Storrs — There's a widely held belief in the UConn basketball family that they shouldn't be mired in mediocrity despite their injury issues.

They're better than that.

So, why aren't they better?

"I don't think that's a one answer question," freshman Christian Vital said on Tuesday. "It could be a lot of things. You could say, it's not shooting well from three or someone is not boxing out. To be honest, in games, the other teams have just been able to make more plays than us on the offensive and defensive end.

"But I think we're starting to get better with that. That's why we did go on a three-game win streak for the first time during the season, so that shows we are improving. Like everyone has said, we have a lot of season left. We're not walking around with our heads down. We can definitely improve our record by a lot right now.

"We're thinking more about being optimistic and positive than thinking about our record."

UConn (10-12, 5-5) saw its three-game winning streak end with a humbling 82-68 loss at American Athletic Conference leader Cincinnati on Saturday. The Huskies will attempt to start another run Wednesday, hosting last-place South Florida (6-16, 0-11) at Gampel Pavilion (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network).

Coach Kevin Ollie cited a lack of consistency as his biggest concern right now.

"It's not having the lulls on the offensive end and defensive end," said Ollie of what needs to be fixed. "We gave up 50 percent shooting against Cincinnati. I just want us to get better from that. Those are the concerns and have been the concerns the whole year. As a coach, they'll always be my concerns."

The seventh-place Huskies have been fairly predictable this season, going 1-5 against teams above them in the standings while 4-0 versus programs below them, including routing South Florida, 81-60, on Jan. 25 in Tampa. In that first meeting, they led by just two at halftime and then pulled away in the second half behind a balanced attack. Five Huskies scored in double digits.

Life hasn't improved for the Bulls, who have dropped 11 straight.

The Huskies have been warned about not taking the Bulls lightly.

"We're definitely not overlooking them one bit," Vital said. "We're taking them as any other game we've had this season. We need to just go out there and execute."

South Florida has played a more competitive brand of basketball in recent games. Sunday at Temple, the Bulls trailed by 23 at the break before staging a rally, scoring 51 points — a season-high in a half — before eventually losing 83-74.

"They're playing every possession hard," Ollie said. "Whatever they did at Temple got my attention. ... We've got to show a lot more toughness than we showed in Cincinnati to come out with a great win."

A lack of effort and intensity contributed to UConn's downfall at Cincinnati. The Huskies sat back and relaxed too much. And they didn't follow their scouting report.

"I just wanted us to play better and with more effort and have more fight from the beginning of the game," Ollie said. "We did that in spurts. ... We've got to continue to fight. We'll do that. I really believe in this team and I love this team. We've been through too much to give up now, and they're not going to give up."

The Huskies worked on correcting those issues in practice this week.

"We had some good energy in practice today," senior Rodney Purvis said. "Hopefully, we can bounce back."

UConn will be operating with its full rotation of eight available scholarship players. Reserves Juwan Durham and Steven Enoch both returned from injuries last game and participated in the entire practice on Tuesday.

"Looking back on it in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have played them (against Cincinnati) because they didn't really practice or participate the whole week, but they wanted to play," Ollie said. "I probably would have done it differently if I had to do it over again. They're full strength now, but they've got to break into the rotation. ... We can't just give them minutes."

g.keefe@theday.com

UCONN vs. SOUTH FLORIDA

Location: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs

Tip: 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network)

Records: UConn 10-12, 5-5; USF 6-16, 0-11

Last game: UConn lost at No. 14 Cincinnati, 82-68, Saturday; USF lost at Temple, 83-74, Sunday

Probable starters: UConn, 6-3 so. guard Jalen Adams (14.7 pts, 4.6 rebs, 6.6 assists), 6-4 r-sr. guard Rodney Purvis (12.7 pts, 4.5 rebs), 6-8 fr. forward Vance Jackson (8.1 pts), 6-10 sr. forward Kentan Facey (8.6 pts, 7.3 rebs), 7-0 sr. center Amida Brimah (8 pts, 5.7 rebs, 2.9 blks)

South Florida, 6-3 fr. guard Mike Bibby (6.8 pts), 6-4 jr. guard Geno Thorpe (14 pts, 4.5 assists), 6-6 jr. forward Bo Zeigler (5.3 pts, 3.8 rebs), 6-8 fr. forward Malik Fitts (8 pts, 4.9 rebs), 6-9 so. forward Luis Santos (5.8 pts, 3.9 rebs)

Noteworthy: Seventh-place UConn won 3 of last 4 games. AAC cellar dweller USF lost 11 in a row. ... Series: Huskies lead, 17-2, winning 7 straight including last meeting 81-60, Jan. 25 in Tampa. Adams (20 pts) led five players in double figures. ... Fitts AAC rookie of week, averaging 17.5 pts, 8.5 rebs in 2 games. ... Top reserve: 6-7 r-fr forward Tulio Da Silva (10.3 pts, 7.1 rebs). ... Posted 0-9 record since interim coach Murry Bartow took over on Jan. 3. ... Bulls 10th in conference games in scoring offense (62.4 pts) and scoring defense (78.7). Averaging 16.4 turnovers per game. ... UConn 2nd in FT percentage (77.3) and blks (5.2) in AAC action. ... Hot: Purvis averaging a team-high 16 pts in last four games. Cold: USF lost by an average of 16.3 pts during 11-game losing streak. ... Huskies  6-4 at home, including 3-2 at Gampel. Bulls 1-8 on road, only win at Troy Dec. 1.  ... UConn 5-0 when scoring between 70 and 89 pts this season. ... Up next: UConn visits Central Florida in Orlando Saturday.

— Gavin Keefe