UConn men’s basketball (25-3, 15-2) has perhaps its most anticipated home game of the year on Wednesday night, as the Huskies host St. John’s (22-5, 15-1) in a clash between the top two teams in the Big East standings as the regular season winds down.

The Red Storm are ranked No. 22 in KenPom, with the No. 45 offense in the country, No. 15 defense and rank 23rd in the NET. They check in at No. 15 in the AP Poll, marking this the third “ranked vs. ranked” matchup of the Big East regular season, all of which have included UConn.

St. John’s has been playing phenomenal basketball after a lackluster non-conference slate, and Rick Pitino has his team in position to make back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since the program made three straight from 1998-2000. In their last game, the Red Storm handled the same Creighton team that just won in Storrs by 29 points at Madison Square Garden.

UConn sits at No. 6 in the AP Poll, No. 11 in KenPom, and No. 10 in the NET. They have the 13th-most efficient defense in the country, and were in the top 10 before a rough four-game stretch in early February on that side of the ball. The Huskies got back on track on Saturday, picking up a quality win at Villanova thanks to a dominant second half and some great bench production.

The Huskies are no longer in control of a potential Big East regular-season title, needing to defeat St. John’s and get some help. If both teams finish 18-2, St. John’s would get the title due to the tiebreaker rules and head-to-head against the teams in descending order in the standings.

Last time UConn played St. John’s, the Red Storm handed them their first loss of conference play and snapped their 18-game winning streak. Can the Huskies return the favor in a sold-out Hartford?

Date/Time: Wednesday, February 25, 7:00 p.m.

TV/Stream: Peacock, NBCSN

Radio: UConn Sports Network, Sirius XM 84, Sirius/XM online streaming

Odds: As of post time, the odds have not been published. They will be put in the post as soon as they are available.

Location: PeoplesBank Arena – Hartford, Connecticut

KenPom Predicted Score: UConn 76, St. John’s 70

The Huskies and Red Storm have played 74 times in their program’s history, with St. John’s holding a narrow 40-34 advantage. In the Dan Hurley era, UConn has won six of 11 matchups. They last faced off on Feb. 6, 2026, when St. John’s beat UConn 81-72 at Madison Square Garden. Silas Demary Jr. led four Huskies in double figures with 18 points.

As of now, everyone should be available for the Huskies. The Big East availability report comes out three hours before tip-off.

The UConn defense fell off a cliff over the previous four games heading into Saturday, but the Huskies turned in one of their best performances of the year against Villanova. The Wildcats shot 41% from the field and had some of their top scorers limited all night. UConn swatted eight shots and protected the paint inside as well as they’ve had in a while.

In the 12 Big East games preceding that first matchup with St. John’s, UConn allowed more than 70 points just twice – both games against Providence. In that 2-2 stretch that followed, they surrendered an average of 79.3 PPG. On Saturday, they allowed just 63 to the Wildcats, including a late surge that netted them a few more.

This matchup will be a true test of UConn’s resolve. St. John’s exposed flaws that the Huskies probably didn’t even realize they had, and it’s taken some time to adjust. Who steps up on the defensive end to try and limit some of the versatile wings that the Red Storm have is going to be a storyline to monitor, but seeing the way they guarded in Philly has to bring some comfort coming into this one.

Silas’ St. John’s struggles

One of the biggest takeaways from the game at MSG earlier this month was the play of Silas Demary Jr. on the offensive end. He scored a team-high 18 points with five assists, but was credited with nine of the 15 UConn turnovers and really struggled to take care of the basketball. Demary couldn’t overcome the full-court pressure that the Red Storm used for nearly the entire 40 minutes. This wasn’t the first time that Rick Pitino had his way with Demary, as back when he was at Georgia last season, St. John’s turned him over 10 times in the Baha Mar Tournament.

“I just think they’re so avoidable for him,” Dan Hurley said on Demary’s turnovers. “They’re a little bit casual. Some of his turnovers come when he’s got to get the ball to a spot and spray it to someone coming off a screen. He’s got to get better at that.”

