The UConn men’s basketball team held at No. 5 in this week’s Associated Press top-25 poll after wins over No. 9 North Carolina and Arkansas Pine Bluff.
With the top five making it through the week largely unscathed, Purdue leap-frogged Houston into the third spot with more impressive wins over Iowa and Alabama, dropping the unbeaten Cougars to No. 4. Arizona and Kansas stayed No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
It is UConn’s fifth consecutive week ranked in the top five.
With Big East play quickly approaching the conference had three teams ranked, all in the top 10, with Marquette and Creighton at No. 7 and 8, respectively.
Solo Ball, getting comfortable in the starting lineup with Stephon Castle continuing to work his way back from a knee injury, earned his first Big East Freshman of the Week nomination. Ball broke out for a career-high 13 points against North Carolina in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, an 87-76 win for the Huskies. He followed that performance with nine points and an emphatic block in UConn’s 101-63 win over Arkansas Pine Bluff on Saturday.
Ball, averaging 6.7 points and 2.5 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game, will likely become a valuable piece off the bench once Castle, who earned the conference’s first freshman of the week honor of the season, has returned to the starting lineup.
Taking a different approach to the last few games, turning the focus from his shooting slump toward driving to the basket, grabbing rebounds and doing the dirty work, Alex Karaban earned himself a spot on the Big East’s weekly honor roll.
Karaban had 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals in the win over North Carolina despite shooting 2 of 9 from beyond the arc. His shot appeared to have been found as he registered a career-high 26 points at Gampel Pavilion, leading the Huskies to a rout of Pine Bluff while shooting 9 of 12 from the field and 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. He also added a game-high seven rebounds.
UConn wraps up its nonconference slate with a third top-10 matchup in the last two weeks as it meets No. 10 Gonzaga in Seattle on Friday. The Bulldogs dropped three spots in the AP poll after losing to Washington, 78-73, on Saturday night.