Slumping PC Looking to Upend UConn

Slumping PC Looking to Upend UConn

The Friars have not had the kind of season that we expected. It is easy for fans to dismiss Saturday’s game against UConn, as one in which the Friars will be simply going through the motions. After all, they have lost six of their last seven Big East Games, and most Friar fans are expecting a UConn blowout of PC.

 

But I think PC fans should be interested in this game.  

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First, UConn is the reigning national champion, the back-to-back national champion.  In fact, UConn has won five national championships in the last 20 years.  This is a legendary program, whether we like it or not, playing at the AMP on Saturday.

 

Secondly, this was supposed to be a UConn Three-Peat year, national champs for three years in a row.  Coach Hurley was going to lift the Huskies to that stratosphere last occupied by John Wooden’s UCLA teams in the 1967-1973 era.  Coach Hurley even rebuffed the mighty LA Lakers to stay in Storrs to get the Three-Peat. But the predicted dominance by the Huskies, currently sitting with a modest 19-9 record, has not materialized.  Not yet, anyway.  What happened?  Saturday’s game is a good opportunity for Friar fans to see if the Huskies are national championship material or simply just the 4th best team in the Big East.  St. John’s swept UConn this year.  Is Hurley just Pitino’s lap dog?

 

Thirdly, PC almost beat UConn back in early January on UConn’s home court, losing only by 3 points, 87-84.  A couple of breaks in the second half of that game, and the Friars might have beaten the national champs.  Can the Friars make this game as close as that one?

 

Fourth, UConn has not only not been dominant this season, but much like the Friars, they have had a Jekyll and Hyde season—fantastic in one game, and shockingly mediocre the next game.  Exhibit A:  This is a UConn team that got beat by Seton Hall earlier in February. The Huskies just throttled Georgetown, 93-79; maybe they are due to whiplash back to a mediocre performance on Saturday against the Friars.

 

Finally, Dan Hurley, the coach of UConn, is the self-proclaimed star of the show, eager to make more headlines each week than his players.  No coach in the Big East berates the refs more than Hurley.  He makes St. John's Pitino and former coach John Thompson of Georgetown look like altar boys. He’s the kind of coach that wants to hear the boos from the opposing fans. So, why not let Coach Hurley hear it from the Friar fans on Saturday?

 

While UConn is good, it also has some flaws.  A good perimeter defense by the Friars will stifle their three-point shooting.  The Huskies have had many games where they have gone cold from behind the arc.  For example, against Creighton, they were 6-for-26 (23%).  Unlike past UConn teams, they don’t have the physicality that most quality Big East teams have.  Some of UConn's players this year seem more suited to a fencing team.  In previous years, Husky's lineups looked like NBA linebackers.

 

Liam McNeely, UConn’s star freshman, missed the first PC-UConn game because of an injury.  The Huskies still managed to score 87 points against PC without him. He’ll be playing on Saturday with their go-to guy, Alex Karaban. And they have a deep bench.  It was the Husky bench that killed PC in their first matchup.

 

Yes, the Huskies are way better than the Friars, so a PC win would be shocking but also so satisfying for fans, the PC players, and Coach English.