Connecticut, in an 84-67 win in the Maui Invitational final, was the only team all season to blow out the the Kentucky men’s basketball team.”I just think we came in that game with a lot of pressure,” freshman forward Terrence Jones said. “We played like freshmen. We threw up a lot of shots on two men or didn’t make an extra pass.”UK is clearly a much-improved team since that game, but Brandon Knight was quick to point out that UConn is too.”We’ve gotten a lot better,” Knight said. “We were still learning at the time. We were still trying to figure out where we needed to be and what we needed to do. I think we’ve gotten a lot better and a lot more mature, but they’ve grown and become better also.”Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun sees the teams as so different from then to now that he doesn’t even view that November game as having anything to do with Saturday evening’s rematch.”The Kentucky game just got out of hand with four minutes to go in the first half,” Calhoun said. “It was an even game. It has nothing to do with (Saturday’s) game, in my opinion, unless they’re there for revenge, and I don’t think that John (Calipari) or his team really worries about revenge. They just want to get a championship.”I don’t think the previous matchup can be thrown out quite so easily.I believe there is information that can be gleaned from the game, so as I break the two teams down from a statistical perspective, I’ll be referring back to the mauling in Maui, Hawaii, as a way to highlight what to watch for on Saturday.Statistics are most valuable when they are taken in context, so I’m going to compare how the two teams’ offenses and defenses stack up with one another. Let’s get started.Connecticut offense vs. Kentucky defenseThere’s no disputing that the greatest strength of Connecticut’s offense is Kemba Walker. The junior guard averages 23.9 points per game, good for fourth in the nation, and 4.5 assists. He is unquestionably among the top candidates for player of the year honors and is among the most feared scorers in the game. UK’s defensive stopper, DeAndre Liggins, will likely draw the assignment of guarding Walker as he did in Maui, when Walker torched UK for 29 points and six assists in leading the Huskies to an 84-67 win.Although UK learned a lot more about how not to guard Walker than how to actually stop him, the time the cats spent chasing him around could prove to be valuable.”Sometimes when you go into a game against Kemba, you don’t realize the quickness and speed and some of the things he does,” Calhoun said. “They have had 40 minutes of it firsthand.”As dynamic as Walker is, he doesn’t always receive due credit for how well he takes care of the basketball. He averages only 2.3 turnovers per game in spite of playing 37.6 minutes on average and handling the ball for his team as much as any player in the nation. Walker sets the tone for his team in terms of taking care of the basketball and his teammates follow suit. As a unit, the Huskies commit just 11.3 turnovers per game. According to kenpom.com, the Huskies are 22nd in the nation in turnover percentage at roughly 16.9 percent.Defensively, UK does not rely on forcing a great deal of turnovers to handcuff opponents. The Wildcats have a defensive turnover percentage of 17.8 percent that ranks 297th nationally. With how well UConn takes care of the ball and the way that Kentucky prefers to sit back and contest shots rather than jump in passing lanes or pressure the ball, I anticipate a low turnover game for the Huskies on Saturday and do not think UK needs to force a bunch of turnovers to be successful on defense.What Kentucky does need to do defensively is effectively contest shots, something the Wildcats have made a living on all season, especially during their current 10-game winning streak. As calculated by kenpom.com, UK ranks ninth in the nation in effective field goal defense at 44.2 percent. The Wildcats are particularly stout inside the arc, allowing just 42.0 percent shooting from 2-point range, sixth nationally.If you were going to pick out one area of weakness for UConn’s offense it would be its field-goal shooting, which perhaps bodes well for UK. The Huskies’ effective field goal percentage is a pedestrian 48.5 percent, 200th nationally. They shoot 33.7 percent from 3-point range (201st), 47.6 percent (181st) from 2-point range and will take some extremely difficult shots, especially in the half court.However, if you had only watched the UK-UConn game in Maui, you would think the Huskies were the best shooting team in the nation and that UK couldn’t stop anyone. Connecticut shot an astounding 30-52 (57.7 percent) and Kentucky could not get out of its own way.In light of how well UConn played offensively in Maui, it’s a little frightening that the