Memphis and Connecticut are heading into the AAC conference tournament quarterfinals and the game is live and streaming from ESPNU and WatchESPN starting up at 9 pm ET from the FedExForum in Memphis and the Tigers and Huskies are both looking to advance to the semis in the American Conference tourney.
The Huskies come into the game after a tough loss against Louisville and they lost by nearly 40 points and now they are looking to pull an upset on the Tigers, as Memphis is ranked 19th in the nation and UConn is ranked 21st in the nation and both teams come into the tournament at 12-6 in the conference and Memphis is 23-8 and UConn comes in at 24-7 and both are looking to make an impression heading into the NCAA tournament and they each could end up with the title here with a strong couple days of play.
The team comes in with over 70 points per game and the Huskies defense has been excellent all season, as they rank 34th in the league in scoring in points allowed, as they are giving up just 63 points per game and they are also ninth in blocks per game with six per game and the team is also one of the best at forcing turnovers, averaging over seven steals per game. The Huskies won three of their last four games and they lost to Louisville to end the season and they won over the Bearcats once when they were ranked 11t and they previously won over Memphis twice and that will come in handy in the game on Thursday.
Shabazz Napier is leading the team in scoring, assists and rebounding with 17 points, five rebounds and nearly six assists per game and the conference has turned out to be one of the deepest in the nation, as Louisville, Cincinnati, UConn, Memphis and SMU are all in the top 25. Napier was the conference player of the year this season and Ryan Boatright has been playing very well all season and he put up 21 in the game on the road against Memphis and now the two teams face off for the third time this season.
The Tigers come into the game after a win against SMU and they face off against a solid UConn team and Memphis comes in scoring nearly 80 points per game and they are averaging 17 assists per game and that ranks third in the nation, while the team is in the top 20 in field goal percentage with 48 percent and they have been one of the best offensive teams in the nation this year in college basketball.