NEW YORK — UConn men’s basketball celebrated Thanksgiving a day before the rest of America this year.
With a matinee against No. 13 Illinois set for Black Friday at Madison Square Garden, the team sought to avoid any food hangovers. “We’re not going to eat the fu**ing tryptophan on Thursday and be sluggish as sh*t on Friday,” coach Dan Hurley said earlier this week. “So we’re going to eat the turkey and everything on Wednesday so that all the tryptophan is out of our system by the time we get to MSG.”
That decision, however unconventional, proved wise.
Spurred on by a raucous “Storrs South” crowd — and playing on an eye-popping bright blue court — No. 5 UConn looked more like a team jacked up on coffee than weighed down by turkey on Friday, cruising to a 74-61 victory over the Fighting Illini to improve to 6-1. The Huskies led by as many as 21 and never trailed in the contest. “They whooped us today,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood afterward.
Indeed they did.
Illinois missed its fair share of open shots, particularly from behind the arc, but the Huskies still dominated every facet of the game. They held the nation’s No. 9-ranked offense to just 31.7-percent shooting from the field and 20.7 percent from three. They won the rebound battle, 43-38, which was a major point of emphasis considering the Illini’s success on the glass so far this season (ninth in Division I in boards per game). Their offense was clicking, generating great looks. Their bench outscored Illinois’ 31-11.
A year ago, Feast Week was a nightmare for the Huskies. They were 4-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country when they flew to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. By the end of the week, they were 4-3 and had dropped to No. 25 in the AP poll. The disastrous trip signaled trouble for the rest of the season, and while UConn had some exciting stretches through the next several months, it fell drastically short of expectations.
Hurley vowed he would not enter his squad in another three-game MTE. That meant no Maui Invitational this year. No Players Era Festival. No Battle 4 Atlantis. UConn stayed close to home but did not run from elite competition, scheduling a matchup with the Illini, who already own a top-15 win over Texas Tech. “They’ve got some stuff that they have to figure out during the course of the year to reach their potential, but I think they have as high a ceiling as any team that we’ll play,” Hurley said.
The result of Friday’s clash confirmed what much of the college basketball world already suspected about UConn: This year’s team is not like last year’s team. Last year’s team was not a legitimate national title contender. This year’s team most certainly is.
ACC Power Rankings for December 2025
With Feast Week in the rearview mirror, ACC correspondent Brett Friedlander power ranks the nation’s hungriest conference
Led by the returning trio of 6-foot-7 senior forward Alex Karaban, 6-foot-4 junior wing Solo Ball and 6-foot-11 senior center Tarris Reed Jr., UConn is loaded with experience and ranks 18th nationally in continuity (per KenPom). Hurley added two talented lead guards to the mix via the portal: 6-foot-4 junior Silas Demary Jr. and 6-foot-1 senior Malachi Smith. Demary, who has been solid to begin the season, was in foul trouble against the Illini, so Smith stepped up as the primary facilitator, registering 14 points and 9 assists off the bench. “He really changed the game for us,” said Karaban, who pitched in 12 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. “It was Mali’s world today.”
Depth may be UConn’s greatest asset come March. The team was at full strength on Friday for the first time all season. Reed returned to the starting lineup after missing a game with a tweaked ankle. Freshman wing Braylon Mullins, a former five-star prospect who has been dealing with an ankle injury of his own, made his collegiate debut. When he checked in about midway through the first half, UConn fans rose to their feet and erupted in applause. Both guys are still being eased back into action, logging fewer than 15 minutes. “We want to get those guys now to the point where maybe going into Tuesday (against Kansas), you’re not talking about minutes restrictions,” said Hurley. “Because those two guys are going to change our team a lot.”
Chants of “Let’s go Huskies!” filled the Garden throughout the afternoon. UConn stormed out of the gate, nailing six of its first eight shot attempts, including three three-pointers (two from Ball, one from Karaban). By the 7:19 mark of the opening frame, the Huskies were up 35-22 and one rowdy fan was already hollering, “Put a dagger in them! Put a dagger in them!”
The dagger came a bit later in the contest, when 6-foot-7 junior guard Jayden Ross buried a three in transition to make it 57-40 with 13:32 remaining.
Illinois was ice cold from the perimeter, but UConn deserves a lot of credit for its effort defensively. After scoring 23 points against No. 13 Texas Tech and 26 points against No. 11 Alabama, Illini star Andrej Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7 junior wing, finished with just three points on 1-of-7 shooting against UConn. The only player in blue and orange who got going was 6-foot-2 senior guard Kylan Boswell (25 points, 9 rebounds). As both Boswell and Underwood made clear in their postgame press conference, UConn — clearly rid of all tryptophan — was not just the better team in this Feast Week battle, it was the tougher one.
“Hat’s off to them, they’re very good,” said Underwood. “I hope we see them again later, because I think they have an opportunity to make a very, very deep run.”
Meet your guide
