KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – The UConn men’s basketball team will play an 18-game American Athletic Conference schedule in 2014-15, playing eight of the conference teams twice and two of the conference teams once each.

The Huskies will play home-and-home series against Cincinnati, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, and Tulsa for 16 league games. UConn will travel to Houston and entertain UCF at home to complete the conference schedule. Dates and times of the games will be announced at a later date.

The 2015 men’s basketball championship will be played March 12-15, 2015, (Thursday-Sunday) at the XL Center in Hartford, as previously announced.

With the addition of East Carolina University, Tulane University and the University of Tulsa in 2014, The American’s membership increases to 11 with its basketball teams continuing to play an 18-game conference schedule. Each team will play eight of its 10 opponents twice, and the other two opponents once each – one at home and one away.

As part of its stated desire to rotate the men’s championship to various points within its conference footprint, The American announced in April that the XL Center would host the 2015 event. All 11 American Athletic Conference schools will participate in the championship with the format calling for three first-round games Thursday, March 12; followed by four quarterfinal games on March 13; two semifinals on March 14; and the championship game Sunday afternoon, March 15. The entire American Men’s Basketball Championship will be available across ESPN’s national outlets.

“We are very pleased with the schedule format we have put together for the 2014-15 season,” said AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco at The American’s annual meetings. “We took into consideration rivalries, marquee match-ups and geographical and travel considerations. The move of our Championship to a Thursday-Sunday format offers our traveling fans more convenience while affording us significantly better coverage on ESPN platforms and a championship window that has historically produced better ratings.”

Additionally, member schools are putting together strong nonconference schedules, with games scheduled against 23 opponents that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including Duke, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida (twice), Kansas, Gonzaga (twice), Nebraska, North Carolina State (twice), Wichita State (twice), Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Saint Joseph’s, San Diego State, Stanford, Texas, Villanova, VCU, Creighton and Xavier.

The American enjoyed tremendous basketball success in 2013-14 with UConn’s NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, which was the second time that the two teams have won national titles in the same season. The American was the only conference to have a team make the final four of all the major postseason college tournaments with SMU playing in the NIT championship game, and USF and Rutgers, the eventual champion, in the women’s NIT.

The American’s men closed out the 2014 regular season with five teams in the top 25 of both the AP and USA Today polls, four of which earned a bid to the NCAA Championship. The conference had three players named to The Associated Press All-America team: Shabazz Napier of UConn, Sean Kilpatrick of Cincinnati and Russ Smith of Louisville. It marked the first time one conference has had three players selected since the 2001-02 season.

The 2014-15 season will be the second straight year in which the American Athletic Conference has the defending men’s and women’s NCAA champion in its ranks.

The American’s membership in 2014-15 will comprise UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa.

The following is a list of each school’s home and away pairings for the 2014-15 season:

UCF Home: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane

Cincinnati Home: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane
Away: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

UConn Home: UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

East Carolina Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulsa

Houston Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Memphis Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa

USF Home: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, SMU, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

SMU Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa

Temple Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Memphis, USF, SMU, Tulane, Tulsa

Tulane Home: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulsa
Away: UCF, Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, Temple, Tulsa

Tulsa Home: Cincinnati, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane
Away: UCF, UConn, East Carolina, Houston, Memphis, USF, SMU, Temple, Tulane

STORRS, Conn. – The University of Connecticut football team will play Holy Cross in a non-conference game on September 9, 2017 at Rentschler Field.

Holy Cross is currently a member of the Patriot League in the Football Championship Subdivision and began offering football scholarships again with the freshman class enrolling in the fall of 2013. By the beginning of the 2017 season, Holy Cross will offer a full array of scholarships, allowing games with the Football Bowl Subdivision to count in the overall record for bowl eligibility.

UConn and Holy Cross have met 28 previous times dating back to 1916 and the Crusaders lead the series by a 19-8-1 count. The last meeting between the teams came in 1985 – a 22-2 win by the Huskies on October 19 at Memorial Stadium in Storrs.

The series also produced one of the most thrilling wins in UConn’s pre-FBS history — an 18-17 win over the Crusaders on October 18, 1980 at Fitton Field in Worcester in a game played in driving rain. The Huskies scored a touchdown on the final play of the game on a four-yard pass from Ken Sweitzer to Ken Miller to make it 17-16 in favor of the Crusaders. The Huskies went for the win on a two-point conversion and Sweitzer hooked up with Keith Hugger again on a pass for the win.

The following is a summary of all future non-conference UConn football games under contract.

2014: August 28, BYU; September 6, Stony Brook; September 13, Boise State; November 8, Army (Yankee Stadium).

2015: September 5, Villanova; September 12, Army; October 31, at BYU.

2016: September 17, Virginia.

2017: September 9, Holy Cross; September 16, at Virginia.

2018: September 8, at Boise State.

2019: September 7, Illinois; September 21, at Indiana.

2020: September 12, at Illinois; September 26, Indiana.

UConn and Tennessee have a two-game home-and-home series under contract with dates to be determined.

After taking two in Atlanta, the Boston Red Sox return back to Fenway Park to continue the four-game home-and-home series starting tonight with the Atlanta Braves.

First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. The game will be broadcast on NESN in the Red Sox television market. If you live in the Braves television market, you can catch the game on SportsSouth. If you don’t live in either market, you’re in luck the MLB Network will have coverage of the game (outside of Red Sox and Braves television markets). And if you can’t catch the game on television, you can always listen on the 2014 Red Sox Radio Network.

If you don’t live in the market, you can watch the 2004 Championship team being honored on MLB.com at 6:40 PM.

John Lackey toes the rubber for the 11th time in 2014. In his previous 10 starts, Lackey is 5-3 with a 3.58 ERA. His lone start against the Braves came in 2005 as a member of the Angels when he picked up a no decision after allowing two runs in six innings of work.

Gavin Floyd makes his fifth start of 2014 tonight. In his previous four starts, Floyd is 0-4 with a 2.49 ERA. He last faced the Red Sox as member of the White Sox in 2012 where he picked up the win after allowing one run in 6.2 innings of work. He’s made nine appearances (eight starts) against the local nine and is 7-0 with a 3.21 ERA. Four of those starts have come at the Fens where he is 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA.

28-23		22-29
1. Jason Heyward	RF	1. Brock Holt	3B
2. B.J. Upton	CF	2. Xander Bogaerts	SS
3. Freddie Freeman	1B	3. Dustin Pedroia	2B
4. Justin Upton	LF	4. David Ortiz	DH
5. Chris Johnson	3B	5. A.J. Pierzynski	C
6. Ryan Doumit	DH	6. Jonny Gomes	LF
7. Tommy La Stella	2B	7. Grady Sizemore	RF
8. Gerald Laird	C	8. Daniel Nava	1B
9. Ramiro Pena	2B	9. Jackie Bradley, Jr.	CF
Gavin Floyd	SP	John Lackey	SP

NOTES:

Clay Buchholz has been placed on the 15-day DL with a hyperextended left knee. Alex Wilson has been recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket to take his place on the 25-man roster.

Here is how the hitters have fared against the starting pitchers during the regular season over their careers.

More links (bolded) will be added if/when they become available so please check back often.

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photo credits: getty images, getty images