It’s officially less than a month until March Madness. That being said, the Connecticut Huskies (18-7, 8-4 American) have a chance to prove they deserve to be in the NCAA tournament this week.
UConn’s season has been an up and down roller coaster of a year. At some points, the Huskies have looked like a NCAA tournament team while sometimes they don’t.
But these next two games will play a crucial role in UConn’s quest to make the converted tournament in March.
Coming off a tough, gritty win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, the Huskies will head to the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, on Thursday, to take on SMU, which currently sits in second place within the American Athletic Conference standings.
The game against SMU will be an important cog in UConn’s plan to March. So far this year, the Huskies are 1-1 against top-25 teams with a win against Texas and a loss to Maryland. But when SMU comes to Connecticut on Thursday, UConn will have a chance to gain another top-25 win.
The Mustangs are ranked No. 21 heading into the XL Center.
SMU is one of the most balanced teams in the country. The Mustangs rand No. 39 in scoring offense, averaging 79.4 points per game, and No. 24 in scoring defense, surrendering only 64.3 points per game. Not only is SMU doing well in team scoring offense and defense, but it’s also No. 3 in three-point field goal percentage.
The Huskies match up well against the Mustangs. They average 73.8 points per game while only allowing 62 points per game, and UConn’s three-point defense is only allowing opponents to shoot 31.8 percent.
But the main thing the Huskies must do to ensure a win over the Mustangs is stop Nic Moore.
Moore has been SMU’s go-to player during its troubling season. So far this year, Moore is averaging 16.7 points, 5.2 assists, and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 43.4 percent from the field. If UConn is able to hold Moore under 40 percent from the field, it has a good chance to defeat SMU as Moore has shoot under 40 percent in two of SMU’s three losses.
So if the Huskies are able to stop Moore, they are likely to defeat the Mustangs.
After taking on SMU, UConn will have a one-day break before heading to the Queen City to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats. Earlier this season, UConn lost to Cincinnati at home, 58-57.
In that game against the Bearcats, the Huskies dominated in the first half. However it was their second-half outing that proved detrimental.
After heading into half-time with a 36-31 lead, UConn’s play fell off in the second half. The Huskies shot 50 percent from the field in the first half but in the second half they shot 28.1 percent.
Another thing that went wrong for UConn was that it couldn’t close out against Cincinnati.
The Huskies failed to convert a shot in the last 1:44 in the game. UConn was also dominated in the second-chance points column. In the game that was held on Jan. 28, the Huskies only tallied five second chance points while the Bearcats recorded 11 second chance points.
If they close out the Bearcats out this time around, the Huskies should leave Ohio with a win.
Claiming both wins over the Mustangs and the Bearcats will help further prove to the nation and the NCAA selection committee that UConn deserves to be in the tournament come March.
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