Huskies Head To Kansas For Top-Five Showdown

LAWRENCE, Kan. - A top-five showdown in the BIG EAST-Big 12 Battle awaits. The No. 4 UConn men's basketball team (7-0) hits the road to take on No. 5 Kansas (6-1) at Allen Fieldhouse on Friday night in its first true road test of the season. Tip-off between the last two NCAA Champions is set for 9 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2 with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Kris Budden on the call.

UConn and Kansas have a relatively brief history of meeting on the hardwood, with KU taking the three lone meetings. The squads met in a regular season series that took place in 1995 and 1997, then squared off in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. This will be the first time UConn has visited Allen Fieldhouse, with the 1995 meeting coming in Kansas City. The top-five meeting is a first for UConn since the end of the 2008-09 season and the first in a non-conference game since 1999.

The Huskies are riding a historic streak into the contest at Kansas, winners of their last 24 games against non-conference opponents all by double-figures. That is the longest such streak in NCAA history. UConn has raced out to a perfect 7-0 start behind an efficient offense and a stingy defense, ranking first in the BIG EAST and top-20 nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense.

Cam Spencer (Davidsonville, Md.) leads five Huskies averaging over 14 points per game with a team-high 16.3 points per contest, ranking among the national leaders with a 47.8 percent 3-point field goal percentage. Tristen Newton (El Paso, Texas) is second on the squad with 15.6 points per game and leads UConn in both rebounding (8.1/g) and assists (6.9/g). Newton has recorded three double-doubles this year including a triple-double, giving him three on his career which makes him both the NCAA active leader and the UConn all-time leader.

Sophomore Donovan Clingan (Bristol, Conn.) is coming off a career-high 29 points in his last outing Monday night and averages 15.0 points and 6.0 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game. The Preseason All-American is shooting 67.7 percent from the floor and has added 1.9 blocks per game. Classmate Alex Karaban (Southborough, Mass.) adds 14.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, ranking among the league leaders with a 55.7 percent mark from the floor.

Kansas also boasts a highly efficient offense, shooting 54.0 percent from the floor and averaging 24.1 assists per game. The Jayhawks are led by big man Hunter Dickinson, who averages 21.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game on 67.0 percent shooting. Kevin McCullar Jr. adds 18.1 points per game and KJ Adams Jr. is the third KU player averaging double-figures at 10.9 per game.

The contest at Kansas comes in the midst of a significant ramp-up in the UConn schedule. Following the trip to Lawrence, the Huskies will take on No. 17 North Carolina at Madison Square Garden in the Jimmy V Classic on Dec. 5.

University of Connecticut Athletics

Players Mentioned

Donovan Clingan

Alex Karaban

Tristen Newton

Cam Spencer

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