NEW ORLEANS -- Christian Vital scored 28 points and Isaiah Whaley finished with a double-double and UConn beat Tulane 80-76 on Sunday to end American Athletic Conference play.

The two squads will face off again in the opening round of the conference tournament, which starts Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas. The Huskies (19-12, 10-8), winners of eight of their last 10, are seeded fifth while Tulane (12-18, 4-14) is a 12 seed.

Brendan Adams scored 12 points, Whaley, Josh Carlton and Alterique Gilbert each scored 10. Whaley grabbed 10 rebounds with six coming on the offensive end.

The Green Wave led 41-39 at halftime. Eighteen seconds into the second half, Whaley converted a three-point play and the Huskies never trailed again. Vital and Teshaun Hightower each made a pair of foul shots with 25 and 16 seconds left respectively, and Adams made 1 of 2 with 15 seconds to go for the final margin.

Christion Thompson led Tulane with 21 points, Hightower scored 14 and Jordan Walker and Kevin Zhang each scored 12.

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