There’s a lot of buzz in the air this week about quality wins and our Cardinals will have a chance to get one on Saturday night as they visit UCONN for the Saturday night College GameDay main event. Louisville leads this series 8 to 6 and have won two in a row over the Huskies including a 73-58 victory in the last meeting. UCONN is coming off a big road win at Memphis on Thursday and our Cards are coming into this game after their best performance of the season on Thursday night against Houston.

After a year of sitting out of post season play UCONN is one of the hungriest teams in college basketball this season. Coach Kevin Ollie did an excellent job keeping his team playing hard last year and this season the backcourt is experienced on both sides of the ball. Shabazz Napier (16.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 6.2 apg), Ryan Boatright (12.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.6 apg) and Omar Calhoun (6.7 ppg, 2 rpg, 0.4 apg) all can pressure the ball, are competitive, play with confidence and have the ability to score. They are also getting quality minutes from DeAndre Daniels (13.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.5 apg), Niels Giffey (7.9 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.6 blkpg) and Lasan Kromah (6.9 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.3 blkpg).
Taken together, the Huskies’ big three of Napier, Boatright and DeAndre Daniels are shooting 44 percent inside the arc and 45 percent outside it this season.
Napier leads The American in assists (6.2, 13th nationally), is second in steals (2.1) and his 16.1 scoring average ranks ninth in the league. UConn is among the national leaders in blocked shots (7.0, third nationally), three-point field goal percentage (.414, eighth) and free throw percentage (.767, seventh). Connecticut is No. 30 in the Sagarin Ratings, No. 17 in the ratings percentage index (RPI) through Jan. 16.

UCONN comes into Saturdays game averaging 75.4 points-per-game, while shooting 46.8% from the floor and 41.4% from 3-point range. The Huskies are converting 76.7% of its attempts from the free-throw line. Defensively, UCONN is allowing 65.1 points-per-game as the opposition is shooting 38.8% from the floor. The Huskies are out-rebounding their opponents 608-590 with a rebounding margin of +1.1 averaging 35.8 boards-per-contest.

UCONN
2013-14 OVERALL RANKINGS
-POINTS PER GAME
75.4
99th
OVERALL
-REBOUNDS PER GAME
35.8
167th
OVERALL
-ASSISTS PER GAME
13.6
130th
OVERALL
-FIELD GOAL PCT
.468
69th
OVERALL

Kenpom Ranks
Overall – #31
Defense Adjustment Efficiency
– 96.7 ranks 51st
Offensive Adjustment Efficiency
– 113.5 ranks 34th

The Cards were impressive at both ends of the floor in their 91-52 victory over Houston on Thursday, shooting 51.5 percent from the field and limiting Houston to 30.8 percent. They played what was probably their most complete game of the season. Rozier has taken his game to the next level and the other young guys are coming around. Luke seems to be hitting his mid season stride and even Wayne is showing signs of life. It is going to take another team effort and all these guys stepping up again to get the win on Saturday night. The Huskies and their home crowd will be amped up. I think the Cards have it in them to get the win, but it won’t be a cake walk.