Geno Auriemma became one of three head coaches in college basketball history to win 1,200 career games with the No. 11 UConn women’s basketball team’s 67-34 triumph over the Seton Hall Pirates on Wednesday. The next win may be a harder milestone to achieve, given who the Huskies play on Sunday.
UConn heads down to Columbia, S.C. for their final non-conference battle of the regular season, a duel with the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks. This is the marquee event to watch before Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Nev. between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers kicks off at 6:30 p.m. EST. Like Patrick Mahomes vs. Josh Allen, this women’s basketball war is becoming a significant rivalry for the sport.
Auriemma and the Huskies started the all-time series off with a bang, winning each of the first eight meetings across four different venues. Since guard Katie Lou Samuelson and forward Napheesa Collier graduated in 2019, however, the Gamecocks have had Connecticut’s number. South Carolina has won four of the last five meetings dating back to the 2019-20 season, including the 2022 national championship game.
Redshirt junior guard Paige Bueckers delivered the Gamecocks their lone defeat in that span back in 2021. Bueckers shot 14-26 for 31 points in that contest, but none of her shots were bigger than her dagger 3-pointer. With 13 seconds left in overtime and the Huskies up one, the then-freshman threw up a contested shot and watched it bounce up before falling into the basket.
Bueckers won National Player of the Year that season; she has been playing at a much higher level as a redshirt junior. On top of being the scoring threat she was advertised as out of high school, Bueckers has done it all from both ends of the floor. Whether it is swatting shots or drawing a turnover, the redshirt junior has made defensive strides that have brought her back into the National Player of the Year picture.
Fatigue may or may not be catching up to them, but each one of UConn’s nine players must play at their A-game and stay out of foul trouble. That is especially the case for senior guard Nika Mühl.
Against the then-No. 15 Notre Dame Fighting Irish on Jan. 27, it was night and day the way the Huskies played with Mühl on the court. Connecticut’s offense felt a boost when the two-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year played. When she was on the bench, nothing seemed to click on either end of the floor. Keeping Mühl out of foul trouble and on the court for most of the contest will be critical if the Huskies want to pull off the upset.
UConn also needs a bounce back performance from reigning Big East Freshman of the Week KK Arnold, who did not score a point on Wednesday. Arnold’s last few games have involved explosive second halves, but the Huskies need a full 40-minute offensive effort from the nation’s No. 6 recruit. Should the first-year guard get back into the rhythm she had earlier in the season, she and first-year guard Ashlynn Shade (11.2 PPG, five threes on Wednesday) might be an unstoppable tandem.
With South Carolina’s star center Kamilla Cardoso unavailable—she is playing with the Brazilian National Team in their Olympic qualifying event—senior forward Aaliyah Edwards should get several good looks down low. Since not attempting a shot in Connecticut’s loss to the Fighting Irish, Edwards has 73 points and 35 rebounds, with four double-doubles to boot.
It is not a guarantee that the senior forward will produce like she has the last week and a half, however.
Junior forward Sania Feagin and sophomore forwards Ashlyn Watkins and Chloe Kitts will each have an opportunity to go up against Edwards down low. Kitts has started the most out of the three with 19 in 20 games played and has been a solid impact player in the frontcourt with 9.4 points and 6.1 boards a night. Watkins is second in the SEC in blocks per game behind Cardoso with 2.7.
Seven different Gamecocks are averaging upwards of nine points a night as of 5:30 p.m. Thursday (they played the Missouri Tigers the night before), resulting in the nation’s third-best scoring offense at 89.1 PPG. Feagin might not be one of those seven bucket-collectors at 6.5 points a night, but she can cause trouble in the post should she play more than her 13 minutes a night on Sunday.
Even if the senior forward dominates in the paint, the Huskies’ backcourt may become hampered by South Carolina’s aggressive guard play. Former Oregon guard Te-Hina Paopao has played like one of the nation’s top additions from the transfer portal. Beyond her 11.8 points a night, Paopao may be UConn’s toughest player to contain because of how efficient she is from the floor.
No player is shooting better from beyond the arc in the Southeastern Conference than the senior guard at a 48.5% clip. Junior guard Bree Hall (10 PPG) ranks second at 45.6%. Three-pointers aside, Hall can be a difficult defender for opposing offenses to score against despite having just 14 steals and 11 blocks on the season.
ESPN’s No. 13 recruit in the Class of 2023, MiLaysia Fulwiley, has been a very dangerous option off the bench. Fulwiley makes the most of her 19 minutes a night for the Gamecocks, whether it involves scoring from within the arc or being a pickpocket in transition. She is poised to be a starter come next season, but she might be the biggest X-factor of them all until she does. South Carolina’s other secret weapon is Raven Johnson, who averages 9.3 points a night and leads the team with 107 assists.
Tip-off in the 14th all-time meeting between the two college basketball titans since 2007 is set for 2 p.m. EST on ESPN.