Central Florida @ Connecticut preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 31, 2019 ) Connecticut 67, Central Florida 73

The season has been filled with down to the wire games and heartbreaking losses for Connecticut, with six of its eight league losses coming by single-digits and three of them going to overtime. But the Huskies have won four of their last six, clawing back toward .500 in American Athletic Conference play, and will try to inch closer Wednesday night when they host Central Florida - a team that has beaten them in three straight meetings.

“It’s must-see TV to see how our games will end. We’re obviously a fun team to watch,” UConn coach Dan Hurley told reporters following the team’s most recent game against South Florida. After losing forwards Tyler Polley and Akok Akok to injury, the Huskies have just eight healthy scholarship players and often deploy a four-guard lineup which is headlined by senior leading scorer Christian Vital, who recently etched his name in the AAC record books by becoming the all-time leader with 253 made three-pointers. After starting the season 9-2, UCF has dropped 10 of 15 games, including its most recent against last-place Tulane on the heels of impressive wins against conference contenders Tulsa and Cincinnati. While the Knights score 69 points a game, the 72-point mark has been an indication of success, as they are 10-3 when reaching that mark and 4-9 when not.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPNU

ABOUT CENTRAL FLORIDA (14-12, 5-9 AAC): Leading scorer Collin Smith has picked things up since the one-point showing against Tulsa, averaging 15 points in the last three games on 46.7 percent shooting and even grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds against Tulane. While graduate transfer Dazon Ingram has struggled to put points on the board in the last six games, falling shy of double figures in five of them, he still leads the team with 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Freshman guard Darin Green Jr. is trending in the right way, averaging over 15.8 points in the last four games - hitting 52 percent of his three-point tries in that time.

ABOUT CONNECTICUT (15-12, 6-8): Freshman James Bouknight has reached double figures in each of the last nine games and has averaged nearly 16 points in conference play. Fellow first-year player Jalen Gaffney has also emerged as a starter in the backcourt, eclipsing double figures in three of the last four games and dishing out a career-high nine assists against Temple. Junior center Josh Carlton has struggled of late, failing to score more than six in nine of his last 10 games while seeing his scoring average fall by two points in that time.

BUZZER-BEATERS

1. UConn is tied for third in the country with 6.3 blocked shots per game.

2. Vital leads the AAC in steals per game (2.4) and free-throw percentage (91.4).

3. UCF freshman G Tony Johnson Jr. has made 12 field goals in the last two games after connecting on just 10 in his first 14 outings.

PREDICTION: UConn 77, Central Florida 70