PHOENIX – The UConn women’s basketball team (38-0) isn’t preparing for Friday’s Final Four showdown with South Carolina (35-3) any differently than it has prepared for a game all season.
It wouldn’t make sense to. Whatever the Huskies have done to this point — 38 games and five months into the season — has worked.
“We’re still playing to win,” said Azzi Fudd of the team’s mindset heading into Friday. “We’re still going to play our hardest, scout the same, treat the game like it’s the biggest one we’ve played all year — and it is.”
The Huskies took the court for warmups before Thursday’s open practice in the same boisterous way they have the previous 38 times — laughing and joking with each other in between stretches on the baseline and deliberating on the podium about the power of friendship.
It wouldn’t normally be indicative of a team that’s in the Final Four for the 25th time in program history, and the 17th time in the last 18 years, but it is. The unblemished Huskies have blasted their previous 54 opponents by an average close to 40 points per night and have only played in a single one-possession game since last February.
But Friday night is undeniably unique: it’ll mark the first time Connecticut and South Carolina meet in the postseason before the national championship game, and the first NCAA Tournament meeting between the two juggernauts not being preceded by one in the regular season.
Geno Auriemma didn’t care for the uniqueness of Friday’s circumstances as much as he did about the Gamecocks’ unique roster overhaul from the teams’ last meeting, however.
“Obviously, this is a different South Carolina team than the one we played last year,” Auriemma said. “Our two wins against them last year don’t really mean anything going into tomorrow — the way [last year’s national championship] was played has no bearing on tomorrow.”
He’s right, even if he’s talking in coachspeak. South Carolina only returns five players (not including the injured Chloe Kitts) who played in last year’s title game against the Huskies.
“They’ve added some really key pieces,” Auriemma continued. “I think they’re a much better team than they were last year. Really hard to prepare for. They’ve shot the ball exceptionally well this year. They’ve added the size that is hard to match up with.”
That they have, coach. Ranking inside the top five nationally in field goal percentage (50.8, third), paint points per game (46.8, second) and second-chance points per game, the Gamecocks have been buoyed by their uncanny size upfront and ruthless aggression on the defensive end of the floor.
“They’re a very big team,” Sarah Strong said Thursday. ‘They definitely have us beat in size. Being able to dig out in the post, make the rotation on the skips [will be vital].”
Joyce Edwards, South Carolina’s linchpin on both sides of the floor, Alica Tournebize, a mid-season import and Madina Okot spearhead one of the nation’s hardiest frontcourts that seldom loses the war on the boards.
The Gamecocks don’t kick it out very often, attempting less than 17 3-pointers per game, but when they do, either Tessa Johnson, Raven Johnson or Ta’Niya Latson is waiting — usually with a steady hand.
Tessa Johnson, one of two Gamecocks to score in double figures against the Huskies last April, hasn’t missed a 3-pointer since March 21 and is the go-to option for Dawn Staley on the perimeter. Raven Johnson, the venerable senior leader, leads the team in assists and runs the point in transition.
It’s a tough outfit to beat, and one that the Huskies will have to let shoot from the perimeter if they want to quell the inevitable inside attack that awaits them in the Mortgage Matchup Center.
“The habits that we’ve built all year long in practice and games will definitely help keep us settled, keep us calm, keep us together this weekend,” Fudd said of her final two games as a collegian.