University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Villanova
No. 6 UConn Hosts No. 15 St. John's In Hartford
2/24/2026 6:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HARTFORD – The No. 6 UConn men's basketball team is back in Hartford for the final time this season on Wednesday night for a mammoth BIG EAST matchup at PeoplesBank Arena, taking on No. 15 St. John's in a showdown atop the league standings. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. with the contest airing on Peacock and NBCSN with John Fanta, Robbie Hummel and Caroline Pineda on the call.
Wednesday night in Hartford is a Blue-White STRIPE OUT. It is also a Husky Happy Hour in Hartford, with $3 (12 oz) and $6 (24 oz) beers, $3 soda (24 oz), $3 hot dogs and $3 slices of pizza. There will be free For the White and Blue RALLY TOWELS in the lower student section.
UConn (25-3, 15-2 BIG EAST) and St. John's (22-5, 15-1 BIG EAST) are the league's last two regular season and tournament champions and meet with a half game between them in the league table. The Red Storm won the first meeting at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 6 and has taken three-straight in the series to build its lead all-time to 40-36. UConn is 6-5 against St. John's since returning to the BIG EAST ahead of 2020-21.
The Huskies were last in action on Saturday night, picking up a Quad 1A win at Villanova in South Philadelphia. The Huskies shot over 54 percent and built a 21-point late second half lead in a dominant balanced performance. All nine Huskies that saw action recorded at least four points, two rebounds an assist and six scored at least nine points. Alex Karaban led three in double-figures with 12 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Tarris Reed Jr. hit all five of his shots and recorded 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks. The win was UConn's ninth road win of the season, tied for most amongst all high majors.
Solo Ball leads the Huskies this season with 14.2 points per game, one of five starters averaging double-figures. Reed Jr. adds 13.6 points along with team-highs of 7.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game. Karaban does it all with 12.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, shooting 48.0 percent from the floor, 40.2 percent from three and 83.6 percent from the line. Braylon Mullins adds 12.3 points per game and leads the BIG EAST with 2.8 made threes per conference game, while Silas Demary Jr. rounds out UConn's top scorers with 11.4 points per game to go along with a league-leading 6.5 assists per contests.
St. John's is riding a 13-game winning streak into Hartford, its longest in more than 40 years. The Red Storm have ascended into the top-15 of the national polls and were most recently in action on Saturday with a dominant win over Creighton at MSG. Zuby Ejiofor is SJU's leader across the board and averages 15.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, all best on the squad. Bryce Hopkins adds 14.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per, while Oziyah Sellers (10.9 ppg) and Ian Jackson (10.4 ppg) also score in double-figures. Dillon Mitchell has a team-high 54.7 percent field goal percentage and adds 7.2 rebounds of his own.
Following the matchup on Wednesday night in Hartford, UConn concludes its home slate with Senior Day against Seton Hall on Saturday, Feb. 28 at Gampel Pavilion.
