University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
22-2,12-1Big East
St. John's
18-5,11-1Big East
No. 3 UConn Falls at No. 22 St. John's
2/6/2026 11:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK – The No. 3 UConn men's basketball team (22-2, 12-1 BIG EAST) suffered its first setback in more than two months, falling at league preseason favorite No. 22 St. John's (18-5, 11-1 BIG EAST) by a score of 81-72 on Friday night at a sold-out Madison Square Garden. The setback snapped UConn's 18-game winning streak, the third-longest single season streak in program history.
The Red Storm used an enormous advantage at the free throw stripe to spur their win, out-attempting the Huskies 31-12 from the charity stripe and out-scoring them by 17 via free throws. The setback for Connecticut came despite shooting 54.7 percent from three and 47.4 percent from downtown, as the Huskies were felled by 15 turnovers and out-rebounded by six.
Silas Demary Jr. led the Huskies with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, going 7-of-11 from the field. Alex Karaban moved into 12th on the UConn all-time scoring list with 17 points, adding three rebounds and three assists while shooting 7-10 from the field and 3-4 from three. Tarris Reed Jr. scored 12 points with six rebounds and three blocks while Braylon Mullins scored 11 and hit a troika of triples to round out four in double-figures.
How it Happened
In a frenzied start, UConn took its first lead with back-to-back 3-pointers from Karaban and Mullins, the latter at 16:50 to put the Huskies up 8-6. Minutes later, another Karaban triple before a Reed Jr. finish inside gave UConn a 16-10 advantage and triggered an SJU timeout at 13:43. The Red Storm answered emphatically and re-took the lead with a 9-0 run to go up 19-16 at 11:40 of the first.
The Huskies would re-take the lead at 7:26 when Mullins drilled a deep 3-pointer and gave the Huskies a 26-25 edge. The sides continued to trade blows and SJU held a four-point lead before a Jaylin Stewart tip-in and Eric Reibe steal and score tied the score again at 1:54. A driving lay-in from Demary Jr. in the final seconds of the half sent the contest to the break tied at 39-all.
After an even start to the second, the Red Storm reeled off a 10-0 run to take a 55-45 lead and prompt a UConn timeout at 12:46. Buckets from Reed Jr. and Karaban after the stoppage ended the run, and minutes later a steal-and-score from Demary Jr. led to a St. John's timeout at 8:56 with the Huskies down 60-55.
At 6:27, Karaban drilled a deep 3-pointer, his third of the day, and a corner triple and lay-in from Demary Jr. had the Huskies within one at 66-65 inside of five minutes. At 3:39 a Karaban putback cut it to 69-67, but SJU answered with a 3-pointer and jumper inside to go back up seven. With 2:07 to pay Mullins drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 74-70 before a Husky timeout. The Huskies got back within four at 1:17 but would not pull back within a possession the rest of the way as SJU continued its free throw barrage to ice the contest.
Inside The Numbers
- UConn shot 54.7 percent (29-53) from the field and 47.4 percent (9-19) from 3-point range but was 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from the free throw line
- Conversely, St. John's connected at a 50.0 percent (27-54) clip, including a 60.9 percent (14-23) mark in the second half, and went 22-of-31 (71.0 percent) from the line to offset a 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) performance from downtown
- UConn was -5 in turnover margin and was out-scored 20-13 off miscues
- SJU held the edge in point scoring (42-34), bench points (15-6) and fast break points (11-7)
News and Notes
- UConn falls to 34-40 all-time against St. John's, 30-21 since 1990 and 6-5 since 2020
- Connecticut is 79-63 all-time at Madison Square Garden
- UConn is 2-1 at the World's Most Famous Arena this season, with all three games coming against ranked opponents
- Dan Hurley is 17-9 as the UConn head coach in the building
- Karaban continued his ascent in the UConn record books
- He now has 1,677 career points, passing Cliff Robinson (1,664) and Wes Bialosuknia (1,673) to move into 12th in UConn history
- Karaban hit three triples and now has 260 career 3-pointers, tied with Shabazz Napier for third in UConn history and five back of Christian Vital (265) for second
- Karaban made his 134th career start, one shy of Jake Voskuhl's program record
- It was Karaban's 135th game as a Husky, eight shy of Napier's record of 143
- The setback snapped UConn's 18-game winning streak, the third-longest in program history behind a 19-game run in 1998-99 and 23-straight in 1995-96
- UConn's 12-0 start to league play ends as the fifth-best in BIG EAST history
Up Next
The Huskies will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 11 with a trip to Butler.
