“We got our confidence back but we know that if we don’t start defending at a much higher level, we’re not gonna be in contention for the championships,” Hurley, the Jersey City native and former Seton Hall guard, told NJ Advance Media while attending the Jordan Holiday Classic at Baruch College in Manhattan.

Alex Karaban has already had a college basketball career that will put him in the UConn history books. The redshirt junior, now a team captain, has two national championships to his name, starting 77 of the 78 games that the Huskies played during their back-to-back title runs over the last two seasons.

UConn basketball lost a close 68-66 battle against Villanova on Wednesday, as the Huskies couldn’t finish the job after multiple opportunities missed down the stretch. Head coach Dan Hurley was disappointed after the game but expressed a great deal of optimism about the team going forward.