This is a crazy college basketball life that UConn leads now.

The Huskies just barely settled back into their home routine and they're on the road again for two games.

The first stop is Tulsa, an American Athletic Conference newcomer, tonight for a 9:30 game at the Reynolds Center and then it's on to northern California where they'll face Stanford on Saturday night in their nonconference finale.

The Huskies (9-5, 2-1) left Storrs playing perhaps their best all-around basketball of the season, winning five of six overall. They've captured three straight, a streak that started with consecutive roads triumphs over Florida and South Florida.

"I like where our team is going on," coach Kevin Ollie said after Saturday's pivotal win over Cincinnati. "We just have to keep taking steps forward. Now we're on the road again. It seems like we didn't unpack our bags, but it is what it is.

"We're going to go down to Tulsa and Stanford. Hopefully, we'll do the same thing that we did in Florida."

Any serious AAC title contender must achieve road-warrior status. That's a difficult task, no matter the conference.

This frequent flier friendly trip starts off against the conference leader.

Tulsa (10-5, 3-0) is the only unbeaten team in league play. The Golden Hurricane are blowing up a storm, winning at Temple (63-56) on Saturday for their fifth consecutive victory.

Eight players, including AAC player of the week Shaquille Harrison, a junior guard, return from a team that earned a share of the Conference USA regular season title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Harrison and junior James Woodard, who average 15.7 points and 14.8 points, respectively, form a lethal backcourt.

When Danny Manning left for Wake Forest, Frank Haith was hired as head coach. Former UConn assistant Dave Leitao is on Haith's staff. Leitao coached Ollie for three seasons (1991-94).

Dogged defense was UConn's trademark during Leitao's time in Storrs. It remains the foundation of the program.

Smothering defense has helped the Huskies bring opponents to their knees, as they've limited five of the last seven teams to under 40 percent from the field.

They've embraced their inner defensive beast.

"If you follow UConn basketball, you know that we pride ourselves on defense," senior Ryan Boatright said. "The only way we're going to win is defending that end of the floor and getting stops."

They've applied a defensive stranglehold in the second half. Cincinnati made only eight field goals in the final 20 minutes on Saturday. In UConn's last five victories, opponents have connected on a combined 31.2 percent after intermission.

Stingy defense has allowed the Huskies to overcome some offensive deficiencies and fuel their late-game surges.

"Sometimes we come out lackadaisical in the first half and dug ourselves a little hole," red-shirt sophomore Rodney Purvis said. "We know that once we all get down in a stance and play defense together, it's really hard for anybody to score on us. We believe in our defense. We've got Amida (Brimah) in the back blocking every single shot and the guards staying in front of players.

"We're sliding our feet and helping each other on defense. … Once we start getting stops and stopping people, that's when we get transition layups and the long rebounds from guys taking long shots and we're just running and having fun playing basketball."

Of course, it's more fun when you're winning.

Tulsa has potential to spoil UConn's fun. The Huskies can move into a five-way tie for first place with a win.

"A lot of people still don't believe in us," Purvis said. "I really feel like we're getting better and better… We're going up. It's always good to be going up."

g.keefe@theday.com

Twitter: @GavinKeefe

UConn at Tulsa

Location: Reynolds Center, Tulsa, Okla.

Tip-off: 9:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network).

Records: UConn 9-5, 2-1; Tulsa 10-5, 3-0.

Last game: UConn beat Cincinnati, 62-56, Saturday; Tulsa won at Temple, 63-56, Saturday.

Probable starters: UConn, 6-0 sr. guard Ryan Boatright (16.9 pts, 4.9 rebs, 4.4 assists), r-s so. Rodney Purvis (9.4 pts), 6-7 fr. forward Daniel Hamilton (10.3 pts, 5.7 rebs), 6-9 so. forward Kentan Facey (6.5 pts, 6.6 rebs), 7-0 so. center Amida Brimah (11.0 pts, 5.4 rebs, 2.8 blks).

Tulsa, 6-4 jr. guard Shaquille Harrison (15.7 pts, 3.4 assists), 6-3 jr. guard James Woodard (14.8 pts, 4.7 rebs), 6-3 jr. guard Marquel Curtis (8.2 pts, 3.3 rebs), 6-7 jr. forward Rashad Smith (7.9 pts, 6.7 rebs), 6-9 jr. forward D'Andre Wright (7.2 pts, 4.7 rebs).

Noteworthy: UConn attempting to win a season-best four straight games. … Tulsa riding five-game unbeaten streak, allowing foes to shoot 35 percent from field during that stretch. … Only second ever meeting in series, with UConn winning 89-68, in the 1978 Connecticut Mutual Classic at New Haven Coliseum. … Boatright first in scoring overall in AAC, Harrison third. … Tulsa's conference wins vs. Temple, Houston and UCF. … Woodard an AAC preseason first team pick. … Top reserve: 5-10 jr. guard Rashad Ray (6.9 pts). … Huskies 2-0 in true road games, Golden Hurricane 6-2 at home. … Brimah first in AAC in field goal percentage at .674. … Hot: Harrison averaging 22.3 pts in last seven games after scoring 9.9 in first eight. Cold: Reserve Sam Cassell Jr. shooting 27.4 percent. … Huskies averaging 57.7 pts and allowing 52.3 in three AAC games. … Up next: UConn visits Stanford on Saturday.

- Gavin Keefe