UConn men’s basketball (13-1, 3-0) returns to action for the first time in 2026 as the Huskies are back at home in Storrs to take on Marquette (5-9, 0-3) on Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion.
The Golden Eagles rank No. 117 in KenPom, with the No. 141 offense in the country, and 176th in the NET. No, those numbers aren’t a typo.
Marquette has yet to beat a high-major team so far this season and has fallen off drastically in Shaka Smart’s fifth season in Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles’ best win on paper,
according to KenPom, is over No. 197 Valparaiso, and that was a three-point victory.
As for UConn, the Huskies sit at No. 4 in the AP Poll, No. 5 in KenPom, and No. 8 in the NET. They have the third-most efficient defense in the country after Wednesday’s 90-67 win over Xavier in Cincinnati. The Huskies have won nine straight games over the past six weeks and have looked like a title contender once again. They buried 13 threes led by five from freshman Braylon Mullins as he and Solo Ball dropped 17 points each while Alex Karaban had 19.
Sunday’s matchup is a Quad 4 game for UConn according to the NET, a far drop from when the Golden Eagles were ranked in each of their past nine matchups.
The Huskies are looking to start 4-0 in Big East play for the second consecutive season after failing to do so in each of their first four years since returning to the conference.
Date/Time: Sunday, Jan. 4, 2:00 p.m. EST
TV/Stream: Peacock, NBC Sports Network (for YouTubeTV subscribers)
Radio: UConn Sports Network (Link), Sirius XM 85, Sirius/XM online streaming (Link),
Odds: UConn –
Location: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, CT
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 84, Marquette 62
Series History
The Huskies and Golden Eagles have played 21 times in their history with all of them coming while together in the Big East. UConn has a 13-8 advantage over Marquette with a 10-2 lead since it rejoined the Big East in 2020. They last faced off on March 5, 2025 when UConn beat Marquette, 72-66 at Gampel Pavilion. Alex Karaban led five Huskies in double figures with 21 points.
Inactives
Jayden Ross was considered day-to-day after UConn’s win over Xavier with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the game against the Musketeers. His status is up in the air for Sunday.
What to Watch For
What happened?
Before this season, the Marquette Golden Eagles were one of the most consistently strong programs in the Big East, regularly in the NCAA Tournament and finishing near the top of the league. Last season, they won 23 games overall and finished fourth in the conference with a 13-7 regular season record. They finished 12th and 6th in the final AP Poll the previous two seasons, respectively.
Today, Marquette is 5-9 and has yet to beat a power conference opponent. The locker room is falling apart after Zaide Lowery, who opened the year as a starter, left the team over Christmas break, and questions around its leadership are circling.
With players like Kam Jones, Stevie Mitchell, and David Joplin gone, even going a year further back and adding in Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro, the Golden Eagles didn’t acquire or develop adequate replacements to make them competitive this season. Part of that is due to Smart’s apparent “philosophy” of avoiding the transfer portal, but the result has led to likely the worst team in the Big East.
Pound the paint
While it’s no secret that Marquette certainly has more weaknesses than strengths this season, one of their biggest weaknesses has to be their defensive ability in the post. The Golden Eagles average the second fewest blocks per game in the Big East this year – only Villanova gets fewer – which has allowed opposing big men to have huge games night in and night out.
Seton Hall’s Stephon Payne had 14 points and 22 rebounds in Marquette’s last game. Juliuis Halaifonua had 21 points for Georgetown in the Big East opener. Oscar Cluff of Purdue dropped a season high 22 points on perfect 9-9 shooting. All of these big men dominated their matchups against the weak Golden Eagles front court.
With all that out there, I’d imagine Tarris Reed Jr. is licking his lips in anticipation of Sunday’s matchup. We all know and have seen what he can do on the low block and his ability to score the basketball. This could easily be a 20+ point night from Reed, perhaps even a game that shows shades of his dominant 24 point, 18 rebound and six block game he had last year against Providence.
Get out and run
Marquette is last in the conference in both field goal percentage and three-point percentage this season, which isn’t surprising if you’ve watched them play this season. There isn’t much offensive flow or chemistry between the players with a lot of possessions ending with poor shot attempts deep in the shot clock.
With that, UConn should be able to run out in transition and have success in that regard. The Huskies thrive off of turning their defense into offense and have guys who can push the ball up court after stops. There should be ample opportunities for guys like Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith to lead fast breaks for quality looks all afternoon long.
Another lefty showdown?
When these two teams faced off in Milwaukee last season, a pair of lefty guards stole the show for their respective teams. Solo Ball scored a then-career best 25 points and knocked down seven three pointers to help lead the Huskies to a win, while Chase Ross scored 19 points and hit three threes.
Both Ball and Ross have been at the top of the scouting reports for their respective teams this season too. Ball averaged 17 PPG in the month of December, setting a new career-high with 26 points over Butler, and shot 38% from three on the month, much improved from his slow start. Ross, on the other hand has cooled off a bit. He averaged 20.8 PPG in November before just 11 PPG in December, but is coming off a 15-point performance against Seton Hall.
Could we see another memorable scoring matchup between these two?
Fabulous freshmen
One of the few bright spots for Marquette this year has been the play of freshman Nigel James Jr. over the past few weeks. The rookie point guard is averaging over 17 a night in Big East play and scored 23 points against Creighton. He’s also knocked down three triples in back-to-back games after never making more than two in a game before that. With how Mullins has looked for the Huskies as of late, fresh off a 17-point, five three-pointer game himself, both sides have a freshman with elite scoring upside that could make the difference not only in this game, but any given night in Big East play.
