Breaking down the 2022-23 UConn men’s basketball nonconference schedule

With Halloween weekend coming to a close, the UConn men’s basketball season is just around the corner with the season-opener against Stonehill set for Nov. 7.

Like last season, UConn’s first real test comes Thanksgiving weekend – this time at the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Oregon. The Huskies will face preseason No. 21 Oregon on Nov. 24 to tip off its tournament slate, which will be followed by either No. 20 Alabama or Michigan State in the second round on Nov. 25.

The final round could include a matchup against one of the four teams on the other side of the bracket: No. 1 North Carolina, Portland, Iowa State or 16th-ranked conference rival Villanova.

Before then, the Huskies will play five games at home against Stonehill, Boston University, Buffalo, UNC-Wilmington and Delaware State, in that order. Once the Huskies return to the east coast after the final game of the PKI on Nov. 27, they’ll be met by Oklahoma State in the Big 12–Big East Battle inside Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 1, followed by Florida and Long Island University to round out the non-conference slate.

“I like (the non-conference schedule,” head coach Dan Hurley said Aug. 5. “I think where we’re at as a program in Year Five, I guess in those buy games we felt like we could challenge ourselves a little bit more in those.”

UConn took a competitive 20-game Big East schedule into account when curating its non-conference opponents for the season.

“We’re bracing for a better Big East than what we’ve seen these last two years, I think the league as a whole is going to be better than it has been,” Hurley said, “and you calculate that into what you’re doing with your non-conference schedule. When you have 20 monster games, home and away, winning any game in this league is a bear. And then you’ve got to play five really tough games that you know are going to be high-major type. I think the six buy games are more challenging than what we’ve done the last couple years.”

The Huskies will begin the season without one of their captains, Andre Jackson Jr., who broke his pinky finger in practice Oct. 12. Jackson is hopeful to return before the Phil Knight Invitational, but the timeline on his recovery has not been confirmed.

Jackson, who established himself as a skilled combo guard last season, was slated to have an increased role with the ball in his hands without a clear starter at point guard to begin the year.

“It changes a lot. You don’t want to lose any rotation player, but he’s one of our best players. We put this roster (together) obviously with Andre in mind, the good news is it’s just a couple games,” Hurley said at Big East media day Oct. 18.

“My biggest fear is we lose our tone setter. We lose the emotional leader of the team. We lose probably our biggest playmaker, the guy that can erase mistakes athletically. Somebody gets broken down defensively, we lose the guy that could come weak side and block it at the rim. We lose the guy that when we’re struggling offensively, you can get in a passing lane and go down and windmill dunk it and get Gample or the XL going. So yeah, it’s gonna have to be a collective thing. There’s no one in the program that can just replace a lot of things he does as a playmaker.”

The Huskies went 9-2 in non-conference play last season, losing to Michigan State in the Battle 4 Atlantis and West Virginia on the road in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. Both games were decided by less than five points. UConn was also tested by then-No. 19 Auburn, the Huskies emerging victorious after two overtime periods.

The only ranked non-conference opponent UConn will face for sure this season is No. 21 Oregon, but there is a chance UConn could meet No. 20 Alabama in the second round of the Phil Knight Invitational. Depending on how the rest of the PKI bracket plays out, the Huskies could get a look at No. 1 UNC or meet conference rival No. 16 Villanova in the final round.

Oregon, coming off a 20-15 season that culminated in a second-round NIT loss to Texas A&M, has been one of the most consistent programs in the Pac-12 for the last decade. Head coach Dana Altman and the Ducks were active in the transfer portal, picking up names like Jermaine Couisnard (South Carolina) and Keeshawn Barthelemy (Colorado).

Altman returns his 2021-22 leading scorer, Will Richardson, and double-digit scorer Quincy Guerrier, who transferred in from Syracuse ahead of last season. Kel’el Ware, a five-star 7-foot freshman and the No. 8 player in the Class of 2022, according to ESPN, is expected to make an impact for the Ducks alongside their own big man from Mali, 6-11 N’Faly Dante.

Alabama, like Oregon and UConn, was disappointed with how its season ended last year. The Crimson Tide finished with a 19-14 record after losing to Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and lost star freshman JD Davison to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Draft.

Head coach Nate Oats has just four returning players on scholarship – Alabama added four freshmen and four transfers to bolster the roster. At SEC media day, according to Sports Illustrated, Oats said Darius Miles, Charles Bediako and Noah Gurley would be the only starters in their season-opener who have previously played a game for Alabama.

All-SEC senior guard Jahvon Quinerly is out for the start of the season as he recovers from an ACL injury, and is not expected to return until December, after the PKI.

To fill in for Quinerly, the Crimson Tide has Ohio transfer Mark Sears who averaged neary 20 points per game last season and true freshman Jaden Bradley – the No. 19 player in the Class of 2022 and an NBA-caliber talent.

UConn is nearly a week away from the season-opener against Stonehill, which is in its first year as a Division I program. The Huskies have come away feeling good after a pair of “secret” scrimmages – the first against Harvard and then Virginia over the weekend. Jackson is taking advantage of watching the team practice from the sidelines, using it to improve the mental side of his game, while Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins continue to prepare for what Hurley expects to be standout seasons.

“I’m just trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get, because I know it’s gonna be over before I even know it,” Jackson said at Big East media day.