both Demary and Stewart are banged up and will be listed as questionable going into Sunday, but Hurley said that they are each “pushing it to the max” to be available.
UCLA is having its fair share of injury issues as well. Both Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau departed separate games in the Big Ten Tournament last week with injuries. Dent was good to go and played his usual minutes against UCF, but Bilodeau was held out at the last second as a precaution.
“We’ll see how he looks tomorrow,” Cronin said Saturday. “That’s what happened yesterday. He looked great on Thursday but did not on Friday.”
Demary Jr. and Bilodeau’s impact on their team is crucial if either one wants to advance. Not having Demary against a UCLA guard room that is deep and talented isn’t a great recipe for success, nor is not having a big like Bilodeau after seeing how dominant Reed was Friday night. You’d love to see the two historic programs battle it out at full strength, but it may come down to the healthier team advancing Sunday.
Sideline standouts
Hurley and Cronin share a lot of qualities on the sidelines with their emotions and antics, even if they may disagree with it from time to time. With a combination of the two of them battling it out in the past when Cronin was at Cincinnati and UCLA’s opponent on Friday night, Cronin remarked that he “felt like he’s back in the American Conference with UCF and UConn.”
The history with Cronin and UConn stems back years, with Cronin having coached against all three of Jim Calhoun, Kevin Ollie and Hurley during his tenure in Cincinnati. Even if he isn’t regarded well, or disliked, by Husky fans, you have to respect the job that Cronin has done throughout his career. He guided UCLA to the Final Four as an 11-seed and play-in team in 2021 and had another great team in 2023 before losing to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16.
Hurley echoes the respect that Cronin gives to him, both well aware of their roots as sons of high school coaches.
“When I look at Mick and coaches like Mick, they’re all the coaches I have either modeled myself after or admired,” Hurley said. “They’re the ones who can balance holding their players to the highest standard where the players have that respectful fear of their coach, and they love playing for their coach, you know?”
The media portrays both coaches as complainers and crybabies, and while they occasionally have their moments, you don’t see many head-to-head matchups between coaches like this in the Round of 32 very often.
Rookie struggles continue
There was always a world where Mullins figured it out in his first NCAA Tournament game and took March Madness by storm from beyond the arc, but that world isn’t this one. Mullins shot 0-8 from three on Friday night against Furman, the first time he failed to make a three in a game since he was inserted into the starting lineup post-injury in December.
Could it still just be a slump for Mullins? If what we’ve seen from him in games such as the road win at Providence or that aforementioned game in Storrs against Creighton, there’s still obvious reason to believe in a resurgence. Still, 20% over the past calendar month-plus is concerning and trending towards exiting slump territory.
Downhill drivers
UCLA boasts one of the more unique starting backcourts in the country. The Bruins start three “undersized” guards in Dent, Skyy Clark and Trent Perry and each of the three has the free will to control the offense and take over games, especially driving to the basket.
“They got three guys with point guard type of handle,” Hurley said Saturday. “They just take a lot of pressure off of each other. And then the shooting scoring that they have been able to put around Dent allows him to just pick his spots when he wants to score it.”
The biggest reason that UConn was struggling to get stops on the defensive end during its cold stretch in February was their ability to fail to contain people blowing past and not having a great second line of defense. Since then, guys like Jayden Ross have stepped up on the perimeter and Reed has evolved even more as a shot blocking threat in the short time. UCLA is still going to stick to its identity with its gameplan, but the Huskies have built a solid foundation over the past few games to counter them.
