University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
Quarterfinals
UConn Descends On NYC For BIG EAST Tournament
3/10/2026 2:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK – The two-seed UConn men's basketball team (27-4) heads to Madison Square Garden to open play at the 2026 BIG EAST Tournament on Thursday night with a quarterfinal match-up against either 7-seed Marquette (12-19) or 10-seed Xavier (14-17). The contest will air at 7 p.m. on FS1 with Gus Johnson, Bill Raftery and Allison Williams on the call.
Connecticut is taking part in college basketball's premiere conference tournament for the 39th time in 2026. It holds a 43-30 all-time record and has won the BIG EAST Tournament title eight times, tied with Georgetown for the most in conference history. UConn won its first BIG EAST Tournament in 1990 and added crowns in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2011 and most recently in 2024.
UConn finished second in the BIG EAST this season with a 17-3 record, the fourth-most wins in a conference season in league history. On Sunday the Huskies were honored with a total of six All-BIG EAST selections for five players. UConn became the first program in conference history with three First Team All-BIG EAST picks, as Silas Demary Jr., Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. all earned spots on the six-member team. Solo Ball was selected to the Second Team, Braylon Mullins was a unanimous selection to the All-Freshman team and Demary Jr. nabbed a spot on the inaugural All-Defensive team.
Ball, who was named a Top Five Finalist for the Jerry West Award on Tuesday, leads the Huskies with 13.9 points per game and among the league leaders with 63 made 3-pointers and an 84.0 free throw percentage. Reed Jr. follows closely behind at the top of the scoresheet with 13.8 points per game along with a team-high 8.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. The big man is shooting 63.8 percent on the year, best in the BIG EAST and 13th nationally.
Karaban stuffs the stat sheet as another of UConn's five averaging double-figures, posting 12.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game while shooting 47.9 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from three. Karaban is UConn's all-time leader in wins (119) and games started (141) while sitting one shy of the record for games played and five away from the most 3-pointers all-time.
Demary Jr. scores 11.1 points per game, grabs 4.5 rebounds and dishes out a BIG EAST-best 6.5 assists per game. He leads the Huskies with 1.6 steals per game and is slashing a 46.5 / 42.0 / 80.0 shooting line. Mullins scores 12.0 per game and is one of nine freshman in UConn history to hit at least 50 threes in their debut season.
UConn ranks among the national leaders this season in a slew of defensive categories including top-10 ranks in effective field goal percentage against (45.6, 7th), block rate (15.3, 8th) and two-point field goal percentage (45.2, 9th) while checking in at 12th in the country in scoring defense with 65.3 points allowed per game. On the offensive end, Connecticut ranks eighth nationally with 18.6 assists per game and leads the BIG EAST in field goal percentage (48.4) and effective field goal percentage (55.6).
Should the Huskies advance to their sixth semifinal in as many years, they will play either three-seed Villanova or one of #6 DePaul and #11 Georgetown on Friday night.
