MBB finishes regular season No. 20 in AP Poll

The University of Connecticut’s men’s basketball team is among three Big East squads to appear in the Associated Press’ Top 25 poll with the conference tournament looming.

A loss to unranked Creighton on Wednesday didn’t cost the Huskies (22-8, 13-6 Big East) too much real estate in the rankings, as they dropped two spots to No. 20. UConn is seeded third at the coming conference tournament, which gets underway on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Huskies ended their second regular-season back in the Big East on a roller-coaster note: a Wednesday loss on the road to the Bluejays ended a five-game winning streak, as they were unable to stop a show-stopping performance from Ryan Kalkbrenner (22 points, 10-of-14 from the field, 10 rebounds). Adama Sanogo had a double-double of his own to the tune of 13 points and 16 rebounds in defeat. The Huskies have yet to beat Creighton despite five opportunities, their longest imperfect losing streak against a single opponent.

Saturday’s finale, which served as Senior Day in Storrs, ended the campaign on the right note, as the Huskies held off DePaul for a 75-68 victory. The sophomore Sanogo put in 20 first half points while the departing Tyrese Martin bid Gampel Pavilion farewell in style with a 19-point, 16-rebound tally.

Despite Wednesday’s loss to the Bluejays, the Huskies nonetheless beat them out for the No. 3 seed at MSG. UConn will thus face top-seeded Providence (who took the only meeting between the two teams last December) no earlier than the championship round on Saturday. Granted a first-round bye, UConn’s attempt for their Big East Tournament title since 2011 (and first conference tournament title overall since 2016) begins in the last leg of the quarterfinal round on Thursday night (9:30 p.m. ET, FS1) where they’ll play the winner of Wednesday’s tilt No. 6 Seton Hall and No. 11 Georgetown.

Though Providence earned its first-ever Big East regular-season title, they placed 11th in the AP poll, three spots behind Villanova, who completed a season sweep of the Friars last week. Seton Hall, seeded sixth in the conference tournament, received nine votes in this week’s rankings.

Gonzaga maintained its spot at the top of the men’s AP poll for the fourth consecutive week, with Arizona, Baylor, Auburn, and Kentucky rounding out the top five.

Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags