While UConn men’s basketball is already 3-0 in the 2025-26 season, the Huskies’ season starts in earnest Saturday night at TD Garden in Boston against No. 7 BYU. The top-10 matchup against the Cougars
serves as a kickoff to the toughest stretch of basketball the program has played in its history as part of a loaded non conference schedule. After taking care of three buy games against opponents outside the top 200 in KenPom, UConn will now play BYU (No. 18 in KenPom), Arizona (No. 11), Illinois (No. 4) and Kansas (No. 26) in the next two-and-a-half weeks, and that doesn’t even include a showdown with defending champion Florida at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 9.
Winning a few of these games will bolster the Huskies’ resumé in a big way come March. Winning them all would likely cement UConn as the odds-on title favorite. Losing them all would not derail the season a la last year’s “Meltdown in Maui,” but would the limit the team’s ceiling as quality wins may be hard to come by in a lackluster Big East.
BYU comes to Boston with a 3-0 record after surviving a scare at home from Delaware, which led at halftime before the Cougars caught fire and eventually cruised to an 85-68 win. Head coach Kevin Young’s squad picked up a quality early-season win over Villanova in Las Vegas in the team’s season opener, led by star freshman AJ Dybantsa’s 21 points. The Brockton, Massachusetts native was the No. 1 recruit in the country in the 2025 class and joins a squad in Provo that reached the Sweet 16 last season. While Dybantsa, who figures to be a top pick in this year’s loaded NBA Draft class, is the star, the Cougars have plenty of talent to surround. Richie Saunders is one of the top shooters in the Big 12 and shot 43.2 percent from three last season.
Young also brought in Robert Wright III from Baylor via the transfer portal, adding an impact guard to pair with Dybantsa and form what Dan Hurley called “the best wing tandem in the country.” Wright torched UConn at Gampel last season with 22 points and four assists and is averaging over 18 points per game this season.
TV: FOX
Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius/XM online streaming
Odds: UConn -3.5, over/under 154.5
Location: TD Garden, Boston, MA
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 80, BYU 74 (68% win probability)
Series History
This will be only the second time that the Cougars and Huskies face off and the first time during the regular season. They previously met in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in a game won by UConn, 58-53. Emeka Okafor led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Inactives report
Freshman Braylon Mullins remains out after spraining his ankle in practice during the preseason. Jacob Furphy is set to be a game-time decision to make his UConn debut after an ankle injury has sidelined him for the last three games. BYU will likely be without Kennard Davis, who started the first two games of the season for the Cougars.
What to Watch For
Is the defense legit?
UConn’s defense ranks 12th nationally in efficiency heading into Saturday night’s matchup after holding all three of its previous opponents to under one point per possession (ppp) — including a minuscule 0.63 ppp in the blowout over UMass Lowell. That marks a massive improvement over a Huskies defense last year that was poor all season by Hurley’s standards, but snuck into the top 75 after some strong performances late in the year.
Hurley took some major steps to address this issue in the portal, adding Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith to bolster the perimeter defense. Those additions, combined with the likes of Tarris Reed Jr. and Jayden Ross showing continued defensive growth, makes it seem feasible that the defense is a good as advertised. But this team has not faced anything like what BYU — the No. 7 offense in terms of efficiency — has to offer.
Aside from the challenges Wright, Saunders and Dybantsa offer, BYU also features 6-foot-8 big man Keba Keita, who led the Big 12 in offensive rebounding percentage last season. He’ll pose a major threat to Reed both on the glass and in the low post. The Cougars also feature Dawson Baker, a 6-foot-4 senior who shot 38 percent from three last season who may see more minutes with Davis unavailable.
Who’s guarding Dybantsa?
The three-headed monster of Wright, Saunders and Dybantsa is a major stress test for the UConn defense, but stopping Dybantsa will likely be the team’s top priority. The 6-foot-9 freshman has quickly adjusted to the Division I level, averaging 18.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game and quickly proved his selection as a preseason All-American was no fluke.
Dybantsa loves to use his world-class athleticism to get out and run, where he is an absolute menace in transition due to his speed and power. If UConn crashes the boards hard and lets Dybantsa leak out, the Cougars could get plenty of easy baskets.
As a team, the Huskies’ best defense may be to win the rebounding battle and limit Dybantsa’s chances on the fast break. In half court sets, Dybantsa hasn’t shown much as a shooter yet, and defenders will need to give him some room to prevent him from getting downhill. There’s not one clear best matchup defensively for UConn on the star freshman, but the likes of Jaylin Stewart, Jayden Ross, Silas Demary Jr. and Alex Karaban all may see some time on him. Whoever ends up guarding him won’t be able to slow him down, but can hopefully limit easy buckets and prevent him from finding open teammates as the defense collapses.
Can the offense go blow for blow?
With an over/under around 155, Vegas isn’t necessarily expecting a shootout on Saturday night. But if the Huskies’ defense struggles stopping the likes of Dybantsa, Wright and Saunders, can the offense trade blows and keep UConn afloat?
The Huskies offense has been excellent so far this season, ranking fourth nationally in offensive efficiency and averaging over one point per possession in all three games. Even with the offense looking as good as it has, there’s still some room for UConn to be even better.
Solo Ball, widely projected to be one of the top 3-point shooters in the country, is just 7-21 from three so far on the year. Eric Reibe has been touted as a floor-stretching big, but hasn’t attempted a three yet. And then there’s Silas Demary Jr., who set a career-high with nine assists against Columbia while only scoring five points. Demary Jr passed up numerous buckets against the Lions to set up his teammates and acclimate more to UConn’s offensive scheme. If he looks to be more aggressive offensively, it adds an entirely new dimension to an already good offense, especially late in the shot clock.
