When Do the Uconn Womens Basketball Team Play Again
UConn women's basketball squad defeats Indiana, advances to NCAA Tournament Elite Eight
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UConn players and coach Geno Auriemma react during the first quarter confronting Indiana in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament Sabbatum in Bridgeport.
Frank Franklin Ii / Associated PressBRIDGEPORT — UConn women'southward basketball star sophomore Paige Bueckers fell hard on her knee in the first quarter of Saturday's regional semifinal.
She grimaced in pain and walked to the bench to get looked over by a trainer.
Nika Mühl came off the bench in Bueckers' identify. A quarter later, with Bueckers back in, Mühl drained a 3-pointer to swing momentum back to UConn. It was her only points of the twenty-four hours, but still, they impacted the Huskies' pace.
While Bueckers' fall didn't keep her sidelined for long, the Huskies' talented depth propelled the team to a 75-58 Sugariness 16 win over No. 3 seeded Indiana Saturday at Total Mortgage Arena.
"In a tournament different people are going to accept to stride upwards at unlike times, not 1 person can carry a team to a National Championship," Bueckers said. "Today it was a really well-counterbalanced assault. And I think that's the best affair that came out of all this adversity was just the confidence that everybody got that no affair what we have each other's dorsum and we're going to footstep up for each other."
The No. two Huskies (28-5) advanced to their 16th directly Aristocracy Eight and will face up No. 1 seed NC Land at around 7 p.m. (exact time is TBD) Mon for the chance to play in next weekend'south Final Four in Minneapolis.
The Wolfpack avant-garde to Monday's regional final afterwards defeating No. 5 Notre Matriarch 66-63. This is the programme's 2d trip to the Elite Eight and first since 1998.
All xi available Huskies saw fourth dimension on the flooring with eight scoring. Bueckers and Christyn Williams led with xv points each, followed by Azzi Fudd with thirteen. Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 10 points and led with 14 rebounds while Aaliyah Edwards added 10 rebounds and nine points. UConn held Indiana (24-9) to only two offensive boards while outrebounding the Hooisers 39-27 and outscoring in the paint 46-32. Simply it wasn't only the Husky starters who contributed as UConn's demote outscored Indiana's 13-1.
"Everybody has a particular office to play," UConn charabanc Geno Auriemma said. "That doesn't mean they always love their role, bask their role. Everybody wants to exist upward here talking to (media) because they were the leading scorer or the leading this or the leading that, merely that'due south non how y'all win championships. Everybody has got to practise a trivial chip."
In her quaternary start since returning from knee joint injury, Bueckers played 33 minutes and attempted 17 shots — the nearly she's shot in her return. Last year's national player of the twelvemonth missed 10 weeks recovering from December surgery on her human knee. On Saturday, she was plus-sixteen.
"Information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to come back from an injury and think a lot and 2d-gauge your decisions," she said. "Merely I thought information technology helped me a lot just coming out of the gate aggressive but because I didn't have to think most anything, I only played basketball and I took what the defence force gave me. My teammates did a great job of getting me open, and information technology was sort of how they were playing the game, sort of their schemes on defense force, and the shots that I got."
UConn started Sat's game with the same poor shooting it had on Monday against UCF. Indiana opened on an viii-two run as UConn suffered 3 turnovers in its first iv possessions.
The Huskies began to find their grove and got within two of the Hoosiers earlier Bueckers took a hard fall in the final minutes of the starting time quarter. She appeared to exist in pain only was able to go upwardly and walk to the bench on her own power. The sophomore sat on the bench the rest of the quarter having her left knee joint, the ane she had surgery on, looked at past trainers before somewhen getting it taped.
In her absence, UConn relied on its depth — Fudd'due south sharp shooting, Williams' everywhere-at-one time-presence and Nelson-Ododa's height — to put together an viii-0 run and take a concur of the lead, 21-18, to terminate the period. Williams recorded five points, two rebounds, one block and one assistance in the three minutes.
"There comes a point when you're a senior and you lot've played as much basketball as Christyn and Liv take, where y'all take to put it on your own shoulders and become, 'I have command over how this ends,'" Auriemma said. "They actually do. They have more than control than I exercise. So you take to practise that control, and that's what she'southward doing for the outset time in her career."
Bueckers returned to the court to start the second with the momentum shifting to UConn's control.
After only playing a four minutes in Monday's 2d-circular win, Caroline Ducharme didn't enter Sat's game until a couple minutes into the second quarter. The freshman immediately made an impact, making a layup less than 20 seconds after stepping onto the court. Her bucket sparked a half dozen-0 UConn run which featured steal-and-score plays from both Evina Westbrook and Neslon-Ododa.
Westbrook, who also came off the bench, had her second scope-and-score play to shut out the tertiary quarter. The fifth-twelvemonth senior showed why she's ofttimes the team's go-to bench surge every bit she was the only baby-sit to finish with more i block.
The Hoosiers couldn't avoid the Huskies' length in the post on defense, especially Edwards. The sophomore used her body to deflect shots and box-out under the handbasket. She ended the kickoff half with a team-high eight rebounds and two blocks. Edwards' last x rebounds marked the second time this flavour she's had double-digit boards.
"You've been able to see her growth throughout the entire season, and I call up she's really peaking at the right moment, and you lot can definitely come across it when she plays," Nelson-Ododa said. "She's ambitious and she keeps that mentality throughout the entire game, and she really contributes a lot on both ends."
It was all UConn to showtime the third with the Huskies putting upwardly 16 unanswered points earlier Indiana was able to get a bucket to fall. UConn led past every bit much every bit twenty as it was able to ride out the win. Williams scored 10 of her 15 points in the 2nd one-half and grabbed down six rebounds — the about she'southward had since Jan. thirty.
Whether it was the consistent shooting from Bueckers, Williams' all-around play or the bench surges from Ducharme and Westbrook, UConn's depth was on full display Saturday.
"Monday (UConn's win or UCF) was a huge reminder to our team, that, 'Yo, this is how these things go. You don't just whorl in, have a chat with the other team and go, what do you want the score tonight to be?' You've got to get out and beat their (expletive)," Auriemma said. "They're non going to lose. Nobody is going to lose to you in this tournament. You lot've got to become out and trounce them. It's getting harder and harder every year, let me tell you lot. We saw that starting time game. Human being, every game is hard. Every game is a grind. These kids don't want their season to cease. Nobody does. Nobody does."
One player absent: Sophomore Piath Gabriel was absent-minded from the bench Saturday and Friday. A UConn spokesperson told Hearst Connecticut Media the sophomore was in class on Friday during UConn'southward practice solar day and Auriemma said after Saturday'southward game that she had school work to practice back in Storrs.
maggie.vanoni@hearstmediact.com
Source: https://www.ctinsider.com/uconn/article/UConn-women-s-basketball-team-defeats-Indiana-17030935.php
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