UConn men’s basketball’s gauntlet of a nonconference schedule continues Wednesday night, as the No. 3 Huskies welcome No. 4 Arizona to Gampel Pavilion for the second-ever top-five matchup in Storrs. After
holding on late to beat then No. 7 BYU at TD Garden on Saturday, Dan Hurley and the Huskies will welcome a tough Arizona squad that is currently the only school in the nation with multiple top-25 wins.
Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats took down defending champions and then-No. 3 Florida in Las Vegas in its season opener, thanks to an impressive 30-point performance from freshman Koa Peat. Arizona also just beat then No. 15 UCLA on the road Friday night, erasing 10-point second half deficit in its most recent game before heading to Storrs to get 4-0 so far this season. Anthony Dell’Orso had 20 points in the win over the Bruins, while guard Jaden Bradley added 15. Like UConn, the Wildcats received two first-place votes in this week’s AP Top 25.
Wednesday night’s matchup is the earliest top-five matchup in UConn’s history, and the first true big Gampel game of the season. That energy, combined with the promotion of $2 Miller Lites, should make for a raucous crowd for a battle of two college basketball heavyweights.
TV: FS1
Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius XM 84, Sirius/XM online streaming
Odds: UConn -4.5, over/under 156.5
Location: Gampel Pavilion
KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 82, Arizona 77 (68 percent win probability)
Series History
This will be the eighth time these two teams have met with UConn holding a 5-2 advantage. The Huskies beat the Wildcats in the 2011 Elite Eight on their way to their third NCAA championship. They last met in 2018 at the XL Center (now PeoplesBank Arena) with Arizona winning, 76-72. UConn was led by Jalen Adams 21 points and Eric Cobb’s 12 point, 10 rebound double-double. Of the six previous regular season meetings between these two schools, both schools were ranked in the top 25 for four of the previous matchups. Wednesday night marks the third time these schools have faced off with both teams ranked inside the top 10.
All-Time Series: 5-2 UConn (Courtesy of UConn/Bobby Mullen)
Dec. 12, 1999 – No. 6 UConn 78, No. 2 Arizona 69 (Great Eight Basketball Classic, Chicago)
Dec. 9, 2000 – No. 15 UConn 71, No. 5 Arizona 69 (Gampel)
Jan. 26, 2002 – No. 25 UConn 100, No. 10 Arizona 98 (OT) (Tucson)
Nov. 22, 2005 – No. 3 UConn 79, No. 9 Arizona 70 (Maui Invitational, Lahaina, Hawaii)
March 26, 2011 – (3-seed) UConn 65, (5-seed) Arizona 63 (NCAA West Regional Final, Anaheim)
Dec. 21, 2017 – UConn 58, No. 18 Arizona 73 (Tucson)
Dec. 2, 2018 – UConn 72, Arizona 76 (XL)
Inactives report
According to Dan Hurley at Tuesday’s media availability for Wednesday’s game, freshman Braylon Mullins is making progress in his recovery but remains out after spraining his ankle in practice during the preseason.
What to Watch For
More fantastic freshmen
Freshman AJ Dybantsa nearly singlehandedly willed BYU to a victory Saturday night with a monster second half, despite some excellent defense from Jaylin Stewart and the rest of the Huskies. UConn will have two more elite freshmen to deal with Wednesday night, as the Wildcats feature two top freshmen of their own in Koa Peat and Brayden Burries. Both join Arizona as McDonald’s All-Americans, and Peat made his presence known right away with his 30-point performance against the Gators.
At 6-foot-8, Peat is a powerful and athletic forward with good footwork who lives around the rim. His raw strength is impressive, and figures to be yet another tough defensive matchup for Jaylin Stewart. Unlike Dybantsa, Peat, the No. 8 recruit in the 2025 class, is not a 3-point threat, but Peat is a much more physical player. Alex Karaban and even Tarris Reed may also see time on Peat, but the Wildcats feature a pair of talented true centers in Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka, so Reed may only see Peat right at the rim. Peat is averaging 16.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game this season and scored seven points in the win over UCLA.
Burries came to Arizona as the No. 11 recruit in the 2025 class and is averaging 8.8 points per game so far this season as a day-one starter in the Wildcats lineup. Ivan Karchenkov is another stud freshman to keep an eye on, as the former Bayern Munich product by way of Russia posted 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in his collegiate debut against Florida.
Big Cats
Arizona has size and length top to bottom that is basically unmatched at the Division I level. The Wildcats’ rank ninth in KenPom in average height, and it’s evident in the team’s starting lineup, with guard Jaden Bradley as the shortest starter at 6-foot-3. Krivas, the Wildcats’ 7-foot-2 center, is an adept shot blocker, while his big man platoon partner Awaka is one of the top rebounders in the country. Both figure to be major challenges for Reed, who has dominated in the Huskies’ first four games this season but has yet to face the size and skill the Arizona bigs have to offer. That platoon doesn’t even include Peat, who plays bigger than his 6-foot-8 frame with his powerful skillset. When Reed is sitting, Eric Reibe will need to hold down the fort and stay out of foul trouble long enough to give Reed time to rest, and the German big man may be asked to stretch the floor offensively to keep shot blockers like Krivas and Peat out of the lane.
UConn’s starting lineup has the size to pickup the Wildcats defensively, but the bench may have its work cut out for them. The likes of Malachi Smith and Jayden Ross will have to lean on their quickness to counteract Arizona’s physicality, and crashing the boards will be paramount to limit extra possessions for the Wildcats.
Can Arizona get it done from deep?
The Wildcats can shoot the ball from deep, with the team shooting 40 percent from the 3-point line so far this season. The problem is, Arizona doesn’t do enough of it, with just 27.2 percent of its field goal attempts coming from 3-pointers, one of the worst marks in all of Division I. Zona attempted just five threes in the season opener against Florida, and put up a more respectable 19 in the win over UCLA. While the Wildcats offense is still good, ranking 12th nationally in offensive efficiency, Arizona will likely need to stretch the floor more to keep up with UConn’s offense, especially in a tough road environment.
Only three players on the Wildcats roster have more than 10 3-point attempts, led by Dell’Orso, who is 45 percent (9-20) from deep. Freshman Dwayne Aristode (7-12 from three) is a legit outside option of the bench with good size at 6-foot-8, while Bradley, the team’s leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, is the only other Wildcat shooting over 30 percent from three, but is 3-6 from three on the year.
Comeback Cats
Arizona trailed by double-digits in each of its marquee wins against top 25 competition, trailing by 12 against Florida and 10 against UCLA before pulling out victories. Even though it’s only November, this is a Wildcats squad that has already been tested to some degree.
It’s unfair to say that UConn collapsed in the second half against BYU, as the Cougars (and Dybantsa in particular) hit a ton of tough shots to make the game close late. But it serves as a good reminder that if the Huskies can get out to another big lead, it will need to keep its foot on the gas on both ends to prevent a seemingly inevitable comeback from Lloyd’s Wildcats squad.
