Some games of basketball are gorgeous to watch. They feature beautiful passing, elite shot making and 40 minutes of basketball that leave you feeling fulfilled after it’s finished. Others are more like the Sweet 16 matchup between the UConn women’s basketball team and Duke.
It wasn’t the prettiest matchup ever–the teams shot a combined 40/110 and coughed up 36 turnovers. Offense was hard to come by throughout the game despite the fast pace it was played at. But still, one of the teams had to emerge with the victory. Fortunately for those wearing navy and white, it was the Huskies, even as their 20-point lead shrunk to just two possessions down the stretch.
“I thought as the game went on, we either got mentally or physically tired,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “We stopped getting to our spots. And they started to exploit those driving lanes. When you get to this point, final eight games, Sweet 16 games, nobody just gets down 15, 16 and says, ‘ah, hell with it. We’ll get the next one.’ There is no next one, so everybody plays their butt off to the end. So you knew it wasn’t going to last the way we were making it look really easy there for a while in the third quarter. But we couldn’t sustain it. We couldn’t sustain it.”
Paige Bueckers shared Auriemma’s sentiment, describing the intense nature of the game.
“I think the game was very physical on both ends of the floor,” the star player noted postgame. “The pace was fast, both sides trying to push it. So, you feel it, but at this point of the season, you’ve got to be mentally tougher. Everybody’s got aches and boo-boos during this time, and it’s just about who powers through it better, who’s mentally tougher. So it’s something we try not to really focus on.”
Bueckers certainly did a nice job not focusing on any ailments she may have been experiencing, absolutely shouldering the load for the team. She took 21 shots and was able to get 24 points, doing everything in her power to get her Huskies to the Elite Eight. That included her playing all 40 minutes, which was also done by teammates KK Arnold and Nika Mühl.
“I’m not really surprised when the ball goes in the hoop for her,” Aaliyah Edwards said of her teammate, Bueckers. “But some of the moves that she gets leading up to the bucket is pretty impressive. But that’s just how Paige plays basketball, and it’s beautiful to watch. She does what she does in games in practice.”
Edwards didn’t have nearly as great of an outing as many fans are often accustomed to, but she still played a huge part in the win. Even though she found herself stuck on the bench for longer than usual with foul trouble late in the third period into the fourth, she came back in during a big moment and hit the dagger. Her point total finished at 12 and she grabbed seven boards, but her impact when on the court was tremendous.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the aggression shown by Arnold. The contributions from the freshmen duo–her and Ashlynn Shade–have been spotty this year, but they’ve generally stepped up when needed. Arnold took 15 shots, a career high. The guard is typically more likely to defer to her teammates and avoid taking overly contested shots, especially when it comes to threes. But she wasn’t scared to toss up shots, ultimately leading to a 12 point, four assist line. Her defense was also tremendous, accounting for five of the team’s 14 steals.
“I just saw her being confident in her movements and the spots she wanted to get to on the floor on offense and defense, disrupting,” Bueckers noted of her teammate. “Just being KK, just being pest, pushing the ball up the floor, getting into the lane, creating from there. And then pressuring the ball and getting deflections, getting steals on defense. So, her just being confident, not thinking and just playing her game. I thought she did a great job tonight.”
There was little offense to speak of in the first half, particularly for Duke. Even as UConn was able to get buckets here and there with scoring from Edwards and Bueckers, the Blue Devils were less fortunate.
The senior duo continued to help the lead balloon slowly, up to double digits by the time the half was nearing its conclusion. It was thanks to the Huskies’ defense, which allowed just eight points in the first 17 minutes of action. A late three from Duke gave them some momentum going into the locker room, with much to discuss for both sides.
Suddenly in the third frame, it seemed like Connecticut was finally ready to break the game open. Bueckers hit a pair of threes and Arnold went in strong to the cup, with the pair combining for 17 of the Huskies’ 19 points in the quarter. Looking up at the scoreboard, UConn’s advantage was up to 20–right in time for them to run out of gas.
“We got up 20 because we just pushed it, pushed it, pushed it,” Auriemma said. “And then I felt like, okay. We need a breather here, or we’re not going to be able to finish the game. And I think by doing that, we got a little bit — you know, kind of took a deep breath. We were exercising, and then we decided to have a cigarette, and then we didn’t feel like exercising anymore. So, it’s hard for us to get back into the flow of things. But I knew scoring was going to be very, very difficult, very difficult on both ends.”
The difficulty showed late in the third as the Huskies allowed Duke to quickly cut it to 15. And then came an onslaught in the final 10 minutes. As Edwards sat on the bench with four fouls, the Blue Devils piled on the points, including a 10-0 run.
The Husky lead was down to five points and Edwards checked back into the game. With a minute left, Connecticut needed some magic from their senior forward. On a designed isolation play, Edwards drove in, took a dribble and sunk a shot from 17 feet out. Ballgame.
“We did feel like their pressure was so hard on our wings that Aaliyah was going to have some breathing room,” Auriemma recalled of the shot. “And I felt like she could either get a layup or get a wide-open jump shot. And thank God–you know, that was a big shot, huge shot. We’ve made some big plays the last two games when we really had to. I’m really proud of that.”
The bucket secured Connecticut’s spot in the Elite Eight, now with the chance to return to the Final Four. The task at hand is 1-seed USC and JuJu Watkins, who will be just as hungry for a trip to Cleveland, OH. Tip is Monday on ESPN at 9 p.m.