The Villanova Wildcats came close to pulling an upset but lost 75-67 in OT to UConn, as the Huskies closed strong in a Big East thriller.

A rising program schedules the UConn Huskies, signaling confidence and ambition to compete with elite guards and forwards on a big stage sooner than expected.

The Villanova Wildcats and UConn Huskies tangle in a 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday Big East battle in Hartford, Connecticut.

The UConn hockey team scored three goals in the third period and successfully defended its CT Ice title with a 4-2 win over No. 6 Quinnipiac on Saturday night at Ingalls Rink.

UConn men's hockey defeated no.6 Quinnipiac by a final of 4–2 to secure the CT Ice Championship for the second straight year. The Huskies

Check out the biggest moments from this matchup between the Villanova Wildcats and the No. 2 UConn Huskies! The Huskies remained perfect in Big East play this season, even after losing Braylon Mullins to injury. UConn's 85-47 win was also the largest margin of victory in the history of its series with Notre Dame.

And though, yes, the Huskies (narrowly) outrebounded the Wildcats 42-39, that box score tells a bit of a lie. The final count only tilts in UConn’s favor because of an 8-3 margin in extra time. Against a team that has only two players taller than 6 feet 7 among its top nine minutes getters, that simply isn’t good enough in Hurley’s eyes.

Alex Karaban grabbed a key offensive rebound and hit the tiebreaking free throws with 1:24 left in overtime as No. 2 UConn extended its winning streak to 15 games by outlasting visiting Villanova for a 75-67 victory Saturday afternoon in Hartford,

Mullins displayed visible struggles with his balance after the injury before he was helped to the locker room by members of the UConn staff, and Huskies coach Dan Hurley confirmed following the game that the Indiana native will enter concussion protocol.