G Rodney Purvis had a career day to lift UConn past No. 21 SMU, highlighting Sunday’s action in The American.
UConn took a one-game lead over Memphis for the fifth and final first-round bye with an 81-73 win over No. 21/21 SMU at XL Center in Hartford. Purvis scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Huskies while G Ryan Boatright added 23 as UConn improved to 17-11 and 10-6 in The American. F Markus Kennedy had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Mustangs, who dropped to 23-6 and 14-3 in conference play.
Four Cougars were in double figures in scoring in Houston’s 72-55 win over USF. F Devonta Pollard had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Houston to the victory. G Troy Holston Jr. scores a career-best 22 points with five 3-pointers for the Bulls.
The next conference games will be Wednesday with UCF at USF (7 p.m., ESPNU), Houston at Tulane (8 p.m., ESPNews) and Cincinnati at Tulsa (9 p.m., CBSSN).