PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Good evening everyone from the RAC, where tonight we see the host Scarlet Knights square off with its third straight ranked opponent with No. 15 UConn coming to northern New Jersey for a late February Big East brawl.

Connecticut (21-6, 10-4) is coming off its first loss in 11 outings, a 67-65 setback at Villanova, after putting together a 10-game winning streak that's put the Huskies in contention with league leaders Georgetown and Louisville for the Big East title. Jim Calhoun's team currently sits fourth in the conference standings and welcome back sophomore guard Jerome Dyson tonight. Dyson and Doug Wiggins had been suspended earlier in the season for an alcohol-related incident, which caused both players to take a drug test under the policy of UConn's department of athletics. While Wiggins was allowed to return to the team following a critical win at Indiana, Dyson failed his test and was forced to sit out for the last month. Now with Dyson able to return, it will be interesting to see the dynamic of UConn's offense after playing so well shorthanded over in the past four weeks.

Rutgers (10-18, 2-13), meanwhile, suffered a dismantling 78-48 loss to No. 24 Marquette over the weekend. The Scarlet Knights got off to a good start in that contest against the Golden Eagles but struggled after halftime shooting the ball with just a 27.6 percent. Corey Chandler led the way for Fred Hill's club, hitting 5-of-10 field goals for a team-high 12 points, while J.R. Inman added 11 points.

And we'll also get to see two of the nation's best shotblockers tonight, as Rutgers' Hamady Ndiaye (ninth in blocks with three per game) takes on UConn's Hasheem Thabeet, who ranks third in the country with 4.4 blocks per game.

We still have some time before the tip but we'll be back with all the action between the Huskies and Scarlet Knights...