Coppin St. @ Connecticut preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 14, 2014 ) Coppin St. 85, Connecticut 106

Connecticut looks to improve from an uninspiring start to the campaign when it hosts winless Coppin State on Saturday. The Huskies, who have struggled but prevailed against a couple mid-major foes this season, lost their last game against Syracuse at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic.

UConn saw its modest two-game winning streak come to an end with a 72-63 setback against their former Big East rival at MSG on Tuesday. The Huskies trailed throughout and were alarmingly outrebounded 37-26 in the affair against the Orange. UConn is still playing without starting guard Alterique Gilbert who is nursing a shoulder injury and there is no timetable for his return. "We have to grow up," coach Kevin Ollie told reporters. "It's taking care of the basketball. One of our spurts, Christian Vital just played like he wanted to do anything it to win the game and that's what it's going to have to be."

TV: 2 p.m. ET, ESPN News

ABOUT COPPIN STATE (0-9): Coach Juan Dixon's first year with the Eagles has been a nightmare thus far, but the schedule has been extremely difficult. Dixon, who starred at Maryland before heading to the NBA, has watched his team lose by double-digits in all but one game, that being a 74-71 decision at Central Connecticut State. The Eagles have played big teams such as No. 17 Cincinnati, Rutgers, Georgetown and are paced by Dejuan Clayton at 10.2 points a game, but the sophomore guard has missed the past three games and is questionable for Saturday.

ABOUT UCONN (6-3): Jalen Adams led UConn with 22 points against Syracuse and Vital added 17. Add in Terry Larrier, who is averaging 15.8 points, and the Huskies have a formidable trio, but they've gotten practically nothing else on the season. UConn started highly touted freshman power forward Mamadou Diarra for the first time against the Orange, but he scored only one point before fouling out, and the Huskies only got six points from its unimpressive bench.

TIP-INS

1. UConn needed second-half rallies to force overtime to post home wins against Monmouth and Columbia in its two prior games to the loss against Syracuse.

2. Adams, who has scored at least 11 points in every game he's played this season, leads the Huskies at 19.8 points and Vital is averaging 12.8 while 14-for-52 from 3-point range.

3. UConn was tied for 346th among the 351 Division I teams in the nation in assists through Wednesday's games with 9.7 per game. Coppin State has the fewest at 7.4 and is also last in scoring at 52.4 points.

PREDICTION: UConn 80, Coppin State 58