Richard Pitino Admits UConn Is Xavier’s Benchmark
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The UConn Huskies did not close their regular season with a win. Yet, the bigger picture remains the same. In their last match, the Huskies faced Marquette and lost 68–62, only shooting 3-of-24 from three and had 16 turnovers.
Marquette capitalized with a strong second-half run to snap UConn’s six-game winning streak in the series and send the Huskies into postseason play with unreliable momentum. However, not all of it was bad.
Tarris Reed Jr. made another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Silas Demary Jr. added 17 points and eight assists. The loss ended the regular season at 27–4 overall and 17–3 in conference play, ranking the Huskies second in the Big East. Next, the Huskies head to the Big East Tournament.
The Huskies begin their run in the quarterfinals against No. 10 seed Xavier. Xavier is coming off an 89–87 win over Marquette in the opening round. The matchup pits one of the conference’s most consistent programs against a Musketeers team trying to extend its season, and Richard Pitino knows the challenge ahead all too well.
“I'm not going to get a lot of rest tonight. We'll have to dive into the film. As we said before, we have not played them well at all, but I think we've gotten better, I really do. And we understand they run a very unique offense. They shoot the basketball extremely well, and they're very, very physical, so we've got to try everything, we really do. But UConn, although they lost their last one, they're the class of this league. They're a championship program, and they're what we're
striving to become,” said Pitino, speaking on facing the Huskies.
Xavier has a 15-17 record in the regular season. However, the Musketeers are still dangerous. They lead the Big East in assist-to-turnover ratio and rank among the national leaders in assists per game. They’ve also knocked down a school-record 300 three-pointers this season.
The Quarterfinal bracket is set! pic.twitter.com/xN6SWGdna4
— BIG EAST MBB (@BIGEASTMBB) March 12, 2026
UConn, however, counters with one of the most balanced rosters in the country. UConn holds opponents to just 65.3 points per game, ranking the Huskies 12th nationally in scoring defense. They also sit seventh in effective field-goal percentage defense at 45.6 percent, eighth in block rate at 15.3 percent, and ninth in opponent two-point field-goal percentage at 45.2 percent.
But as the Big East Tournament begins, reputation alone won’t win games. That reality is something UConn head coach Dan Hurley understands well.
Dan Hurley Embraces the Big East Tournament Stage
The Huskies have appeared in the Big East Tournament 39 times and own eight titles, tied for the most in conference history. The regular season might have ended in a loss; however, Hurley is not worried. Instead, he is looking forward to the Big East Tournament.
“I think if we had another regular-season game to play on Wednesday, I'd be really afraid for my team,” Hurley said. “But coming off that type of loss on the road to end the regular season and heading to NYC… we'll be ready to go.”
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.