GAME NOTES: The top team in the American Athletic Conference is back home on Tuesday night, as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane host the Connecticut Huskies at the Reynolds Center.

Tulsa, which somehow lost to Southeastern Oklahoma State last month, is riding a five-game win streak and is a perfect 3-0 in AAC play, which has the group sitting alone atop the conference standings coming into the week. Over the weekend the Hurricane was in Philadelphia where it took down the Temple Owls, 63-56, at the Liacouras Center.

The defending national champions hit a number of stumbling blocks during the non-conference portion of the schedule, but can you blame them for coming up short against West Virginia, Duke and Texas, each of which is currently ranked in the top-20. The Huskies lost to Temple in the conference opener in overtime back on New Year's Eve (57-53) but have since rattled off three straight victories, the latest being a 62-56 triumph over Cincinnati at home on Saturday.

UConn won the only previous meeting between the programs by a score of 89-68 as part of the Connecticut Mutual Classic held at the New Haven Coliseum on Dec. 12, 1978.

The Huskies continue to put all their eggs in the Ryan Boatright basket and for the most part it is paying off. Against the Bearcats, Boatright delivered a game-high 18 points, although he did shoot only 1-of-5 behind the 3-point line, the team 5-of-15 overall. The guard passed out eight assists, cleared four rebounds and made three steals for the hosts at the XL Center. Omar Calhoun came off the bench to post 12 points, followed by Rodney Purvis with 11 points.

Selected as the AAC Preseason Player of the Year, Boatright is pacing UConn in both scoring (16.9 ppg) and assists (61) while playing close to 34 minutes per contest. He is also one of the better rebounders with 4.9 boards per outing and is tops with 26 steals, showing that he is again willing to do whatever it takes to get the team into the win column. Amida Brimah and Daniel Hamilton pitch in with 11.0 and 10.3 ppg, respectively, the former shooting 67.4 percent from the floor while clearing 5.4 rpg and blocking 39 shots.

Tulsa's first half performance against the Owls in Philadelphia on Saturday was nothing short of atrocious, as the visitor made good on just 4-of-25 shots from the floor and missed all seen chances behind the 3-point line. However, the Golden Hurricane head coach Frank Haith must have given an incredible halftime speech because the players came out and converted 56.0 percent from the floor and 14-of-18 at the free-throw line in order to pull out the unlikely win.

Shaquille Harrison erupted for 24 points and pulled down six rebounds, while James Woodard posted 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting beyond the arc for a unit that finished 4-of-15 on the perimeter and had just as many field goals as turnovers (18).

Harrison, the leading scorer in two straight games for Tulsa, is posting 15.7 ppg on the season overall and has dialed up his efforts against league foes to 21.3 ppg. Woodard is in the same boat as he puts up 14.8 ppg overall and a slightly better 15.0 ppg versus AAC competition. Over the course of those three league bouts, the Tulsa defense has limited foes to only 54.7 ppg based on a mere 35.0 percent shooting from the field and 27.8 percent behind the 3- point line.

If the Golden Hurricane plan on continuing their winning ways against UConn and the rest of the AAC, the team will have to do much better than a miserable 15.0 percent accuracy beyond the arc. Should Tulsa struggle on the outside on Tuesday, even being at home won't be enough to keep the squad from suffering its first conference loss.