No. 11 UConn on rise ahead of Big East opener vs. Xavier

No. 11 UConn appears to have its swagger back as it prepares to face Xavier to begin Big East play on Wednesday in Hartford, Conn.The Huskies (8-3) stumbled to an 0-3 mark in the Maui Invitational during Thanksgiving week, but the two-time defending national champions are now on a four-game winning streak after beating then-No. 8 Gonzaga 77-71 on Saturday in New York.”We’ve got momentum,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “I think we’re in a good place in terms of our confidence and our belief that we can be where we want to be with this team. We’re excited about Big East play. It’s an awesome conference and the regular season is such a war, and we know Xavier is gonna be a heck of an opener.”UConn, which is 6-0 at home, may be without center Samson Johnson, who sustained a head injury in the first half against Gonzaga. He left the game and did not return.Johnson is averaging 7.4 points per game and 2.5 rebounds per game. Following the Saturday victory, Hurley said Johnson was in concussion protocol.Xavier coach Sean Miller hopes his team can play a cleaner game than it did during a 68-65 road loss to then-No. 22 Cincinnati on Saturday. The Musketeers (8-3) committed 14 turnovers in the rivalry game, and several of those came at key moments.In the last three minutes of a tight contest, Xavier turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, and the Bearcats turned those giveaways into four points.”Fourteen turnovers is too many for us to win the game,” Miller said. “… What’s tough is that we just folded in the end with our turnovers. They came in bunches when we needed to be safe, we needed to be poised. In those final … minutes, you can’t play against UC and yourself.