STORRS – The UConn women’s basketball team’s lengthy résumé of regular season accolades proved enough to earn it the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.
That résumé includes an unblemished 34-0 record — highlighted by a never-before-seen 23-0 mark in Big East play — a pair of All-Americans dotting its roster and a series of uncontested blastings of ranked opponents, fueling a now 50-game winning streak, the fifth longest in Division I history.
But the Huskies, tabbed as the consensus title favorite, can’t revel in their accomplishments just yet: there’s work to be done.
Work that starts in Storrs on Saturday afternoon against No. 16 seed UTSA (18-15). Work that will require the Huskies to focus, particularly in the paint, if they want to book flights to Fort Worth next weekend.
“We were having a discussion this morning with some people about how much more difficult it is to harness that concentration, that focus,” Geno Auriemma said of the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament being held in Storrs. “It’s hard to get them to concentrate on anything for 15 minutes. I’m guessing them thinking about Forth Worth or beyond, probably only lasts about 30 seconds and then they’re onto something different.”
Get to know the Roadrunners and what could be in store for Connecticut on Monday if it were to win.
Photo by Connor Sharp/The Daily Campus
Opponent Profile: No. 16 UTSA (18-15)
Karen Aston’s Roadrunners tore through the AAC Tournament as the No. 6 seed en route to claiming the school’s third NCAA Tournament bid.
UTSA, spearheaded by the duo of Cheyenne Rowe and Ereauna Hardaway, allows the 28th fewest points per game in the country (57.8) and ranks 91st in overall strength of schedule.
Rowe and Hardaway are the only double figure scorers on average, however. The Roadrunners have struggled to find consistent production from a third source the entire season and are limited from behind the arc (284th in Division I), favoring an interior approach that ranks 27th nationally in second chance points and 45th on the defensive glass.
It’ll serve as an appetizer of what could await on Monday night… presuming both Storrs Subregional favorites win their respective games.
Crooks and the Orange
No. 8 Iowa State and No. 9 Syracuse, the two other teams crashing in Storrs for the weekend, will take the court 30 minutes after the conclusion of UConn’s game Saturday afternoon.
The Cyclones, led by an All-American of their own in Audi Crooks on the block, are the projected favorites to meet Connecticut on Monday evening, which would give the Huskies their first taste of a dominant post scorer since they met Hannah Stuelke (Iowa) in December.
Post scoring and paint defense, much like it was during the Huskies’ run a year ago, will be paramount for Connecticut in its quest for a repeat. Jana El Alfy and Serah Williams will be counted on for an uptick in production, and it’ll start Saturday against UTSA’s hardy glass attack.
WHO: UConn women’s basketball vs. UTSA
WHAT: NCAA Tournament First Round
WHERE: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Conn.
WHEN: Saturday at 3 p.m.