Saint Peter's @ Connecticut preview

When Connecticut returns home to face Saint Peter’s on Wednesday, it will look to get back in the win column following a three-point loss to Indiana despite turning the ball over 22 times. The Huskies will need more reliable play from the veteran backcourt duo of Christian Vital and Alterique Gilbert, who were responsible for coughing up the ball 10 times at Indiana.

"It'll be a year of excruciating losses if we can't take better shots and take better care of the ball,” head coach Dan Hurley told the Hartford Courant of the loss to the Hoosiers. Vital continues to be the focal point of the offense despite having cooled down from his red-hot start -- he averaged 18.5 points in his first four games and still leads the team at 13.9 points per game. Gilbert has been remarkably inconsistent, reaching double digits four times but failing to eclipse six points in the other five contests, though he has thrived in the role of the facilitator, sporting the most assists per game (5.0) and best turnover-assist ratio (2.5) in the American Athletic Conference. It is quite the contrary for the Peacocks, whose offense runs through freshmen that account for almost 60 percent of their points scored.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, SNY

ABOUT SAINT PETER’S (2-4): Freshman Doug Edert has since picked things up in the last four games, averaging just under 15 points in that span while shooting 55 percent from long rage, making him the fourth-best 3-point shooter in the nation for the season (53.1 percent). Fellow freshman Fousseyni Drame was named MAAC Rookie of the Week thanks to a 15-point, nine-rebound performance in a win against Fairleigh Dickinson, both career highs. Despite the youth movement, senior Derrick Woods is still second on the team with 8.2 points per game and had a nice bounce-back performance against FDU, dropping a team-high 17 points after averaging just 5.5 in his previous two games.

ABOUT CONNECTICUT (6-3): After bursting onto the scene, averaging 13.8 points in his first four games, freshman James Bouknight has virtually disappeared, scoring just two points in his last two games and going scoreless against Indiana. Junior center Josh Carlton is trending in the other direction in that span, shooting 62 percent from the floor en route to averaging 18.5 points. Forward Tyler Polley has been the team's most consistent outside threat, shooting 42.6 percent from beyond the arc, good enough for fourth-best in the AAC.

TIP-INS

1. The Huskies are 5-1 under Hurley at the XL Center in Hartford.

2. UConn freshman Akok Akok is first in the AAC with 27 blocked shots.

3. The Peacocks are second in the nation with 15.2 offensive rebounds per game.

PREDICTION: UConn 78, St. Peter's 66