The UConn men’s basketball team came in at No. 2 in the AP Top 25 rankings released Monday for the second consecutive week. There was no movement in the Top 5, which includes No. 1 Purdue, Houston, Kansas and Arizona.
Unbeaten at 13-0, the Huskies survived their first second-half deficit of the season against Georgetown in their last game. UConn trailed by seven points around the 11-minute mark in the second half on Tuesday, its largest deficit of the season, before mounting a 23-5 scoring run and finishing the game with a 13th consecutive win by double-digits.
Joey Calcaterra, who sparked the run off the bench with 14 points in 17 minutes, was named to the Big East Honor Roll on Monday.
The Huskies, No. 1 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, have seven combined Quad One and Two victories – more than any other team in the country. Dan Hurley’s group remains the only in the nation ranked in the top 10 in both offensive (No. 6) and defensive efficiency (No. 4) by KenPom.
Purdue, the AP’s No. 1 for the third straight week, is No. 4 in the NET rankings and has five combined Quad One and Two victories. The Boilermakers, 12-0, hang their hats on neutral-court wins over Gonzaga and Duke in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament and are No. 22 in scoring margin (15).
Center Adama Sanogo leads the Huskies with 18.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while guard Jordan Hawkins has scored 14.3 points per game and shot 41.5% from beyond the arc. Point guard Tristen Newton is the only other Husky averaging double-digit scoring at 10.2 points per game, and is second behind only Andre Jackson (5.1) in assists per game with 4.5.
UConn, with its tremendous depth, hasn’t needed any player on the court for more than 30 minutes per game. Newton leads the team at 28.2 minutes.
As a team, UConn has the 14th-best assist to turnover ratio (1.54), 19th-best effective field goal percentage (56%) and the 10th-best rebounding margin (10). The Huskies’ scoring margin of 25 is No. 3 in the nation.
UConn was unranked in the preseason AP poll but broke into the rankings with a chip on its shoulder at No. 25 in the second week. It then came in at No. 20 in week three, No. 8 in week four and No. 5 in week five. The Huskies broke into the Top 3 for the first time since 2009 in week six, and climbed to No. 2 last week.
Marquette, which entered the AP Top 25 for the first time this season at No. 24 last week, dropped into the “others receiving votes” category after a double-overtime loss to Providence on Tuesday. Xavier entered the poll at No. 22 after winning its sixth straight and improving to 10-3 with a tight win over Seton Hall on Tuesday.
Providence is the only other Big East team that received votes, with six voting points.
After a short holiday break, the Huskies return to campus for a tough Big East stretch that begins with Villanova at the XL Center in Hartford on Wednesday and is followed by two road games, including a New Years Eve matchup at Xavier and a trip to Providence Jan. 4.
