SHU Renews Series With UConn on Wednesday
12/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Live Stats | Audio | Game Notes | TV:SNY
The Sacred Heart men's basketball team will renew its series with UConn on Wednesday at 7 pm at the XL Center in Hartford, as the two teams meet for the first time since 2006. The fifth game in a Division I record six-game road trip, the game will be televised on SNY.
Series History... Sacred Heart and UConn met for the first time in Sacred Heart's first season as a Division I program in 1999-2000, beginning a stretch of five meetings in seven seasons. The two teams have not however met since their matchup in 2006. The Huskies have controlled the series, winning all five games by at least 18 points. UConn has hosted all five games, with three of the contests being played at Gampel Pavilion and the other two at the XL Center, formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center.
January 3, 2000 - L, 83-56 (Gampel Pavilion)
December 3, 2002 - L, 116-78 (Gampel Pavilion)
November 22, 2003 - L, 111-64 (Hartford Center)
December 28, 2004 - L, 73-55 (Hartford Center)
November 29, 2006 - L, 89-46 (Gampel Pavilion)
Scouting UConn... The Huskies dropped out of the Top 25 after losing back-to-back three-point games to top 20 opponents Syracuse and Gonzaga at the Battle 4 Atlantic tournament last week. They opened the tournament with a 14-point victory over Michigan. At 5-2, UConn is the just nine points out of the AP Top 25 and 12 points away from the USA Today Coaches Poll. Although they do not lead the league in any category, the Huskies are in top four of the American Athletic Conference in points per game, opponent's points per game, field goal percentage, three pointers made per game, free throw percentage, assists per game, turnovers per game, and blocks per game. They have a balanced scoring attack, with four players averaging at least 12 points, led by Rodney Purvis' 13.3. Shonn Miller and Sterling Gibbs chip in 12.5 and 12.3 points per game, respectively, while Daniel Hamilton is third on the team in scoring at 12.3 points per game, and is leading the team averaging 8.8 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game, both top three in the AAC. Amida Brimah leads the conference with an average of 2.8 blocks per game, good for ninth in the country.
First Meeting vs. AAC... Formed in 2013, this will be Sacred Heart's first ever meeting with a school from the American Athletic Conference. In fact, UConn is the only current member of the conference that SHU has faced.
High Scoring Offense... A year after ranking first in the NEC in scoring offense at 73.8 points per game, the Pioneers are averaging a conference best 75.2 through five games. The Pioneers are also second in field goal percentage, shooting 44.4 percent.
Three-Point Outburst... After making just a combined ten three pointers in the first three games, Sacred Heart made ten at Fairfield on Saturday night. The Pioneers made ten just once all of last season. SHU followed that with eight trifectas on a season-best 42.1 percent shooting at Holy Cross on Wednesday, marking the first time the Pioneers have made at least eight triples in back-to-back games for the first time since December 4 and 7, 2013
Low Percentage, High Points... Despite giving up the fourth most points per game in the NEC, 80.4, SHU is second in field goal percentage defense, holding opponent's to 42.6 percent shooting.
-A team has yet to eclipse fifty percent shooting against SHU this season.
A New Month.... Sacred Heart went 4-4 last December, its first non-losing month since January of 2013. It was the first of two such months in the 2014-15 season, as the Pioneers also went 6-2 in February, its first winning month since January of 2013.
