Villanova will get a break from the Big East schedule Saturday when it hosts former, and future, Big East opponent UConn. The Wildcats will be looking for their fourth straight win and attempting to remain undefeated at home.

The Huskies come into the game scuffling, having lost three of four. They managed a 9-3 run through the bulk of the non-conference schedule but have stumbled to a 1-3 start in AAC play.

UConn averages 72.3 points per game while giving up 64.8. The Huskies are shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and 34 percent from three. Head coach Dan Hurley has been liberal with the minutes, as UConn has six players averaging at least 20 minutes per game and another four getting at least 10 minutes.

Guard Christian Vital leads the way with 14.3 points per game. He adds 6.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.6 steals, and he is the only Husky averaging double-figures.

Center Josh Carlton chips in 9.9 points and 6.9 rebounds. A pair of guards, James Bouknight and Atlerique Gilbert add 9.8 and 9.6 points respectively. Bouknight adds 3.7 rebounds and has been one of UConn’s better three-point shooters, while Gilbert is dishing out a team-high 4.8 assists. Forward Tyler Polley contributes 9.5 points and has been UConn’s best three-point shooter at 40.5 percent. Akok Akok adds 6.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks. Brendan Adams (7.1 PPG), Sidney Wilson (4.2), Isaiah Whaley (2.7) and Jalen Gaffney (2.3) round out the rotation.

UConn checks in at No. 80 on KenPom, 137th offensively and 56th defensively.

Offensively, the Huskies rank 236th in effective field goal percentage, 286th in two-point percentage, and 128th in three-point percentage. They have also had some turnover issues, ranking 213th in turnover percentage. They have been effective on the offensive glass, ranking 42nd in offensive rebound percentage.

Defensively, the numbers are better. Powered by Akok, UConn ranks 3rd in block percentage and that rim protection helps the Huskies to a 35th rank in opponent’s two-point percentage and a 28th ranking in opponent’s effective field goal percentage. They rank 73rd in opponent’s three-point percentage and have done a decent job forcing turnovers, checking in at No. 50 in opponent turnover percentage.

The Huskies have been fairly balanced in how they get their points, although they rank 86th in percentage of points from the foul line, so keeping them off the charity stripe could be advantageous to ‘Nova.

Turning to Synergy Sports, we find UConn ranked in the 38th percentile offensively with 0.866 points per possession.

Interestingly, transition is UConn’s top play type at 19 percent. Transition typically ranks as the second or third most frequent play type. Looking at the rest of UConn’s numbers, we start to get an idea of why it likes to run so much.

On those, transition plays, the Huskies garner a “good” rating with 1.04 PPP (64th percentile). The only other play types where they rank better than “average” are offensive rebounds, which can be tough to control on a game-to-game basis, and handoffs, which make up just 3.5 percent of the offense.

The Huskies rate as “average” in spot-ups and utilizing the pick and roll ballhandler, their second and third most frequent play types, ranking in the 42nd and 48th percentile respectively. The next most frequent play type is cuts, where they rate “poor” followed by post-ups, where they are “below average.” Isolations and screens draw “average” ratings.

Overall, we see a relatively inefficient offense that doesn’t have a dominant area to lean on.

Vital, Bouknight, and Polley have been the most efficient individual offensive players for UConn.

Vital, Polley, and Gilbert have been the best shooters, while Vital has been the best, and only truly effective, pick and roll ballhandler. Bouknight has been effective off cuts, while Carlton and Akok have struggled there. Bouknight, Carlton, and Polley have been the most effective offensive rebounders. Vital can play in isolation when necessary while Gilbert has struggled. Both Vital and Gilbert have had success working handoffs, but as we mentioned, that’s an incredibly small part of the UConn attack.

Defensively, things are much better. We find the Huskies ranked in the 89th percentile with 0.789 PPP.

Here, we see good, very good, or excellent ratings in every play type except isolations and post-ups. Unfortunately, Villanova does very little of those two things.

UConn has excelled against the pick and roll and handoffs and are very good against spot-ups and screens and good against cuts.

We already have an interesting picture developing, with UConn performing well defensively against many of Villanova’s favorite things to do while the Huskies struggles come against things that are relatively foreign to the ‘Cats. It’s possible that Villanova could look to increase the frequency of post-ups and isos on Saturday, but I don’t think that is very likely. While they might try some things in those areas, and they have had reasonable success in limited use so far this season, I think it’s far more likely that they will look for weak links to attack.

Synergy would indicate Vital and Bouknight as good places to start.

As for who to attack where, Bouknight has struggled defending shooters, as has Akok. Target Akok and making him defend on the perimeter could be a viable option on Saturday.

Vital can be attacked in the pick and roll and in isolation.

Rather than an uptick in frequency of particular play types, I’d expect ‘Nova to work to attack certain matchups with specific intentions.

As for keys to the game, we’ll start with the turnover battle. UConn has been good at forcing turnovers but has had trouble taking care of the ball while ‘Nova is at the other end of the spectrum. It will be interesting to see how things play out in the turnover department.

Keeping UConn off the offensive glass will be key, as will be keeping them away from the free-throw line. Wide advantages in either category would tilt the game in UConn’s direction.

Finally, transition defense will be key for the ‘Cats. UConn likes to run, and its offensive production is buoyed by doing so nearly 20 percent of the time. When you isolate UConn’s halfcourt offense from the transition production, you see it’s PPP drop to 0.825, ranking in the 28th percentile. Forcing the Huskies to run the offense in the halfcourt will be helpful to ‘Nova defensively.

Even though UConn hasn’t been its usual self recently, it’s always fun when these teams meet. ‘Nova wants to stay hot and take advantage of a break from the Big East schedule, while UConn’s NCAA tournament hopes are already teetering. A win would give the Huskies’ tournament hopes a boost, while a loss puts them in a spot where the margin for error the rest of the way is razor-thin. They’d also love an opportunity to send a message to Villanova, and it’s other Big East brethren, about what to expect when the Huskies rejoin the league. It all sets the table for an interesting Saturday afternoon.

The game is scheduled for a noon tipoff on FS1.