GAME NOTES: Looking to avoid a five-game losing streak, the South Florida Bulls will hit the road as they get set to take on the Connecticut Huskies in an American Athletic Conference battle at the XL Center.

South Florida has dropped four straight decisions since its last win at the start of the new calendar year. The Bulls were dropped by Temple on Thursday, 73-48, which set the team back to 7-12 this season. Away from home, USF is just 1-6 on the year.

Connecticut ended a two-game slide with a 67-60 victory over UCF on Thursday night in Storrs. The defending national champions have earned a 6-3 mark at home this year, and are 3-2 against AAC competition.

This will be the 16th matchup between the sides in their all-time series history. UConn has run to a 13-2 record versus the Bulls, and will be looking for the regular-season sweep Sunday. The programs met on the hardwood back in the first week of January, where the Huskies came away with a 58-44 victory in Tampa.

South Florida endured a dismal offensive effort Thursday night, as the Bulls connected on 30.4 percent of their shots from the floor, including 3-of-13 from 3-point range, in the lopsided defeat. USF also could only manage a 50 percent mark from the free-throw line (11-of-22). Corey Allen Jr. scored 12 points to pace the Bulls, but he turned the ball over five times in the loss. Ruben Guerrero chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of action. It was the sixth straight game in which USF failed to score more than 58 points.

This season has been a struggle offensively for the Bulls, who average a mere 63.9 ppg this year on 44.2 percent shooting. South Florida is led by Allen, who nets 14.6 ppg. Chris Perry is the only other USF player to average a double-digit scoring total through 19 games, netting 10.8 ppg with a team- best 7.1 rpg. Anthony Collins has proven to be a viable option at the point guard position. The guard leads the team with 103 assists on the season, adding in 28 steals and a 7.8 ppg mark. The team's defense has severely lacked consistency, and is allowing opponents to net 69.3 ppg on 42.2 percent shooting from the floor.

The Huskies got back in the win column with the seven-point victory over UCF on Thursday night after UConn buried a healthy 48.1 percent of its attempts from the floor. Connecticut also connected on 11-of-20 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc as well, which helped lift the team to victory. Ryan Boatright tallied 18 points to pace the Huskies, adding in seven assists to his stat line. Amida Brimah collected 14 points, Omar Calhoun chipped in with 11 and Daniel Hamilton added 10 with nine rebounds and seven assists. The UConn defense played a large part in the win as well, holding the UCF offense to 36.8 percent shooting from the field.

The Connecticut defense has shown an ability to limit opponent scoring this season, as the Huskies have held challengers to just 60.6 ppg on 39.4 percent shooting through 17 contests. The offense has been a bit of a work in progress after star Shabazz Napier departed following last season's title run for the NBA. Boatright tops the squad with a 15.8 ppg mark and 81 assists, followed by Brimah's 10.9 ppg and Hamilton's 10.3 ppg. Kentan Facey hasn't been a monster on the offensive end, but his tenacity on the boards is well noticed. He leads UConn in rebounding at 6.3 boards per outing.

South Florida has struggled, having dropped four straight games and six of its last seven overall. The Huskies haven't exactly been on fire in their defense of last season's national championship run, but after having taken the Bulls down in Tampa, the Huskies should have no issue with them up in Connecticut in front of the home crowd.