Seton Hall has already beaten local rival St. John’s and handed a 19-0 Syracuse team its first loss of the season.
But in the Big East, teams are stacked up against Connecticut, and the Pirates will get a chance to measure themselves tonight against the defending national champion Huskies.
The Pirates are 18-4 overall and 10-2 in the Big East, and last night cracked the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 for the first time since 1993 — coming in at No. 25.
“That was a goal of ours,” reserve guard Ty Shine said. “That’s something we’ve worked hard for over the offseason.”
Meanwhile, the “struggling” Huskies (17-6, 6-4), who lost to Notre Dame for the second time this season on Saturday afternoon, are just one loss away from matching their total from the last two seasons combined.
But make no mistake — with UConn having won three of the last four Big East titles, the Huskies are the program that league teams shoot for.
The Huskies have beaten Seton Hall 12 out of the last 13 times they’ve played, including five straight at the Meadowlands, where the Pirates are already ensured of their biggest crowd of the year with 12,000 tickets already sold.
“I’m hoping we’ll get a great crowd. I’m sure our kids will be excited, with the defending national champs coming in here,” said Hall coach Tommy Amaker. “Certainly they bring a lot when you play against UConn. It’ll be a very tough game. They lost [Saturday], so I’m sure they’ll be ready to play here [tonight].
“I’m sure our kids will be excited and ready to play, as I’m sure Connecticut will be. It’ll be a tough challenge for us without a doubt. I think they’re a terrific basketball team. I think because they may have lost a few games, certain people think they aren’t as good. But I still think they’re one of the best in the country.”
Last year they were the best in the country, with All-America Richard Hamilton providing the offense and senior Ricky Moore providing the defense. With both gone now, point guard Khalid El-Amin has taken on more of the scoring burden. He’s averaging 17.1 ppg — fifth in the Big East — is a perfect 34-for-34 from the stripe in league games, and is averaging 5.0 assists.
But UConn is at its best when El-Amin gets help. Off-guard Albert Mouring has overcome his early-season slump and is shooting a league-best 51.4 from 3-point range, eighth best in the country. And with his surge, UConn is leading the league in scoring, field goal percentage and 3-point shooting.
So even if Shaheen Holloway plays El-Amin to a standstill, The Hall needs guard Rimas Kaukenas to slow Mouring, or Darius Lane to outgun him. And the Pirates’ maligned frontcourt will also need to do a better job on the boards and in the paint than they did on Jan. 30 when they got outrebounded 39-33 and outmuscled by UConn’s front line of Jake Voskuhl, Kevin Freeman and Souleymane Wane in a 66-56 loss.
“The game [today] is tremendous. UConn is a big game. I was missing in action in that game, so I’ve gotta step up,” said Holloway, whose eight-point, four-assist outing at UConn was his worst of the year. “We’ve just gotta make shots, get our bench to play well, and we’ve gotta box out. They ruled the boards last game, so we’ve gotta box out, just be a little stronger.”
Holloway added they’ll have to be stronger physically and mentally. Shine admitted they won’t be at the level they want to reach until they get past the Huskies.
“We still have something to prove against UConn. We haven’t beaten UConn. They had our number last year. We went there and lost on the road, and [this year, too]. We definitely still have something to prove. Hopefully we can do that [tonight],” Shine said.
Today could indeed be huge. A win would give them 19 victories, and only two non-probation Big East teams — Syracuse and West Virginia in 1996-97 — won 19 games and didn’t go to the NCAA Tournament.