UCF Game Preview

Shabazz, DeAndre, Lasan and the Huskies look for AAC win #1 tonight vs. the UCF Knights.

Tonight at 6:00 PM UConn (12-3(0-2)) is back in action at Gampel Pavilion to take on the UCF Knights (9-4(1-1)). UCF comes in winners of 6 of their last 7, but really have not beaten anybody notable in that stretch. The toughest team they faced recently was Louisville who came to Orlando and vanquished the Knights 90-65 in a beating that was as ugly as the Knights home court. UCF most recently is coming off a 78-76 win over the 5-7 Temple Owls. They were led by a 23 point, 15 rebound, 6 assist performance by star player Isaiah Sykes. The game will be televised on ESPNU, and announced by Adam Amin and Brook Weisbrod.

Last Meeting
The last meeting between these two teams was one to forget as the Knights knocked off the Huskies in the semi-finals of the 2011 Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. Marcus Jordan, son of Michael, led the way for UCF with 20 points and 7 rebounds. For UConn, Jeremy Lamb was the leading scorer with 15 points while playing all 40 minutes, but shot only 5-16 (2-9 from three). Shabazz Napier had a tough game as well with only 4 points in 31 minutes, and a whopping 7 turnovers. UConn leads the all time series 3-1.

Key Matchups
Lasan Kromah vs. Isaiah Sykes- The more games UConn plays, the more we see Kromah matched up with the opposing teams best player. This is because of his great energy, his ability to get into passing lanes, and prevent penetration due to his combination of length and quickness. We saw this in the victory over Harvard in the second half when Kevin Ollie put him on Crimson point guard Siyani Chambers who was having his way with the Husky defense. Kromah brought out the "Lasan Lasso" (patent pending), roped him up, locked him down, and forced him to defer to Brandyn Curry who responded by throwing up bricks. The Huskies need to take Sykes out of his game because of his ability to facilitate, as well as score, and Kromah is the guy to do it.

DeAndre Daniels vs. Tristan Spurlock- Spurlock, the 6'7 small forward for the Knights is a dynamic player who comes in averaging 12.4/6.5/1.4 and is the best foul shooter on the team at 75.7 percent. He is 10th in the AAC in rebounding, and is also shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc. Daniels will be matched up with him, and in order to gain the upper hand in this matchup will need to play like he did in the second half last game where he visibly wants the ball, is looking to score, and is getting great position on the boards. If he can put up stats as good or better than his 11 and 8 against Harvard, which Kevin Ollie said "should be his minimum", the Huskies should be in good shape.

What to Watch For
Centers- One of the more interesting match ups tonight, for very different reasons, will be the battle at the center position. The Knights have started 4 different centers this season while UConn has started 3. For the Knights, it looks like it will be Eugene McCrory the JuCo transfer from the College of Central Florida who stands at 6'8 and is coming of a performance of 18 points and 10 rebounds against Temple, which were both career highs. It will be interesting to see if that game was an anomaly or real development from the big man. For the Huskies, my guess is that we'll see Amida Brimah back in the low post. He didn't score against Harvard, but he had 4 rebounds and 3 blocks in 15 minutes before fouling out. While he was in, he made a real difference for the Huskies, and looked like he was making some strides as a productive player on this team. As we know, this is a huge deal for this team because if he can stay out of foul trouble, and effect the game on the glass and on the defensive end, the Huskies  potential in March grows exponentially.

Rebounding- Same old, same old. The subject is beaten to death but it is worth mentioning again because this UCF team can rebound with the best of them. They out-rebounded Temple 41-27, and rank 18th in the nation in rebounds per game. It is not just the big men, as guard Isaiah Sykes, and small forward Tristan Spurlock are tied for the team lead at 6.5 a game. The Huskies will have to get a body on someone on every shot, as the Knights are known for crashing the boards relentlessly. If UConn can stay close to even in the rebounding battle, they will be able to get out in transition and get some easy buckets which is when this team is one of the most dangerous in the country.

Prediction
It is near impossible for me to bet against the Huskies in Gampel. While this could be seen as a trap game with Louisville and Memphis looming on the schedule, I think the home cooking, and the swagger the Huskies got back with their win over the Crimson gets them to finally play close to a full 40 minutes of "UConn basketball" and gets the program their 1,600 win of all time. It also doesn't hurt that UCF is shooting 59.2 percent from the free throw line as a team, and star player Isaiah Sykes is shooting 44.6 percent from the charity stripe. Yes, those are both real stats.

UConn 84 - UCF 72