MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

NO. 4 UCONN VS. NO. 5 SAINT MARY’S

When: Sunday, 6:10 p.m.

Where: MVP Arena, Albany, N.Y. Records: UConn 26-8, Satin Mary’s 27-7 TV: TNT

Radio: UConn Sports Network, WAVZNew Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Wilimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), 97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973

KEEP AN EYE ON

Scouting the Gaels: Aidan Mahaney was a first-team All-West Coast Conference selection as a freshman guard who averaged 14.5 points per game this season.

He went scoreless in the Gaels’ 63-51 NCAA Tournament first-round game against VCU on Thursday afternoon. Yet Saint Mary’s still won rather handily, 6351, behind 17 points from Mitchell Saxen and Alex Ducas, 13 off the bench from Augustas Marciulionis (son of the Hall of Famer Sarunas Marciolionis) and 12 from leading scorer Logan Johnson.

The Gaels only go about seven-deep, but they have four players who average between 11.6 and 14.7 points per game. They also play a slow-it-down style that helped them finish fifth in the NCAA in scoring defense (60.1 ppg). Saint Mary’s can hit the boards, finishing ninth in the nation in rebound margin at plus-7.2 (UConn was second at plus-9.1). And, last but not least, the Gaels probably lead the nation in Australians (four).

Inside scoop: UConn has played Saint Mary’s just once in its history, an 89-73 Husky victory on Dec. 17, 2006 in Hartford. But the Huskies have some inside intelligence on the Gaels through grad guard Joey Calcaterra, who played four seasons in the WCC with San Diego before transferring to UConn this season.

“They try to slow the pace down, make us work in the halfcourt on defense,” Calcaterra told ctinsider.com. “Tough team to play against.”

Calcaterra should know. He averaged just 4.3 points and shot just 20 percent from 3 against the Gaels. He’ll hope to improve on that on Sunday night.