Men’s basketball gameday: UConn at Auburn

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When: 2:30 p.m., Saturday

Where: Auburn Arena, Auburn, Alabama

Records: UConn 7-4, Auburn 10-1

TV: ESPN2

Radio: WTIC-1080

On the rebound. Even with a young, relatively inexperienced front line, UConn outrebounded an Arizona team that started two 7-footers on Thursday night, 33-29. The Huskies held the Wildcats to a mere five offensive boards.

“(Deandre) Ayton’s been getting that by himself,” Kevin Ollie noted, referring to Arizona’s 7-foot-1 freshman center.

No question, rebounding has been an area of improvement for UConn this season.

“We want to make sure we hit bodies and grab rebounds,” Ollie continued. “That’s what we’ve been talking about with ‘the juice.’ Guys really bought into that. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to take care of the ball.”

Alabama getaway. Of course, Auburn rebounds the ball pretty well, also. The Tigers don’t start a player taller than 6-foot-7 and don’t have a player on its roster over 6-8, but they’ve outrebounded opponents in 10 of their 11 games this season. The only game the Tigers were outrebounded was their last one, a win over Murray State on Monday night.

“They rebound the ball very well from the guard spot, from the big spot,” Ollie said. “We’re gonna have to do the same thing, and we’re gonna have to eliminate the 3’s and cut down the turnovers. It’s been killing us all season. We can’t be upside-down as much as we’ve been in the turnover department.”

Short history lesson. UConn and Auburn have met just twice, splitting the matchups. The Huskies topped the Tigers 95-81 in the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 26, 1989. Auburn, of course, gained “revenge” last Dec. 23 with a 70-67 overtime victory at the XL Center in Hartford.

UCONN

AUBURN

— David Borges