Biggest week of season for UConn will show if Huskies are legit title contender

The Huskies have to show a championship mentality or its postseason stay could be short

Feb 18, 2026; Storrs, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley watches from the sideline as they take on the Creighton Bluejays at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. / David Butler II-Imagn Images

UConn has hit a major crossroad in its season.

The No. 5 Huskies no longer look like the National Championship contender it did in November and December when its only loss came shorthanded against Arizona.

In fact, January exposed some warts that have not been cleaned up as February draws to a close.

Despite rolling through the Big East in its opening 12 games of league play, there were very few blowouts from Dan Hurley’s squad. It was many uneasy finishes in games that UConn was heavily favored in.

Then, it looked like everything was rounding into form again as the calendar flipped to February and the Huskies beat Creighton by 27 points in Omaha and a 32-point dumping of Xavier at home before the wheels have started to come loose.

St. John’s handed UConn its first conference loss of the season, 81-72, and exposed some weaknesses in its defense. Butler was able hang around until late in the second half in its following game before downtrodden Georgetown nearly stunned the Huskies with a late second half comeback.

It led to a stunning loss at home to the same Bluejay team that it rolled just weeks earlier, 91-84, on Wednesday night. Everything people had been worried about with UConn was brought to the forefront.

Creighton was efficient on offense, made 3-pointers, and got to the free throw line often.

The loss moved UConn out of first place in the Big East for the first time this season as the Red Storm, riding a 12 game winning streak, have taken sole possession of the top spot as the Huskies enter its most important week of the season.

It starts on Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET, TNT) in South Philadelphia against Villanova, who dropped a heartbreaker in overtime during its first meeting, and then the highly anticipated rematch with St. John’s on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET, Peacock) in Hartford.

If UConn wants to put itself back in the conversation with Michigan, Arizona, Houston, Duke, and others it needs a good showing this week. It must show that it can defend without fouling and get stops at critical junctures of the game.

Long gone are the days earlier in the season when the Huskies beat the likes of BYU, Illinois, Kansas, and Florida because right now it looks like at least three of those team would win if there was a rematch.

Dan Hurley’s team is looking more like a pretender than a contender as the regular season comes to a close and it’s up to UConn to change that narrative.