On Saturday against Villanova, Demary had seven turnovers, so he’ll be looking for redemption in more ways than one this time around against St. John’s. He’s stepped it up in crunch time on numerous occasions for the Huskies, including 15 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists less than two weeks ago against Georgetown. Demary is going to be called upon to make some big plays, and he should be ready.

The X-factor in that game at MSG a few weeks back was the late-game play of Dylan Darling for the Red Storm. Darling is your prototypical “love him unless you’re against him” type of player, one that can easily get under your skin. He had nine points against the Huskies, including a big three-pointer late in the game, and he’s skyrocketed ever since. In four games, he’s averaging 14 points per game in nearly 26 minutes a night off the bench.

In that now-infamous game against Providence when there were seven ejections, he scored a season high 23 points and took over in the second half to ignite St. John’s to the win. In that four-game stretch, he actually had a game against Marquette in which he went scoreless, so if you want to get technical, he scored 56 points in three games since he last played the Huskies. You can bet that Darling is going to play some big minutes in Hartford for Pitino.

Control what you can control

The way that St. John’s attacked UConn the first time around told us a lot about the makeup of both rosters. Dillon Mitchell proved to be a matchup nightmare when on the floor, especially when playing with both Bryce Hopkins and Zuby Ejiofor on the floor at the same time. No matter who Hurley threw at Mitchell, they couldn’t seem to slow him down on the offensive end.

I don’t think that will magically change on Wednesday. Unless a fellow 6’8” explosive wing that can pass, rebound, and drive to the rim at will appears in the UConn locker room in Hartford, the Huskies don’t have anyone who matches up physically with Mitchell. Jaylin Stewart and Jayden Ross are probably the closest you’ve got, perhaps Alex Karaban too, but none of them were able to do much last time. Say you put Karaban on Mitchell, then who guards Hopkins? Not many teams have three legit frontcourt players in college basketball anymore, all playing together, but the Red Storm do.

An area you can control is how you defend the matchups that are closer from a physical standpoint. Ejiofor is more likely than not going to win Big East Player of the Year this year, but that’s not an excuse for Tarris Reed Jr. and Eric Reibe to let him have 21 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists in Round 2. Reed knows that he has to be better and can be better, proving so against Villanova, where he and Reibe held Duke Brennan to just seven points and three rebounds.

The ultimate downfall at MSG came down to the bench minutes for UConn. Reibe and Malachi Smith played five and four minutes respectively, and they were a -9 and -12 in the box score. On the flip side, in a nine-point loss, Demary and Reed each played over 35 minutes and had a positive +/-.

Since then, the Huskies’ reserves have played pretty well. The bench was one of the main reasons UConn was able to extend its lead against Villanova. Stewart scored six points, snapping a three-game scoreless streak. Ross was a +16 and played great defense on the Villanova wings. Reibe had eight points and five rebounds. The second unit has been playing well for the past week or so, but can you trust them in this one?

I’m sure somewhere in the back of Hurley and the staff’s mind, they have to be having flashbacks to those stretches of the St. John’s game in which the bench lost them the game pretty much, but it’s not like them to use those past struggles as reasons to change up their game plan. I’d expect the usual usage from the bench in this one, with their play dictating how much time they see on the floor, not how they played three weeks ago.

Wednesday’s game in Hartford is the last one at PeoplesBank Arena this season for UConn, which also means it’s the last game in the building for Alex Karaban and the other seniors in the program. This is the first of countless times we’ll be saying “last” in front of whatever Karaban is doing, perhaps an emotional time for one of the most decorated players to wear the uniform.

If you remember his freshman year, that was the year in which UConn lost to a bad St. John’s team in Hartford, coached by Mike Anderson in the midst of that memorable January stretch. How fitting would it be if Karaban’s last game in Hartford is revenge on his worst loss in the building?