No. 21 Connecticut 72, No. 19 Memphis 53: Niels Giffey hit 6-of-8 3-pointers on the way to a career-high 24 points to power the Huskies past the Tigers in the American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals in Memphis, Tenn.

Giffey also had nine rebounds while DeAndre Daniels added 13 points and five rebounds for fourth-seeded Connecticut (25-7), which will play top-seeded Cincinnati on Friday. Shabazz Napier had 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists and Ryan Boatright chipped in 11 points and six assists.

Joe Jackson and Chris Crawford each had 10 points for fifth-seeded Memphis (23-9). The Tigers shot a season-low 26.4 percent from the floor while tying their season low in points.

UConn hit 7-of-12 from the 3-point line in the first half, pushing its lead to 32-21 on Giffey's fourth 3-pointer with just over five minutes left and taking a 41-27 lead into halftime after Boatright hit a 3 with 18 seconds left. Napier and Giffey hit consecutive 3s during a 12-3 run that pushed the Huskies' lead to 55-35 less than six minutes into the second half.

Memphis went more than 10 minutes without a field goal as the Huskies pushed their lead to 64-40 with five minutes left. The Tigers had 12 turnovers and 14 field goals and allowed UConn to shoot 52.9 percent from the floor.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Napier (1,801) moved into sixth place on UConn's all-time scoring list, passing Ben Gordon (1,795) during Thursday's game. ... Midway through the second half, UConn had as many made 3-pointers (10) as Memphis had made field goals. ... Four of the six games at the AAC tournament have been decided by four or fewer points, not including Louisville's 61-point win over Rutgers and this one.