No. 3 UConn men look to end losing streak at Seton Hall

It felt like the UConn men’s basketball program had overcome its demons at the Prudential Center when it led last-place Seton Hall by seven with 45 seconds left in regulation last February. But the Huskies relinquished their lead and went into overtime, where they led by five with a minute to play before crumbling again as they repeatedly failed to inbound the ball and Scotty Middleton’s tip-in with three seconds left served as the game-winner.

It was the program’s fourth-consecutive loss as a visitor to coach Dan Hurley’s alma mater.

UConn hasn’t won at Seton Hall since March 3, 2021, when a limited number of fans were allowed in the building because of the Covid pandemic. The Huskies’ last road win over the Pirates with a normal crowd came all the way back in Feb. 2013, before their seven-year stint in the American Athletic Conference.

And none of the losses made sense on paper.

The losing streak started in Jan. 2022, when a nine-point lead in the second half turned into an overtime loss to Kadary Richmond and the 24th-ranked Pirates. UConn lost again during its harrowing month of January, 2023, with Hurley and associate head coach Kimani Young at home after contracting Covid. The eventual national champions led by 14 points at halftime in that one before giving up an offensive rebound and a game-winning layup to KC Ndefo in the final seconds of regulation.

Seton Hall was also responsible for one of three losses during the Huskies’ back-to-back national championship season after Donovan Clingan went down injured early in the second half of the December Big East opener, which turned into a 75-60 loss after another dominant performance by Richmond.

Tuesday’s matchup is of a different ilk.

“The Rock” will play host to a top-25 matchup after UConn rose to No. 3 in the AP rankings on Monday and Seton Hall entered the poll for the first time since Jan. 2022, coming in at No. 24. Tuesday night will mark UConn’s first Quad One game since its Dec. 9 win over Florida at Madison Square Garden.

Coach Shaheen Holloway‘s roster is far from the highest-rated or the highest-paid, but the will and effort he’s gotten out of this year’s collection of transfer portal recruits has led to one of the more dramatic turnarounds in the sport. Seton Hall won two Big East games last season – one, of course, against the Huskies and the other over DePaul. With all of the offseason talk surrounding their NIL struggles, the Pirates were picked last in the Big East Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

Seton Hall’s defense is ranked ninth in efficiency by KenPom with its pesky backcourt group of Adam Clark, AJ Staton-McCray, Mike Williams and Tajuan Simpkins, along with shot-blockers Stephon Payne and Najai Hines. The Pirates are No. 1 in both block percentage (18.6%) and steal percentage (14.9%), No. 4 in opponent 2-point field goal percentage (43%) and No. 9 in turnover percentage (22.4%).

Taking care of the ball will be key for the Huskies, who’ve had double-figure turnovers in all six of their Big East games so far.