The second-ranked UConn women’s basketball team will welcome the Georgetown Hoyas to Hartford as Big East play opens this weekend for the entire conference.
The Huskies (8-1) are coming off the season’s first loss, a 79-68 shootout in South Bend against No. 8 Notre Dame. Paige Bueckers led all Husky scorers with 25 points, with Sarah Strong (14), Kaitlyn Chen (11) and KK Arnold (10) all reaching double digits.
Georgetown (6-4) most recently fell to George Mason, 63-55 in McDonough Arena last Monday. The Hoyas turned the ball over 15 times and shot just 23.1% from deep.
That’s not much different from the Huskies, however, who shot a sour 18.8% from three and turned the ball over 13 times in the loss to the Fighting Irish.
The two teams have met 61 times previously, with Connecticut winning 55 of them, including 38 straight – and counting.
Connecticut last met Georgetown in the Big East title game in March, defeating the Hoyas 78-42 to claim a fourth consecutive conference crown.
The Hoyas rely primarily on two high-profile scorers on the offensive end. Seniors Kelsey Ransom (21.1 ppg) and Ariel Jenkins (13.1) are the straws that stir the DC-drink, combining for 35 points in Georgetown’s 71-57 win over Colgate University last Saturday. Ransom scored 28 points in the loss to George Mason, with all but six of them coming from inside the arc. Junior guard Victoria Rivera contributes over 12 points per night as well, forming a solid trio for head coach Darnell Haney to work with.
Connecticut ranks 10th in the nation in points per game allowed (52.8) and 22nd in average scoring margin per game (+26.2), relying –most nights – on a staunch defensive presence on the interior and closeout play on the perimeter.
The Huskies are also the best two-point shooting team in the country, knocking down 62.1% of attempted shots from inside the arc and ranking fifth in the country in effective field goal percentage (57.7%).
The Hoya defense allows 52.9% of opponent points from two point range, 224th in the country. Georgetown is excellent at defending the triple (fortunately the Huskies’ biggest weakness as an offense), allowing just 29.8% of attempts to hit.
The battle to watch will be on the boards. Frontcourt pieces Jana El Alfy, Ice Brady and Sarah Strong will look to have an impact on the offensive glass, as the Hoyas (9.9 offensive rebounds per game) rank in the bottom half of total rebounds per game in the nation. Georgetown has just three players above six-foot-one on the roster (in comparison to Connecticut’s six) and none over six-foot-four.
The Huskies will face off with Georgetown in the XL Center this afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The game will be streamed on SNY.