MEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

UCONN at XAVIER

When: Saturday, noon

Where: Cintas Center, Cincinnati

Records: UConn 8-5 (5-5 Big East), Xavier 11-2 (4-2 Big East)

TV: FOX

Radio: UConn Sports Network (97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, WAVZ 1300 AM, WICC 600 AM, WINE 940 AM, WGCH 1490 AM, WILI 1400 AM)

KEEP AN EYE ON

Jackson to start: With James Bouknight still out and junior forward Tyrese Martin a “gametime decision,” freshman Andre Jackson will make his first collegiate start on Saturday. The 6-foot-6 forward has shown signs of greatness in his first two games back from a broken wrist injury, though his talents might be more obvious if the Huskies played a more uptempo style.

“The flashes of passing you see, obviously the athleticism and his ability to make plays ... When we’re getting after people on man defense, or we’re in threequarter court pressure, how about we get some stops?,” Hurley asked, rhetorically. “We haven’t gotten a whole lot of stops, we’re not causing a lot of turnovers, we’re not blocking a lot of shots that stay in bounds so we can get out in transition. He and we would be able to play faster if we created more turnovers, forced more misses.” Big Nate: UConn will have to know where Xavier senior guard Nate Johnson is at all times. Johnson leads the nation in 3-point shooting percentage at 52.2 percent (36-for-69). He leads the Big East in 3-pointers made per game (2.8) and went 4-for-6 from distance in each of the Musketeers’ last two games.

No Swetye: Darien’s Zak Swetye is in his third season as a walk-on at Xavier. He is a helpful contributor in practices, but don’t expect to see Swetye take the floor on Saturday: he has yet to see action in any of the Musketeers’ 13 games this season.