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If the toughness of the UConn men’s basketball team was still in question, one look at Alex Karaban might provide an answer.
The second-year forward stood after Saturday’s practice with 10 stitches above his right eyebrow from the elbow he caught in the second half of Wednesday’s win at Xavier. In the first half of that game, which left several Huskies banged up, including point guard Tristen Newton, Karaban chased after a loose ball and “hyperextended his knee a little bit,” head coach Dan Hurley said.
Karaban rested during Friday’s practice and returned Saturday. He and Newton are both available for Sunday’s matchup against Georgetown.
“The elbow to the head, I feel fine. In general I feel fine, just excited for tomorrow,” Karaban said. “The knee, it’s good. I got good rest for it yesterday and then today in practice I did everything normally so I’m not worried about the knee at all… That game was a battle at Xavier, I’ll just say that. It was definitely a battle to get that win.”
“He’s got the look down,” senior Hassan Diarra joked. “That’s our captain, if you ask me… You see the numbers he’s putting up, and that’s a testament to his work and his work ethic every day.”
Playing an invaluable role with center Donovan Clingan out for the last four games, recovering from the foot injury he suffered against Seton Hall, Karaban has anchored the Huskies’ four-guard lineup – one that Hurley hopes he soon won’t have to use out of necessity and rather by choice.
Clingan’s status for Sunday’s game is unclear.
The 7-foot-2 star sophomore returned to practice Friday. “He could be entering that dreaded game-time decision point soon here. Maybe not (Sunday), but soon,” Hurley said. “He’s getting in, he’s feeling great. He’s done things a couple days here and is just feeling absolutely nothing (in his foot) and feeling great. We’ll see how he’s feeling (Sunday).”
Georgetown, like UConn’s last four opponents, has undergone almost a complete facelift in its first year under Ed Cooley, the former Providence head coach.
The Hoyas are led by Illinois transfer Jayden Epps, averaging 18.2 points per game, with North Carolina transfer Dontrez Styles at 13.6 per game and Fairfield transfer Supreme Cook at 10.6 with a team-high 7.9 rebounds per game, fifth-best in the Big East. Cook, the Hoyas’ typical starter at the five, and Kansas State transfer, starting four-man Ismael Massoud, are each 6-foot-9 in the frontcourt.
Fifth-year guard Jay Heath, a starter who transferred to Georgetown ahead of last season, is one of the only holdovers from Patrick Ewing’s 2022-23 roster.
“Just how quickly a team could flip, Heath is the one guy who returns for them with the most experience for their team, but it’s a new starter at center, new backup at center,” Hurley said. “Epps obviously is a big-time player, Styles is a big-time player, (Rowan) Brumbaugh – these are major recruits, big-time players. Ish (Massoud), who we know from recruiting Bouknight, they played together in prep school. It’s like a completely different team.”
Georgetown’s only Big East win to this point in the season was a 68-65 home decision against DePaul, ordering the Hoyas a game ahead of the Blue Demons for 10th in the conference standings.
“Significant difference in terms of just the product, how well they’re playing. Great road win at Notre Dame, had a lead late against Seton Hall… were in position maybe to steal that one,” Hurley said. “Ed obviously has got to change a culture and a mindset and a program that has been losing for a couple of years now. But the actual veteran players and talent that they’re going to put on the floor tomorrow, it’s not going to look like what Georgetown’s looked like.”
No. 1 ranking potentially on the line
With every top-six team, with the exception of the fourth-ranked Huskies, losing to unranked teams this week, UConn could move into the No. 1 spot in the Associated Press rankings for the first time in 15 years when the new poll is released Monday. As the reigning national champions, the No. 1 ranking, Hurley says, “doesn’t really matter.”
“The squirrels may talk about it, but not us. There may be some squirrels that are running around whispering about it but we’ve practiced really hard the last two days,” he said. “I’ve got tremendous respect for Ed as a coach and the teams he puts on the court and I have tremendous respect for how brutal these Big East games are, home or away. So that’s not something that’s not something that’s even registering for us.”
What to know
Site: XL Center, Hartford
Time: Noon
Records: No. 4 UConn: 14-2 (4-1 Big East), Georgetown: 8-8 (1-4 Big East)
Series history: Tied 36-36, UConn has won the last six matchups
Last meeting: Feb. 4, 2023 – UConn 68, Georgetown 62 in Washington D.C.
TV: FOX – Alex Faust, Donny Marshall
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports Radio 97.9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman
Pregame reading:
