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Preview: UConn Men's Basketball vs. East Carolina


Kevin Ollie might be a master motivator when it comes to catchy sayings, but there’s one thing he won’t use to motivate the UConn Huskies – calling an opponent a ‘trap game.’

“We prepare like it’s a national championship every practice,” Ollie said Saturday in a conference call with reporters. “That’s who we are.”

The Huskies (16-6, 6-3 American Athletic Conference) are coming off an emotional comeback victory at Memphis, which they won 77-57, and have games at Temple along with Tulsa and SMU coming up. So, it would be easy for UConn to be looking pastSunday’sopponent, East Carolina (10-12, 2-7), at Gampel Pavilion (noon, CBS SN).

“I don’t care who it is, we play against champions every day,” Ollie added.

The Pirates might be near the cellar in the conference, but have won two of their last three contests, with the loss coming in their last game, a double overtime setback to Houston, 97-93, on Jan. 30.

Guard B.J. Tyson (15.2 points) and forward Caleb White (13.5 ppg) lead ECU, which lost both games against the Huskies last season. It will be the only regular-season meeting between the schools this year since UConn will not be playing at ECU due to the conference’s unbalanced schedule.

The Huskies, especially sophomore Daniel Hamilton, should enter this game feeling rather upbeat following their trip to Memphis. Hamilton posted his sixth double-double of the season there with 16 points and 13 rebounds – just missing his second career triple-double by two assists (eight).

“That’s our best player on the court,” Ollie said. “When he gets it going it makes our offense better.”

Prior to Thursday’s game, Hamilton was shooting 26.8 percent over an eight-game stretch that started with a 2-for-12 outing against Temple. He finished 7-for-15 against the Tigers, scoring the most points in league play since dropping 19 on Tulane on Jan. 2.

“I think he was under control,” Ollie said. “He made some big shots.”

Ironically, the Huskies didn’t start the day off on a great note with the power going out during their shoot-around, and once the game started, the team was quickly saddled with foul trouble.

In each occasion, Ollie told his players to just keep playing through it.

“I thought the guys rallied around the foul difficulties,” the coach said. “They played together.”

Seven-foot center Amida Brimah, who was appearing in just his second game back following a broken finger that kept him sidelined since right before Christmas, was the only player to foul out in the game. UConn outscored Memphis 41-20 in the second half after trailing 37-36.

Without Brimah for much of conference play, the Huskies still managed to lead The American – and rank third in the country – in opponent field goal percentage (.368). But, Ollie would like to get more than 13 minutes out of his shot-blocking center.

“He needs to play smart and stay out of foul trouble,” he said. “We need to keep him on the court a little longer.”

NOTES: UConn’s game with SMU on Feb. 18 at the XL Center in Hartford will be an 8 p.m. start. …Ollie said he’s been pleased with the development of freshman forward Steve Enoch.

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