The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
No. 9 SMU vs. No. 8 UCONN
When: Thursday, noon
Where: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Records: SMU 16-15, UConn 14-17
TV: ESPNU
Radio: WTIC-1080
KEEP AN EYE ON
Ready for a run? The only way for UConn to reach this year’s NCAA tournament — and avoid a second straight losing season — is to win four games in four days at the AAC tournament and earn the automatic bid. Highly unlikely, of course, but Kevin Ollie has seen the Huskies make similar runs: Five wins in five days at the 2011 Big East tournament, followed by a run to a national championship as Jim Calhoun’s assistant. Another unlikely national title run in 2014 as head coach. A three-game run, kicked off by Jalen Adams’s 75-foot buzzer-beater, to win the AAC tourney in 2016. Even a somewhat unlikely run to the AAC semifinals last year in Hartford.
“I just learned from Coach (Calhoun),” Ollie said of UConn’s recent March runs. “He had a great way of making everything simle when everything was chaotic. Just learning from one fo the greatest coaches I’ve ever been around.”
All the right movement: Ollie said he’s been particularly pleased with the way the Huskies have moved the ball the past few games, creating better shots for their teammates. Jalen Adams has taken full advantage, averaging 24.5 points in the last four games he’s played.
SMU has been playing mostly zone defense since it’s been so short-handed the past month, which could invite more 3-pointers for the suddenly hot-shooting Huskies, but could limit Adams’ patented ability to drive to the hole. Fancy meeting you here. UConn is 3-7 vs. SMU since the AAC formed five years ago, with three of those losses coming by 18 points or more. SMU beat the Huskies in the championship game of the 2015 AAC tournament in Hartford. UConn’s last win over a ranked team came over SMU on Feb. 18, 2016, also in Hartford. The Huskies also won the teams’ most recent meeting, on Jan. 25 in Storrs.