Hartford - UConn sent a glaring message to the rest of the American Athletic Conference on Saturday.

Beware of the Huskies.

"We're coming," redshirt sophomore Rodney Purvis said. "I really believe that."

It's hard to disagree with Purvis after UConn beat AAC heavyweight Cincinnati, 62-56, before a sold out XL Center crowd of 15,564. The Huskies (9-5, 2-1) won for the fifth time in the last six games.

They prevailed in the grind fest by continuing their trend of playing stifling defense. They converted just enough free throws down the stretch to ice the victory.

Up until a few weeks ago, UConn didn't look worthy of its status as the preseason favorite in the conference.

Teams like Temple, Tulsa and Cincinnati emerged as potential frontrunners. With Saturday's performance, UConn has re-entered the conversation.

"We're moving in the right direction," coach Kevin Ollie said. "That's what I want to see. We got on them in the second half and they responded like champions. That's what they are."

It was another total team victory.

Senior Ryan Boatright, UConn's leading tough guy, had a game-high 18 points and a season-high tying eight assists while Purvis scored nine of his 11 points in the second half. Junior Omar Calhoun led a productive bench crew, chipping in 12 points.

The game lived up to expectations, as points were as hard to come by as silver dollars. Neither team could consistently cash in the offense, with the largest lead just six until the final 40 seconds.

Tenacious defense and timely offensive plays ultimately carried the Huskies to the finish line.

"It seems like it comes down to a possession game every time we play them," Ollie said. "We know each so well. I thought our defense stepped up the second half and played remarkable. … Then we started making some shots."

The Huskies trailed 34-30 at the break. They took too many ill-advised shots and committed eight turnovers. Their defense wasn't up to their usual high standards.

Ollie challenged the Huskies at halftime.

"Coach came in really yelling and punching the board, just challenging guys to step up," Purvis said. "We all respond well to a challenge."

UConn increased the intensity, piled up consecutive defensive stops and won the battle of the boards. In the face of constant pressure, the Bearcats (11-4, 2-1) scored just one field goal during a pivotal five and a half minute stretch during which the Huskies surged ahead.

Purvis buried a medium range jumper to hand UConn the lead for good, 46-45, with 10:30 left and spark an 11-4 spurt. Calhoun's 3-pointer capped the run. It was set up by beefy freshman center Rakim Lubin's big block of Kevin Johnson's short shot.

"It was a lot of fight in that play," said Lubin, who's made a big impact off the bench in the last two games. "We missed like three rebounds. I just wanted to get a stop or rebound. He came right in my way so I wasn't having it."

The Bearcats closed the gap to 55-53 with 2:19 left, but the Huskies refused to buckle. UConn responded again, digging in on defense and sinking six of eight free throws in the final 58.9 seconds.

For the third straight game, UConn limited an opponent to less than 32 percent shooting in the second half. Cincinnati shot an icy 30.8 percent (8-for-26) in the final 20 minutes, just 39.6 overall.

The Huskies leave Monday on another two-game road trip, visiting Tulsa on Tuesday and Stanford on Saturday.

"We made a statement that we're a better team than we were in the beginning of the year," Boatright said. "Two weeks ago, we probably wouldn't have won that game, but we're getting better ever day and we learned from our mistakes and we're starting to win those games."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe