Storrs — Come next Sunday, UConn will learn its NCAA tournament fate.

Until then, the Huskies will focus on continuing to build a strong case for earning a bid.

They'll carry some valuable momentum into this week's American Athletic Conference tournament from a confidence-building 67-46 rout of Central Florida on Senior Day at a sold-out Gampel Pavilion.

Coach Kevin Ollie, whose team is 21-10 overall and 11-7 in the AAC, knows it will likely take at least a win over Cincinnati in Friday afternoon's AAC quarterfinal in Orlando to avoid any nervous moments on Selection Sunday. The Huskies are the No. 5 seed.

"We still have work to do," Ollie said. "We don't want to put it in their hands. We want to make sure we're in there for sure. ... We have to play hard, we have to play aggressive. We can't play like we're already in the tournament or anything like that. We're fighting for our lives. We have to play with desperation.

"Cincinnati beat us twice. If we're fortunate to get past that, we play Temple and they beat us twice. If that's not motivation, I don't know what is."

Senior Day was a rousing success on several levels.

The emotional pregame ceremony featured some warm and fuzzy moments, including the entire team mobbing Phil Nolan during his introduction. With his grandparents, who raised him, unable to make the trip from Milwaukee, Nolan walked out to center court with a student manager and an administrative assistant.

"It was just a great gesture," Ollie said. "Of course, Phil didn't want the attention. ... But I think he really, really got a nice warm feeling inside when everybody hugged him."

The Huskies sent the departing players — Sterling Gibbs, Shonn Miller, Nnamdi Amilo, Omar Calhoun and Nolan — out on a high note in the regular season finale. All five broke into the scoring column.

Gibbs (10 points) and sophomore Daniel Hamilton, who scored all of his 12 points in the second half, led the charge in a game that the Huskies led by just four (30-24) at intermission before pulling away. They extended the edge to as many as 24 against the Knights (12-17, 6-12), who lost the first meeting by 26 points on Jan. 31.

"I'm glad all of them had a great game," Ollie said of his seniors. "Even Nnamdi got a couple of free throws, so it really made me feel very special inside. I just want to thank them, first and foremost. It was just a great game to finish our regular season, especially at home here in front of our Gampel faithful. I thought we did a really good job playing with intensity and playing hard."

The victory came on the heels of a late-season funk during which UConn lost three of its last four.

It also was an encouraging sign that Hamilton bounced back from a dreadful start. Ollie benched Hamilton in the first half after the sophomore forward committed his third turnover. He played only four minutes before returning to the floor at the 15:04 mark of the second half.

Hamilton sparked a decisive 18-4 spurt that turned a six-point lead into a 55-35 advantage with 6:39 left. He buried a 3-pointer for his first basket, converted two free throws, hit a runner in the lane and added another 3-pointer, accounting for 10 points in the run.

"I just had to settle down and just get myself going," said Hamilton, who played a season-low 17 minutes. "I came out kind of flat and then I got bench. Once he put me back in, I was ready to play."

UCF hung around for awhile thanks in part to the play of Tacko Fall, a 7-6 human skyscraper who finished with 13 points. The Knights scored the game's first eight points before cooling off. During one brutal stretch in the first half, they went almost seven minutes without a point, allowing UConn time to find its offensive rhythm.

The day belonged to the Huskies, who limited the Knights to just 35 percent from the field and turned 17 turnovers into 24 points.

"We fought hard," said Calhoun, who had six points and a career-high tying four assists. "It was a slow start, but we brought a lot of energy on both ends on the floor. A win like that is definitely great going into the tournament. We're still hungry for more. We want to win the conference tournament, that's our mindset. From there, we'll see what happens."

UCF coach Donnie Jones believes UConn already meets the requirements for an NCAA bid.

"Without question, UConn is a tournament team...," Jones said. "They've shown obviously with some of the wins that they've had against Texas and Georgetown, some of these other teams outside the league, that they can play with anybody across the country.

"I think they are going to be very dangerous when this tournament starts on Thursday. It will be vital for them. But there's a lot of teams that can win this conference tournament and they're definitely one of them."

g.keefe@theday.com

AAC tournament

At Orlando, Fla.

First Round

Thursday's Games

Game 1: No. 8 East Carolina vs. No. 9 South Florida, 3:30 p.m.

Game 2: No. 7 Central Florida vs. No. 10 Tulane, 6 p.m.

Quarterfinals

Friday's Games

Game 3: No. 1 Temple vs. Game 1 winner, noon

Game 4: No. 4 Cincinnati vs. No. 5 UConn, 2:30 p.m.

Game 5: No. 2 Houston vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.

Game 6: No. 3 Tulsa vs. No. 6 Memphis, 9:30 p.m.

Semifinals

Saturday's Games

Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 3 p.m.

Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 5:30 p;.m.

Final

Sunday's Game

Game 9: Semifinal winners, 3:15 p.m.