Chaos has been happening amongst ranked teams in the nation, with No. 1 Purdue losing to Nebraska, No. 2 Houston losing to Iowa State, No. 3 Kansas losing to UCF, and No. 5 Tennessee losing to Mississippi State. However, that team at No. 4, the defending National Champion UConn Huskies were able to pick up a Big East win on the road against Xavier, 80-75.
This team is missing star Donovan Clingan, but they have still been able to pick up win after win no matter how tough some of them have had to come. This one was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but the Huskies have continued to have a strong performance in Big East play with a one-loss record. The Musketeers put up a great fight with Quincy Olivari showing out on a 24-point performance that kept the team in the game.
UConn showed off its clear talent advantage though, with this Dan Hurley squad finding ways to pull away and fend off late runs by the Musketeers. This team has not been dominant in Conference play, but they have found ways to win, and in the Big East, that is the sign of a great basketball team. And given what has been happening at the top of the rankings with teams losing, a margin of victory is not something to think about too much. So what are the takeaways from this big time-victory?