How to watch UConn vs. Arizona in top-five showdown

STORRS – Gampel Pavilion will play host to its first top-five showdown in men’s basketball in almost two decades when third-ranked UConn welcomes No. 4 Arizona on Wednesday night.

There has only been one other matchup of its kind in the on-campus arena since it opened in 1990 and UConn won that game on Feb. 26, 2006, taking down No. 2 Villanova, 89-75, as the No. 3 team in the country. The Huskies are 8-6 all-time in top-five matchups, the last being the 2024 national championship against No. 3 Purdue.

Wednesday’s game against the Wildcats could end up being one of the biggest home games in the program’s history. Coached by Tommy Lloyd and led by 6-foot-9 freshman Koa Peat, who has two veteran guards in Jaden Bradley and Anthony Dell’Orso by his side, Arizona has perhaps the best resume in the country to this point in the season.

“A lot of similarities between the two programs, new-blood type of programs with championship pedigree and then obviously all types of NBA players with both programs,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “Arizona is) just a classy program. NBA-level talent, extremely well-coached and clearly looks like a team that is going to be contending for the championships this year.”

Behind a mammoth, 30-point debut for Peat, the Wildcats opened their season with a thrilling 93-87 win over reigning national champion Florida at the Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas, and come into Wednesday’s game after taking down a top-15 UCLA team, 69-65, in a semi-road environment at the Hall of Fame Series in Los Angeles.

Tarris Reed Jr. #5 of the UConn Huskies reacts after scoring a basket against the BYU Cougars during the first half at the TD Garden on Nov. 15, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images)

“To go win two games at that level, it just creates a fun night on a Wednesday night when there’s no college football going on; it’s gonna be a game that people are excited to watch,” Hurley said after his team held off another top freshman and projected top NBA Draft pick, A.J. Dybantsa, and No. 7 BYU at TD Garden in Boston on Saturday.

Hurley plans on giving UConn fans more exciting games like Wednesday’s. The Huskies have five opponents on their nonconference schedule this season who were ranked in the latest AP Top 25 poll, plus an additional high-major game against Texas. Next year and moving forward, there could be more.

“(We have) the ability to hand pick the best opponents we could possibly play, and maybe even head to a point where you’re even more imbalanced where maybe you’re playing seven or eight games like this and maybe three or four buy games,” Hurley had said ahead of the BYU matchup.

“It’s just a question I’d like to know from the selection committee: If you end up with more losses, will you reward playing that schedule? Because I think once you get to a certain level of the amount of losses on your record, now you’re eliminated from a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, a No. 3 seed,” he said. “So will they reward, if you play eight or nine of these types of games and you go 6-3 or 5-3 and you don’t stack up this gaudy record, will that be rewarded?”

For now, having a win over No. 7 BYU and No. 4 Arizona would certainly be rewarded.

But UConn will be challenged to get there.

Peat will be atop the scouting report, just as Dybantsa was. He is more of a physical post presence than Dybantsa, who can play anywhere on the floor, as the Huskies learned, can create mismatches and dominate on the glass, while being a prolific scorer inside. His numbers have taken a bit of a dip as he’s played only 21 minutes in the Wildcats’ last two games, but the Wildcats have additional weapons in players like freshman Brayden Burries, a high-profile recruit who hasn’t quite found his efficiency in college yet, and 7-foot-2 center Motiejus Krivas, who can be a force inside.

“No one’s had a better start to the year than those guys,” Hurley said.

A frontcourt challenge

Arizona’s backcourt is strong with Bradley, Dell’Orso and Burries, but the frontcourt presents to be the most significant challenge for the Huskies. Hurley compared Krivas to the four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, and he likes the way Arizona presents two different types of centers with 6-foot-8 Tobe Awaka coming off the bench.

“I don’t want to speak it into existence, but he’s got a little bit of a Kalkbrenner – and that’s a major compliment, as intense as the rivalry is with Creighton and was with Kalk – he’s got some of that, he’s in the drop, he brings that rim protection, he’s massive, he’s an NBA player,” Hurley said. “Their ability to have the two different looks at center is what is gonna give them the potential to be a contender this year.”

What about UConn’s five-star freshman?

The Huskies hope to soon join the lists of all of the top freshmen taking college basketball world by storm with their five-star, Braylon Mullins, continuing to get closer to making his debut. Mullins (ankle) hasn’t played since the first exhibition game against Boston College, but he is “making great progress,” according to Hurley, and participating at a limited level in practice.

“He’s an incredible shot-maker, incredible player and I know he’s gonna fall right into line with all of them guys, for sure,” Solo Ball said.