When the UConn women’s basketball team last lost three games before Dec. 15, Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Sylvia Hatchell was in her first season with the North Carolina Tar Heels. During her 33-year tenure in Chapel Hill, Hatchell’s Tar Heels won 751 games, eight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament titles, made three Final Four appearances and brought home the 1994 national championship.
The two-time National Coach of the Year finished her career, which started at Francis Marion University in South Carolina, fifth all-time in wins among Division I head coaches with 1,023 and produced five All-Americans. Beginning his Division I head coaching career one year earlier, Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma led UConn to 11 national titles, 22 Final Fours, over 1,150 wins and developed five WNBA first overall selections.
Both basketball powerhouses met 11 times with their Hall of Fame head coaches roaming the sidelines, with Auriemma’s Huskies holding the 7-4 edge. While Hatchell stepped down in 2019, the two programs create a new chapter as No. 17 Connecticut battles No. 24 North Carolina in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena Sunday.
Injuries have left the Huskies with 10 healthy players since Paige Bueckers’ homecoming game on Nov. 19, and it may stay that way with junior guard Caroline Ducharme and sophomore forward Ayanna Patterson’s returns still unknown. Despite their woes, including their worst start to a season in 30 years, Connecticut dropped 90 points in a 27-point win over the Ball State Cardinals at Gampel Pavilion Wednesday night.
The Huskies’ offense shot 59% from the field in each of their past two games, and senior forward Aaliyah Edwards has been at the forefront of the attack in that span. Picking up her first double-double of the year Wednesday, Edwards has taken a slight step back with 15.8 points and 7.3 boards per game, but still gets it done as a composed yet physical force down the middle.
Beyond the boards, the senior forward causes problems for other teams in transition with a team-best 15 steals. Redshirt junior Bueckers has just as many, further strengthening her defensive presence on top of her five blocks and 37 defensive rebounds. With junior guard Azzi Fudd out for the season, Bueckers has become the primary three-point threat with a team-high 15 triples at a 45.5% rate while averaging 19 points.
Graduate forward Aubrey Griffin, meanwhile, has become a versatile player whose impact on the game works at any position. Griffin may average just 8.6 points per game, but her 6.4 boards and eight total blocks make her a punishing problem on the glass. Add in senior guard Nika Mühl’s 32 assists and redshirt freshman Ice Brady’s 2.6 boards per game, and UConn can strike fear in two different ways.
Expect freshman guard Ashlynn Shade, who dropped a career-best 17 points on three treys on Wednesday, in the starting lineup again with Ducharme’s return date still uncertain. Since the Tar Heels went with four guards among their first five out in their game on Wednesday, freshman guard KK Arnold (7.4 PPG, 3.0 APG) could also be in line for her second straight start.
North Carolina may be 58th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, but that should not fool the Huskies by any means. Two out of the Tar Heels’ three losses came via seven-point defeats against the No. 16 Kansas State Wildcats in the Gulf Coast Showcase and the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks at Carmichael Arena. In those defeats, UNC kept their opponent under 70 points and allowed no individual to score more than 16.
Iowa State transfer Lexi Donarski’s six threes on eight shots from downtown provided a much-needed spark for the Tar Heels in their 15-point win over the UNC Greensboro Spartans on Wednesday. Fourth on the team with 10.6 points per game, the graduate guard accounts for nearly half of North Carolina’s three-point shots with 22 at a team-best 40% clip.
Eight of the other 24 triples come from senior guard Deja Kelly, who has buried a basket from downtown in each of her last four contests. On top of having two games where she had seven or more assists, Kelly ranks ninth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring at 16.1 points per game. If the All-ACC First Team selection can be compared to Bueckers, then senior Alyssa Ustby’s game matches Griffin’s. Ustby can play anywhere on the court, ranking sixth in the ACC with 8.4 boards (3.9 offensive) a game while dishing out 29 assists and averaging 11 points.
With 6.6 points and 4.9 rebounds in 19 minutes per game, sophomore guard Indya Nivar might be the Tar Heels’ biggest X-factor in their third ranked battle. The Stanford transfer has been shut out twice in her last five contests, but that will not deter coach Courtney Banghart from putting her in the starting lineup against a guard-heavy team. Junior forward Maria Gakdeng, meanwhile, may cause problems for Connecticut in the paint with a team-best 11 blocks on top of her 10.9 points and 6.1 boards per game.
The tale of the tape comes down to possessing the ball. UNC has not had a game where they turned the ball over 16-plus times while the Huskies have done that in half of their eight contests. Both teams score around 19 points off their opponent’s turnovers a night, but even though UConn forces more steals, the Tar Heels have allowed 4.4 fewer points when they do lose the rock. Although North Carolina holds the edge when it comes to picking up an extra possession, whichever team does a better job of keeping the ball in their hands will walk out of Mohegan Sun Arena victorious.
Tip-off in the final game of the 10th edition of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase is at 5 p.m. on ESPN.