Open Thread: UConn Men’s Basketball at East Carolina | 7 PM, ESPNU

The UConn Huskies are in Greenville, North Carolina to take on East Carolina in a matchup between the fifth and ninth-place teams in the American Athletic Conference standings.

UConn (14-14, 9-7 AAC) is coming off of two straight losses and, in a season ravaged by injury, the Huskies will be without Christian Vital due to a concussion and possibly Jalen Adams, who left the previous game against SMU with an ankle injury. The Huskies struggled early in that one but got within striking distance. Unfortunately, losing Adams was just too much to overcome as UConn fell at home.

The last meeting between these two teams occurred on January 22nd in a game where the Huskies were also shorthanded, down to a six-man rotation missing Steve Enoch and Juwan Durham. It got a little tight at the end, but a solid performance gave UConn the win at home.

This is an important game for the Huskies’ draw in the AAC Tournament. With mighty Cincinnati up on the schedule next in the season finale, UConn needs this one to hold on to the fifth spot in the standings and get the first-round bye. If Kevin Ollie’s squad is going to make that run to the title and play in the NCAA Tournament, it would really help to not have to win four games in four days.

This is the open thread. Feel free to share your pregame thoughts in the comments and discuss the action with your fellow fan!