GameDay Preview: UConn vs. Marquette | 8:30 p.m., FS1

The UConn Huskies have a big week ahead with two home games to close out the regular season. Despite the ups and downs, UConn is still in a position to make some noise this postseason.

With No. 20 Marquette coming to Gampel Pavilion tonight, the Huskies have the chance to control their destiny for at least a 3-seed in the Big East Tournament. They tip off against the Golden Eagles at 8:30 p.m. on FS1. 

The last time these two teams faced off, the Huskies defeated then No. 9 Marquette, 77-69, however, it wasn’t very pretty. The Huskies were up by as much as 20 in the first half but won ugly after a season-high 25 turnovers. 

UConn coach Dan Hurley said this time around it will take a different defensive effort to defeat Marquette as they’ll be better prepared to face off with the Huskies. He also added that ball security will once again play a major factor in the deciding factor of Wednesday’s contest. 

“Teams like Marquette, they don't cooperate with you. They’ve taken advantage of one of our vulnerabilities, which is not having the handlers to deal with the full court pressure, the half court pressure,” Hurley said. “Teams that play you full court, denial, trapping, we’ve tried a number of different things, but in the end we have to have guys that are confident guards that want the ball in their hands and can handle pressure, pass out of traps and get open versus a faceguard.” 

The Huskies are hoping to benefit from having a healthier version of Hassan Diarra, who has been playing through pain with a lingering knee issue. Diarra finished with just five points and seven assists during the Feb. 1 contest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Hurley said Diarra has always been made to play in the Big East, expressing his appreciation for the point guard's competitive nature. 

“When you go through the Big East and you realize how brutally physical and how tough the league is on a night to night basis, just how much of a grind these games are, you need Big East guys,” Hurley said. “You need dogs to play in this league, or else you’re just going to have a bad regular season. He was always a guy that we looked at that was always a super competitive dog that loves to compete.” 

The Huskies stand at a much different place at this juncture of the season than they have in the last few years. The coaching staff is figuring out the rotation, attempting to shore up some major vulnerabilities, and searching for the best way to attack given the talent on hand. 

Hurley said the team is still trying to find a better version of themselves, which includes playing better on both ends of the court and keeping turnovers down. As far as achieving a higher and more comfortable seeding, the focus is simply on doing all of the little things and seeing how it plays out. 

“You’re just trying to get across to the guys that the regular season goal, the championship, has come and gone, but we can still position ourselves to have a better March than we’ve had the previous months,” Hurley said. “If we don’t take good care of the basketball, if we don’t defend better, if we don’t have two-way playmakers all over the court that are on the backboard, playing with incredible effort, then it won’t be a good March.” 

He added this is the position they put themselves in. But even with the loss total higher than expected, this UConn team is still capable of making a splash this postseason.

“This is who we are at this point in the year, but there’s also a lot of schools and a lot of teams that have seven, eight, nine, 10 losses that have a chance to make a run at this time of the year,” he said. “We’re amongst a bunch of teams that have shown a higher ceiling, but obviously at times the floor has been lower for us than it's been in a while here.”