By Jeffery Green | @Jeffery_Agreen
Sports Capital Journalism Program
TAMPA – For just the second time since their 2016 national championship, the UConn Huskies are heading to the NCAA title game after dominating UCLA throughout an 85-51 victory.
The sold-out, thunderous crowd at Amelie Arena was eager to see the overall No. 1-seed Bruins take on the No. 2-seed Huskies, but no one could have predicted this rout.
The 34-point win surpassed UConn’s tournament record for margin of victory in a Final Four matchup.
“This was somewhat unexpected,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “You always go into these games this time of the year expecting it to be incredibly, incredibly difficult. Not that it wasn’t… but I don’t think we made a mistake the entire evening, especially on the defensive end.”
The Huskies will play for a 12th national title when they take on the defending champion South Carolina Gamecocks in a rematch of the 2022 National Championship game on Sunday. South Carolina won that matchup 64-49. The Huskies will attempt to prevent South Carolina from becoming the first repeat national champion since UConn won four straight from 2013-16. UConn defeated South Carolina, 87-58, at Columbia in February.
Against the Bruins, UConn set the tone early in the first half at the defensive end of the floor. In the first half alone, the Huskies forced 14 Bruin turnovers, creating havoc on defense.
“I think it was difficult for us to get in rhythm both offensively and defensively when you’re continuously turning the ball over,” UCLA guard Kiki Rice said. “[UConn] is a great defensive team.”
“I think they were just tougher,” UCLA center Lauren Betts said. “They just played more together.”
UCLA struggled to get into a rhythm. Normally a great shooting team, averaging 48.2% from the field and 33.7% from behind the 3-point line, the Bruins shot just 38.5% from the field and 25% from beyond the line against UConn.
This was a true team effort for the Huskies at both ends of the floor. But on defense, the tone started in the paint. Center Jana El Alfy was in charge of defending Betts and made sure to bring the intensity, and she was the lifeblood of her team for this game.
On offense, freshman Sarah Strong continued her strong tournament play, finishing with a team-high 22 points on 69% shooting. When guard Paige Bueckers struggled in the first half, only scoring six points on 3-for-10 shooting, Strong and Azzi Fudd were able to pick it up, with Fudd scoring 19 in the first half.
Even with a 20-point Husky lead at halftime, this was no time to stop. When asked about the message at halftime, Bueckers said, “Just to stay disciplined. To be able to keep our defensive pressure up, to have no foot-off-the-gas moments but we wanted to continue to press down and continue to stay disciplined and continue to talk and be disruptive defensively and continue to stay aggressive.”
UCLA’s historic run now comes to an end in its first Final Four. Betts had a game-high 26 points, but it was not enough to extend the Bruin season to a national championship game. With the Huskies’ pressure on defense, this Bruin team looked like a completely different team than the one that won its first Big Ten tournament championship. “I just think we need to show up more prepared and ready to win,” Betts said. “I hope this [loss] fuels us and I hope that we come out angry after this.”
With no seniors on the roster, this team expects to be back next year and to use this loss to create another deep run. Now with a Final Four experience on hand, the sky is the limit.
With another national championship within reach, UConn is ready to take the next game one possession at a time. “We hoped to be playing on the last day of the season,” said Bueckers. “And you don’t want to get caught up in the moment of being so anxious and trying to win the national championship… Play the entire 40 minutes.”
