The number one rule to navigating through the non-conference is to make sure that your club takes advantage of the opportunities they have to get wins over recognizable teams.
Kevin Ollie’s Connecticut Huskies (6-3) have not had many wins over noticeable college basketball units to this point of the season but they were able to grab a solid home victory over Thad Motta’s Ohio State Buckeyes (4-5) by a score of 75-55.
To this point the most noticeable win the Huskies had on their schedule was a 74-60 win over the Michigan Wolverines.
Other than that, UCONN was clipped in their other attempts to get wins over teams with name recognition losing at Syracuse, at Gonzaga, and at home vs Maryland.
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That is what makes this win over the Buckeyes important to the Huskies resume. They are running out of non-conference clubs with clout to get resume building wins over.
The Connecticut Huskies drubbing of the Ohio State Buckeyes came mainly because of the outstanding backcourt play of Rodney Purvis who finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Omar Calhoun who dropped a team high 14 points on the stat sheet.
The Huskies shot the lights out hitting 60.4% of their shots from the floor and 6 of 14 from three-point land.
Ohio State, who seems to still be looking for an identity to this point of the season and is trying to figure out life after D’Angelo Russell, was paced by Jae’Sean Tate who had 15 points on 5 of 9 shooting and Marc Loving who added 14 points and six rebounds.
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Loving has been the most steady player on Thad Motta’s roster to this point of the season, but it has been kind of a shell game when it comes to finding someone else to bring the added offensive consistency the Buckeyes need to succeed.
In the end, this seemed to be a game involving two teams going in two different directions.
The Connecticut Huskies are a 6-3 squad with enough talent to win 20 plus games this season and get into the NCAA tournament.
Though the Huskies won this game by 20-points, they are nowhere near playing their best basketball this season.
Ohio State on the other hand is floundering to this point. Thad Motta truly needs to find someone outside of Marc Loving who is going to bring some consistent offense to the floor.
Connecticut will now turn it’s attention to the remainder of the non-conference schedule after finals week. They will take on Massachusetts-Lowell on December 20th and Central Connecticut on December 23 before wrapping up their nonconference slate with a road game to Texas on the 29th.
Meanwhile, Ohio State will get a home game in against Northern Illinois before going on the road to take on the current No.5 Kentucky Wildcats on December 19th.
Things are not getting easier for Ohio State as you can see while UCONN is in a position to grab a couple more wins and possibly another resume builder against the Texas Longhorns.
Next: Mid-December Big Ten Power Rankings
Kevin Ollie’s Huskies are going to be a tough out by the time the NCAA tournament comes around. As far as the American Athletic Conference is concerned they are definitely going to be in the thick of things, but beating out SMU and Cincinnati will be the challenge.