How to watch No. 5 UConn men's basketball in top-15 Black Friday matchup vs. No. 13 Illinois

STORRS – Whenever UConn and Illinois meet on a basketball court, the Huskies’ 30-0 run in the 2024 Elite Eight is always going to come up.

Alex Karaban, the only Husky left who was part of it, says he hasn’t watched the highlights, but he might pull up the replay on the Thanksgiving train ride into New York City before the teams meet again, this time at Madison Square Garden, in a top-15 Black Friday matinee.

“Good memories,” he said. “Whole different teams now, both sides, but I’ll still watch it.”

Karaban has had some highlight dunks this year, but his dunk during that run – when he swung onto the rim through contact with two hands, so aggressively that Hassan Diarra and Samson Johnson came over to give him a safe dismount – is one that will be around awhile.

“That run was special, still the craziest run I’ve probably ever been on as a basketball player,” Karaban said.

“I don’t know that I was necessarily coaching it as much as I was kind of along for the ride,” coach Dan Hurley said. “I mean, that was an all-time great team. It doesn’t help us now because there’s not many people left from it. We’ve got a long way to go to get back to that point, where we can play at that level, we’ve got a lot of work to do. Part of which is health and part of which is just getting better.

“Our last performance was obviously pretty dreadful offensively versus Bryant, so I think the last thing I felt when I got in my truck and left PeoplesBank Arena was that we weren’t anywhere near a 30-0 run right now. I’d take an 8-0 run right now.”

Illinois, coming into the game ranked No. 13 in the country, would like to make some new memories. The Illini haven’t won in the all-time series (UConn leads, 3-1) since the first matchup during the 1938-39 season.

“I was definitely watching that game live,” said UConn point guard Silas Demary Jr., who was in the midst of an NIT Final Four run as a freshman at Georgia at the time. “A lot of people ran with that and were on social media about it a lot, so we know they’re gonna come in with a fire under them and we’ve got to know they’re gonna fight the whole game. They want to come and beat us, so we’ve just got to be ready and just not take them lightly.”

Coach Brad Underwood went heavy on international players when he built the Illinois roster for 2025-26, adding a group of players from southeastern Europe who have been nicknamed the “Balkan Five.”

Three of them – Andrej Stojakovic (son of former NBA all-star Peja Stojakovic), David Mirkovic and Tomislav Ivisic – are among the five players averaging in double-figure scoring for the Illini so far this season. Kylan Boswell, averaging 16.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, is the steady, veteran point guard and Keaton Wagler is a freshman guard from Kansas who can score (15 points per game) and get on the glass (5.9 rebounds per game).

“They present all types of problems at both ends and on the backboard,” Hurley said. “The way that they space the court and the quality of what they put on the court, one through five, shooting from the center position, a four-man that’s as good and as versatile as you’re going to play against… And Boswell is obviously the head of the snake, he’s a veteran and just one of the best point guards. Brad’s got a great team, they’re incredibly well-coached and from watching them on film, they’re as good as anyone that we’ve played and as good as anyone that we will play.”

Hurley said he tried to recruit Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7 junior leading the Illini in scoring at 18.5 points per game, when he was in high school in California.

“He’s got a lot of game,” Hurley said. “He’s athletic, like really a classy, athletic guard who’s got a bag in terms of shot-creating.”

It’s another game UConn will want to be healthy for.

Hurley said both center Tarris Reed Jr. and freshman guard Braylon Mullins returned to practice this week and will be game-time decisions on Friday.

“Part of being successful is you’ve got to be healthy,” Hurley said.

Mullins has “looked really good” since he returned to practice, Karaban reported. He will likely have a similar return to action to what Castle went through during that 2023-24 season, when he came off the bench after a knee injury and slowly saw his minutes rise. For Reed, it is about preventing additional injuries down the line, because the Huskies have seen how important he is to their operation. Though they have their own international big man, Eric Reibe, who will have to play well regardless.

It won’t take much to get the Huskies up for their first game of the year at Madison Square Garden.

“I have not played there,” said Demary, whose confidence is high coming off his first-career triple-double on Sunday. “It’ll be my first time, but very excited, can’t wait to get there and just get a feel for the atmosphere and the environment… Want to win my matchup and make sure we go in there with confidence, shoot the ball with confidence, defend with confidence and just have an all-around good game.”