Huskies did so with only two points in 12 minutes from Jeremy Lamb, the freshman guard that has evolved into a reliable second scoring option for Calhoun.”He, in the last month of the season, has been phenomenal,” UK coach John Calipari said, “because what happens to you is you play Kemba and you forget about him, and then Jim starts running that guy off baseline screens and then all of a sudden he’s curling and stepping through. Or you play the pick and roll too much and they throw it over the top to him and he’s making 3s.”Clearly, the Wildcats will have to account for Lamb.UConn’s second-leading scorer against UK in Maui was sophomore center Alex Oriakhi, who torched the Cats around the basket with easy dunks and put-backs to the tune of 18 points and 11 rebounds. The big man is the driving force behind UConn’s stellar offensive rebounding efforts. The Huskies rebound their own misses 38.5 percent of the time, good for seventh nationally. For the year, UK is above average in terms of defensive rebounding percentage (70.3 percent), but it will need to put together a great performance to limit Oriakhi and freshman forward Roscoe Smith.For Kentucky to be successful defensively, it will need to contest shots effectively and force the Huskies, especially Walker and Lamb, into difficult attempts. UConn will hit some tough ones at times, but the ones they miss UK has to pursue like crazy. Jones and senior forward Josh Harrellson combined for just 10 rebounds in the Maui final, a number they must improve upon. Additionally, perimeter players like Knight, DeAndre Liggins and Darius Miller need to contribute on the glass as well for UK to close out possessions and get stops.Kentucky offense vs. Connecticut defenseConnecticut is actually a very similar defensive team to UK. The Huskies force turnovers just 17.5 percent of the time (310th in the nation) and rely on their length to make opponents’ attempts at the basket as difficult as possible. Their effective field-goal defense is 45.1 percent, 21st in the country, and they block shots at a high rate (5.5 per game).In the Maui final, their defensive strength was on full display, as they forced UK into 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) from the field. If not for 24 points from Terrence Jones, including 4 of 4 from 3-point range, things actually could have been even uglier.”We played great defense and we were real energetic,” UConn’s Lamb said. “They also missed a lot of shots.”As good as UConn was defensively, much of UK’s ineptitude had to do with the fact that the team was learning how to play together.”It was rough for all of us,” Harrellson said. “I thought everyone played terrible, especially in the first half. We came out flat and were selfish with the ball.”UK has come an awfully long way since that performance and it has turned into one of the most efficient offensive units in the country in the process.The Wildcats are, first of all, dead-eye shooters. Not only that, they also are very deliberate and selective with their looks. They sport an effective field goal percentage of 52.7 percent (36th nationally) and they take care of the basketball extremely well, committing turnovers on just 16.1 percent of their possessions (10th in the country).That team that was dismantled by UConn is a distant memory.”I believe in everybody much more,” Jones said. “We are running more offense more than just the dribble-drive offense. It’s taking a lot of pressure off for any one player.”As selfishly as the Wildcats played in that game and as far as they have come in November, there is one thing from that matchup that they would love to duplicate: the way they attacked the offensive glass. UK exceeded its season average and grabbed 13 offensive rebounds against UConn.Protecting their own defensive backboards has been a weakness all year for the Huskies, as they are 236th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage. The Wildcats must capitalize on that if they want to keep this magical run going.Conclusion: the glass is keyThe battle on Saturday may just be won by the team that rebounds better.These two squads rely on stout half-court defense to contest shots, so clean looks at the basket will be at a premium. Neither team is likely to force many turnovers, so most extra looks at the basket will come via offensive rebounding. UConn is among the best in the nation at tracking its own misses, but they also are prone to giving up offensive boards to their opponents.Walker and Jeremy Lamb are likely going to score their share of points, but they also are likely to miss their share of shots, as will UK’s stars. Neither UConn nor UK run a great deal of sets to get looks for Oriakhi or Harrellson, but the way they chase misses could be where the outcome of this game is determined.