HARTFORD, Conn. — With just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter of Saturday’s top-10 matchup between No. 4 UConn and No. 7 USC, a video aired on the XL Center jumbotron showing one of the highlights of Paige Bueckers’ career.
The clip was of the final seconds of the Huskies’ Elite Eight victory over the Trojans in last year’s NCAA Tournament. It was a reminder of what was — an evening of net-cutting, locker room water-dousing and a 23rd Final Four for the mighty Huskies. Bueckers said at the time it was “one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Saturday’s rematch fewer than 10 months later had smaller stakes; no banners would be hung after this regular-season contest. But still it will surely remain meaningful to both participants, and the atmosphere rivaled that of any March or April affair.
Much to the delight of the road Trojans, JuJu Watkins led her team over Bueckers in a game featuring two of the nation’s best players. Watkins finished USC’s 72-70 victory with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field while adding six rebounds and five assists.
And for as impressive as her step-back midrange jumpers and three 3-pointers were, Watkins made a defensive impact just as pronounced. She blocked Bueckers’ final shot attempt of the first half, then blocked guard Ashlynn Shade on UConn’s second possession coming out of the locker room, with both rejections serving as fitting punctuation marks in her prolific performance.
Her demeanor seldom changed throughout the evening, even after she picked up a second foul with 1:23 to play in the first quarter. It was then that USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb was faced with a choice: sit her star guard, potentially for the rest of the half, or trust her potential national Player of the Year. She chose the latter, and Watkins proved Gottlieb right. Watkins didn’t pick up another foul until five seconds remained in the fourth quarter.
Bueckers matched Watkins on both ends for much of the second half as she helped UConn rally from a 13-point halftime deficit. But the Huskies didn’t take their first lead until the 4:33 mark of the fourth quarter and never led by more than a point.
Heading into Saturday’s affair, both Gottlieb and UConn coach Geno Auriemma stressed that the top-10 matchup wasn’t merely Watkins vs. Bueckers. Others would be called upon to contribute. As the game progressed, USC’s core proved superior. The Trojans shot 63.6 percent from 3-point range in the first half and 49.2 percent from the field overall. Senior forward Kiki Iriafen finished the victory with a 16-point, 11-rebound double-double.
UConn star freshman Sarah Strong had 22 points and 13 rebounds, proving once again to already be among the country’s top bigs. But Strong went to the free throw line with five seconds remaining with the opportunity to push the game into overtime. She made only one of her three free-throw attempts. The ensuing scramble for the loose ball and Strong’s desperation 3-point miss cemented USC’s win.
The Trojans improved to 11-1, with their lone loss to No. 3 Notre Dame last month, while the Huskies fell to 10-2, following a loss earlier this month to the Fighting Irish.
A ‘significant’ win for the Trojans
Since taking over as USC’s coach in 2021, Gottlieb has led the Trojans back to national relevance. Last March, USC took home its second Pac-12 tournament championship as it made consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2004 and 2005. Despite being a No. 1 seed, it lost to UConn. Both programs are different this season — there were only four players between the two teams who started both games. Still, those with USC recognized the importance of Saturday’s win.
“This is a really significant win because of the stature of UConn’s program,” Gottlieb said.
Added Iriafen: “We knew how it felt to be in such a big game and for it to not go our way, so I think with that, we didn’t want that to happen today.”
Auriemma confident Strong will ‘relish’ late-game pressure despite late misses
Don’t expect Strong’s two free-throw misses in the waning seconds of regulation to impact UConn’s late-game execution going forward. Auriemma said that though Strong is “devastated” after missing two of her final three attempts (he said she missed the third on purpose, when a rebound and score would have tied the game), he highlighted how significant it is that she was even in that situation.
“Just the fact that that’s where she was in that moment in a game like this, and how she plays and how she performs, and the fact that we go to her in late moments, that says a lot of what I think of her,” Auriemma said. “Some people run from the flame, and other kids run to it. She wants to be in that situation. She relishes that situation.
“Nobody’s more disappointed than she is right now in that moment, but I would put her in that moment every single game for the rest of the season and have confidence that she is going to come through.”
A more pressing question for Auriemma is figuring out why the Huskies got off to such a slow start. He said that their first-half offense was “just a mish-mash.” Through the first 20 minutes, UConn made only 11 of its 31 field-goal attempts and shot 2 of 9 from 3-point range. The Huskies also added eight turnovers, which helped USC get out to a double-digit lead.
Auriemma said the difference in the second half was simple: “We ran some stuff that we actually practiced. We didn’t make up an offense and then run out there and try to run it. In the second half, the ball moved, the people moved, we got the shots we wanted, we got shots from where we wanted to get them, by whom we wanted to get them. The entire first half there was none of that.”
Fudd returns after two weeks away
UConn guard Azzi Fudd returned to the floor on Saturday after missing the previous two weeks with a left knee sprain. Fudd, who has been plagued with knee injuries since enrolling at UConn in 2021, suffered the injury during the Huskies’ blowout win over Louisville and missed the next three games. She checked in for the first time in the second quarter, and received a roaring ovation from the crowd of nearly 16,000 people. Still, she appeared to be less than 100 percent and played only eight minutes in the defeat.
“I think Azzi’s obviously a high-level, elite player,” Auriemma said. “I do believe that when we get her 100 percent healthy and ready to go, that that certainly enhances our team tremendously. I love to have her out there, I just chose not to today for whatever reason.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
USC Trojans, Connecticut Huskies, Women’s College Basketball
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