UConn vs Sacred Heart Prediction 11-6-24 College Basketball Picks

The Sacred Heart Pioneers and the UConn Huskies meet Wednesday in College Basketball action from Gampel Pavilion. Here’s a UConn vs Sacred Heart prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UConn vs Sacred Heart pick.

Sacred Heart Pioneers Betting Preview

Sacred Heart is coming off a middling .500 overall season, going 16-16 with a 10-6 run in Northeast Conference Games. The Pioneers finished behind Central Connecticut and Merrimack in the standings, eventually falling to Wagner in the first Game of the NEC Tournament.

The Pioneers have one Game in the books already, a Tuesday matchup versus Temple. Sacred Heart was within a point at the break but eventually lost 81-70. Tanner Thomas led the team with 22 points, and Bryce Johnson doubled up on 10 points and 11 boards.

UConn Huskies Betting Preview

Over on the UConn side, they’re coming off a great run last season. The Huskies notched championships in the Big East regular season, the Big East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament with a 37-3 overall record and an 18-2 run in conference play.

The Huskies enter this season in the seventh year of head coach Dan Hurley’s tenure. UConn loses a couple of key guys to the NBA Draft (Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan) and a couple to graduation (Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer). Alex Karaban is back, though.

Why the Connecticut Huskies will win

• Connecticut has won each of its last 25 games at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Sacred Heart has lost each of its last four away games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
• Connecticut has won the first half in each of its last 25 games at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Sacred Heart Pioneers will win

• The road team has won the first half in three of Sacred Heart’s last four games.

UConn vs Sacred Heart Prediction

I might take a stab on Sacred Heart here. The Pioneers didn’t play terribly in their opener versus Temple, notching a 40-34 rebounding edge (15-7 offensive), 11 assists and 10 steals. Sacred Heart allowed 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range though, and committed 16 turnovers in the 11-point loss. If they can clean up the mistakes, I think the Pioneers could eke into a cover here.

As for UConn, they’ve reloaded pretty well and should be a formidable team once again. They’ve got a great backcourt and some intriguing new arrivals via the transfer portal, namely Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s) and Tarris Reed (Michigan). There will be an adjustment period early, but UConn should hit the ground running.