WASHINGTON, D.C. – The No. 9 UConn men's basketball team (12-4, 4-1 BIG EAST) hits the road on Saturday for an afternoon showdown with longtime rival Georgetown (12-3, 3-1 BIG EAST). Tip-off from Capital One Arena is set for 2 p.m. on FOX with Tim Brando and Donny Marshall on the call.

Connecticut is coming off a one-possession setback at Villanova on Wednesday night, falling 68-66 in a contest that saw it rally from a double-digit second half deficit for the second-straight time. Solo Ball led the Huskies with 16 points, all in the second half, and Jaylin Stewart added 14 in his third start of the season. The Huskies shot a sterling 54.0 percent from the floor and out-rebounded the Wildcats by nine in their first trip to Finneran Pavilion with fans since 1995, but were felled by an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers. Georgetown was last in action on Tuesday at Marquette, falling 74-66 after a perfect 3-0 start to league play.

UConn and Georgetown will meet for the 75^th time on Saturday afternoon, a series dating back to 1958 and picking up in earnest at the outset of the BIG EAST conference. The Huskies are currently on an eight-game winning streak against the Hoyas, taking each meeting since rejoining the league prior to 2020-21 and swinging the all-time series to a 38-36 advantage. The active winning streak is the third-longest for either side in the history of the series, behind only a 13-game Hoya winning streak from 1982-88 and an 11-game UConn streak from 1998-2006.

Alex Karaban leads the Huskies this season with 15.9 points per game and was recently named to the Wooden Award Midseason 25 Watch List. The redshirt-junior adds 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 41.5 percent from 3-point range on 2.8 makes per game. Last season against Georgetown Karaban had two of the best games of his career, pouring in a career-high 26 against the Hoyas in Hartford on Jan. 14 before dropping 25 in Washington on Feb. 10. In the two contests Karaban combined to 10-of-15 from 3-point range.

Ball checks in behind Karaban atop the UConn scoring leaders with 13.6 points per game and is among the national leaders with a 44.4 percent mark from 3-point range. Hassan Diarra has emerged as the BIG EAST's top assist man with 6.7 per game, good for 10^th nationally, and has upped his scoring to 9.1 points per game with double-figure outputs in four of his last five. Tarris Reed Jr. adds 10.6 points per game and a team-high 7.6 rebounds per game as a top reserve to Samson Johnson, who is scoring 7.5 per game on 78.5 percent shooting.

UConn has been without star freshman Liam McNeeley for its last two games and he is expected to miss Saturday's contest. McNeeley is second on the squad with 13.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

Georgetown is in the midst of a resurgent 12-3 season, off to a 3-1 start in BIG EAST play in Ed Cooley's second season at the helm. The Hoyas have a top-30 defense, per Kenpom, and limit opponents to 37.9 percent shooting from the field. Thomas Sorber has been one of the nation's top freshman this season and leads GU with 15.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Jayden Epps (14.7 ppg) and Malik Mack (14.0 ppg, 4.8 apg) give the Hoyas a potent backcourt punch and Micah Peavy does it all averaging 13.3 points, 4.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Following the contest at Georgetown, UConn hits its first bye of the league schedule before returning to action at home on Jan. 18 vs. Creighton.