The No. 2 UConn Huskies beat the Providence Friars 87-81 at Gampel Pavilion on Tuesday evening to improve to 20-1 for the season. Coach Dan Hurley’s Huskies are on one of the hottest runs in the country and have now won 16 consecutive games since a narrow loss to the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats in November.
UConn’s National Title Pedigree Dismissed by Analyst
The Huskies fell short of a national championship three-peat after a second-round loss to the Florida Gators at the 2025 NCAA Tournament, but are one of the frontrunners to win it this season.
During Wednesday’s segment of TNT Sports, former NBA All-Star Jamal Mashburn questioned the Huskies’ national championship-winning pedigree compared to the flawless Arizona.
“I look at UConn, it makes me really look at Arizona and see what the gap really is,” Mashburn said. “Arizona has not lost. They have all the pieces to win a championship and then there’s everybody else. Because I can look at UConn and pick at certain holes that they have in their game.
“Offensive rebounding, taking care of the ball, just pure offense on the perimeter at times, they struggle. I think they’re a Final Four team, but I don’t think they’re a national championship team in my opinion.”
Despite their impressive winning streak, the Huskies have been pushed to the limit in Big East play in the past couple of weeks, including surviving an overtime thriller against Providence and barely beating the Seton Hall Pirates and Georgetown Hoyas to stay unbeaten in the conference.
Dan Hurley Challenges Team To Get Meaner
While speaking to reporters this week, Hurley challenged his team to get a nastier edge in order to prove their championship-winning pedigree.
“I think we as a team need to get a lot meaner,” Hurley said. “I think we need to you know, I think we need to play with more violence. We need to play with more nasty edge. We need to play with more of a killer instinct. I mean, you know, we got great guys in the program. I think we got a great culture.
“The downside of that is you know you wish, people that had an alter ego, and the game started and became a little bit more killers. At some point, if your team does not rectify and improve, that’s just who you are, and maybe you’re just not a championship-calibre team.”
Hurley led the Huskies to a period of unparalleled dominance, winning two consecutive national championships before being dethroned in both the Big East and the NCAA Tournament, and he has built a roster capable of challenging for both titles this season.
