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Auburn Basketball Has Quick Turnaround to Face UCONN; Keys to Victory

By Jake Mastroianni

Dec 5, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Jalen Adams (2) directs a teammate during the first half against the Syracuse Orange at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 5, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Jalen Adams (2) directs a teammate during the first half against the Syracuse Orange at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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After beating Oklahoma on Wednesday night, Auburn basketball will turn around and play UCONN on Friday afternoon in Hartford, Conn.

Auburn basketball will finish off a marathon sprint in their out-of-conference schedule by facing UCONN in essentially a road game on Friday afternoon.

The Tigers beat Oklahoma Wednesday night in a game also played in the state of Connecticut, and will try to make this week even greater with a win over the 5-5 Huskies.

It has not been a typical year for UCONN basketball, but they still have a ton of talent and are capable of beating anyone. They started off the year with really bad losses to Wagner and Northeastern, but their other three losses were to formidable opponents in Oklahoma State, Oregon and Ohio State.

They are coming off an 80-59 win over North Florida who Auburn beat earlier in the season 83-66.

UCONN has four guys averaging double-digit points, and sophomore guard Jalen Adams leads the way at 17.4 points per game. He also leads the team in assists with 58, while picking up 4.9 rebounds per game.

The big guy that Auburn will have to contend with is 7-foot senior center Amida Brimah who is averaging 5.6 rebounds and 7 points per game.

Senior guard Rodney Purvis is not afraid to chunk up a three as he’s shot 66 times from deep this year, but he’s only hit 22 of those shots. Still, Auburn will need to try and keep him from getting open behind the arc.

UCONN has definitely tried to rely on its defense this year giving up just 67.4 points per game, but they’re offense has struggled as a result only scoring 67.9 points per game.

This will definitely be a clash in styles as Auburn tends to abandon defense at times – and other times play great – in order to generate more offense.

Much like with Oklahoma where the key was to slow down Jordan Shepherd, I think Auburn basketball will have to try and prevent Adams from getting hot.

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The Huskies do have other play-makers, but Adams is the straw that stirs the drink. He does a little bit of everything for this team, and if Auburn can get him out of rhythm I like our chances of winning.

The other key will be making sure they keep the big 7-footer out of the paint. He hasn’t been a huge offensive threat all season, but he was their leading scorer against North Florida. Our bigs will have to do a good job of denying him the ball, and then boxing him out for rebounds.

We’ve given up a ton of second chance opportunities the past couple of games, and that can’t happen against UCONN as they’ll slow the game down and disrupt our flow on offense.

Another key to this game will be Auburn’s depth, and UCONN’s lack of depth. The Huskies have been hurt by some injuries, as well as inexperience. I think the Tigers will be able to exploit that weakness in this game.

I wasn’t really sure how Auburn would do this week, but after looking at the matchups I feel like the Tigers are just better than Oklahoma and UCONN at this point.

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The only thing about this game that worries me more than the Oklahoma game is that it’s basically a home game for the Huskies.

Still, I think Bruce Pearl gets the young kids ready to play in a huge game.

Prediction:

Auburn – 71

UCONN – 68

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