Tonight at 9:00 p.m. ET, No. 21 UConn (25-7, 12-6 AAC) and No. 13 Cincinnati (27-5, 15-3 AAC) go head-to-head live from the FedEx Forum in Tennessee. The game can be live streamed for free here.
Top guards Sean Kilpatrick (Cincinnati) and Shabazz Napier (UConn) cross paths for the third time. Cincinnati claimed the tournament's top seed via a coin flip and Kilpatrick leads the inaugural conference in scoring with 20.9 points per game.
Napier, meanwhile, was named conference player of the year after leading the league in scoring with an average of 17.6 points per game and pacing the Huskies in rebounding per game (6.0) and assists per game (5.1).
Kilpatrick and Napier will each likely have the say in which team comes out on top. The teams split their games this season, with each squad notching a victory at home.
The teams are prepared for this to be an intense game.
"You know what type of game that's going to be, it's going to be a war," said Huskies coach Kevin Ollie about facing Cincinnati again, according to ESPN. "We gotta have that heart, we gotta have that hustle."
The Bearcats earned a 61-58 victory over UCF Thursday, where the team didn't play well but Kilpatrick notched a team-high 21 points while Justin Jackson had 14 points and freshman Kevin Johnson notched 11.
"I know that a lot of teams are going to have a lot of attention on me but my teammates can score as well and that's something we have on this team," Kilpatrick said per ESPN. "We have a lot of weapons and a lot of talent so I let my teammates take over what they can do."
Napier was held to just 11 points in the Huskies 72-53 victory over No. 9 Memphis on Thursday, however Niels Giffey made six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 24 points to help lead the team to a victory.
"He's been the greatest shooter that we've had this whole year," Napier said. "If you leave him open -- which is kind of astonishing. Coming into this, a lot of people in the country know Niels Giffey as a shooter. But the way they play defense, they double a lot and leave shooters open, and we're not afraid to pass the ball at all."
UConn and Cincinnati tip off tonight as part of the AAC tournament live from the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
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