The Sacred Heart Pioneers take on the Connecticut Huskies in Storrs, Connecticut, on Wednesday. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1.
Sacred Heart lost to Temple, 81-70, in its opener, while UConn is making its season debut after sitting out on opening night.
In this matchup, the Huskies are favored by 35.5 points on the spread with a total of 149.5 points.
Here are my Sacred Heart vs. UConn predictions and college basketball picks for Wednesday.
Sacred Heart vs UConn Prediction
My Pick: Lean UConn -33.5
My Sacred Heart vs UConn best bet is a lean toward the Huskies spread, with the best odds currently available at DraftKings. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Sacred Heart vs UConn Odds, Lines, Pick
| Sacred Heart Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+35.5 -110 | 149.5 -110o / -110u | OFF |
| UConn Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-35.5 -110 | 149.5 -110o / -110u | OFF |
- Sacred Heart vs UConn spread: UConn -35.5
- Sacred Heart vs UConn over/under: 149.5
- Sacred Heart vs UConn best bet: Lean UConn -33.5
Spread
I'm ultimately not going to bet on this game, but if I had to, I would take the Huskies as 33.5-point favorites.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the moneyline.
Over/Under
I'm passing on the total.
My Pick: Lean UConn -33.5
Sacred Heart vs UConn College Basketball Betting Preview
Sacred Heart should’ve beaten Temple on Monday.
The Pioneers shot 24-for-47 (51%) from inside the arc behind a masterful 22-point performance from Tanner Thomas, a sizey wing with a sweet shooting stroke.
Sadly, they also shot 5-for-21 (24%) from deep, while the Owls shot a thermonuclear 11-for-23 (48%) from distance. That was ultimately the difference in an 11-point game.
Still, Sacred Heart covered the 14-point spread on the road. The Pios led for much of the game.
I was impressed with the performance, but battling UConn in Storrs is a whole different animal.
It’s easy to get a read on the Pios. They’re an up-tempo, transition-heavy attack that spaces the floor to open up driving lanes for Thomas, fellow returning wing Aidan Carpenter and Northeastern transfer Bryce Johnson. All three are wicked shooters.
D-II transfer Amiri Stewart could be a breakout candidate at point guard after putting up 18/4/4 while shooting 43% from deep at Wilmington University last season.
Returning forward Anquan Hill is the defending NEC Rookie of the Year after showcasing an impressive all-around scoring/shot-blocking/rebounding/floor-spacing arsenal last year.
Unfortunately, I expect regression on defense after losing All-NEC center Alex Sobel in the offseason. His rim protection allowed the Sacred Heart perimeter defenders to play aggressively and wreak havoc.
But even with Sobel, Sacred Heart allowed a healthy dose of 3-point shots last year, ranking sub-300th nationally in 3-point rate allowed and sub-280th in Open 3 Rate allowed.
That’s a problem against UConn, which will use a wide array of secondary pattern motion actions to generate wide-open 3s at a high volume.
However, Sacred Heart’s defense was surprisingly good against secondary actions last season, like cuts (1.04 PPP allowed, 91st percentile), off-ball screens (.73 PPP allowed, 77th percentile) and handoffs (.79 PPP allowed, 66th percentile).
Of course, how much of that was thanks to Sobel’s efforts on the interior? The 2024-25 Pioneers have enough length to switch everything and blow up secondary actions. However, will they have the requisite interior defense to avoid the pitfalls of playing aggressive defense? The paint defense could fall off a cliff.
Meanwhile, I have zero feel for the 2024-25 Huskies.
Dan Hurley’s system is plug-and-play, and slotting in Hassan Diarra, Liam McNeeley, Solo Ball and Aidan Mahaney for Stephon Castle, Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer should be fine.
I’m uber-high on Mahaney, who should almost replicate what Spencer did in Hurley's offense. But I think it’ll be tougher for Diarra to replicate Newton’s two-way All-American play.
The more significant concern is replacing Donovan Clingan with Samson Johnson. Clingan was the best two-way player in America at times, giving the Huskies a slipping, cutting and post-up option on offense while allowing the team to play a near-impenetrable drop-coverage brand of defense.
Johnson is a decent shot-blocker, rim protector and post defender, but he’s a significant drop-off from Clingan. And he’s severely limited offensively outside of lobs in the pick-and-roll game – which is valuable, but only to an extent.
That brings about a few questions. Will the Sacred Heart wings have no issue touching paint-to-perimeter against UConn’s Clingan-less defense? Will the Huskies have no issues burning opponents to the ground without Clingan keeping defenses honest on the interior?
Honestly, I don’t have answers to many of these questions, and I can’t make a wager on this one in good faith. But if I had to, I’d probably lay it with UConn.
Hurley has my benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise, and there’s a good chance his complex, variable, ultimately-impossible-to-stop-at-its-best pattern motion scheme rolls over Sacred Heart’s compact-and-regressing defense, even with a new cast of characters.
