UConn

2022 - 4 - 2

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Greenwich Time"

'By some unknown miracle' UConn women's basketball headed to ... (Greenwich Time)

Auriemma has coached UConn to 11 national titles, oftentimes a No. 1 seed that has plowed...

“But fortunately for us, Stanford didn’t have their best stuff, and we made a couple big plays, and by some unknown miracle, we’re playing Sunday night.” The Huskies held Stanford to 17% from the 3-point line (4 for 23) and 35% shooting overall. UConn also out-rebounded Stanford 46 to 37 and held the Cardinal to only 10 assists all game. We need help — we need Stanford to not play their best game. Auriemma has coached UConn to 11 national titles, oftentimes a No. 1 seed that has plowed through the regional portion of the bracket. This was far from a year in which the Huskies were able to coast and certainly not one that felt all that familiar.

Mansfield man charged in bias incidents at UConn (Journal Inquirer)

A Mansfield man is accused of vandalizing areas of a University of Connecticut residence hall, including writing biased and bigoted graffiti on residents' ...

Paige Bueckers' UConn Tops Stanford, Advances To NCAA ... (WCCO | CBS Minnesota)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Paige Bueckers scored 14 points and UConn advanced to the national championship game with a 63-58 win over defending champion Stanford on ...

Lexie Hull had to leave the game a few times in the first half to deal with a bloody nose. Hull re-entered the game later on with gauze in her left nostril, but had to leave again just before the half when she stared bleeding again. The game served as a homecoming for Bueckers, who grew up 10 miles from Minneapolis and had many friends and family at the game. UConn went on to win that one 53-47 — one of four victories for the Huskies over the Cardinal in the Final Four or championship rounds. The teams combined to shoot 36% (23 for 64) in the opening 20 minutes. It’s UConn’s first trip to the championship game since 2016, when the Huskies won the last of four straight championships.

How UConn women's basketball willed its way to Final Four win ... (The UConn Blog)

With 7:35 left in the fourth quarter against Stanford, Olivia Nelson-Ododa stepped up to the line with the chance to give UConn a commanding eight-point ...

Fudd hit two more free throws to put the Huskies up by four and even after the Cardinal pulled back within two on a layup with 18 seconds left, Williams stepped up and made two more from the line to push it back to a four-point game. The Huskies pulled themselves to the brink but then pulled themselves back. “Sometimes you don’t have to have the best team to win this game, either,” Auriemma said. But Westbrook couldn’t connect with Williams on a pass inside and the ball went out of bounds with 28 seconds left, giving Stanford possession. When the Huskies went up eight in the fourth quarter on Nelson-Ododa’s free throws, the Cardinal didn’t have the firepower to overcome the deficit in such a short timeframe. All but nine of the Huskies’ points in the final 10 minutes came courtesy of free throws and it wasn’t all one player, either. “Who steps in bounds to inbound the ball? Later, the Cardinal got back within four with 34 seconds left on a 3-pointer. The Huskies led by seven with 3:36 to go when Hannah Jump scored to narrow the gap to five. The first free throw took a nearly direct route to the basket — a line drive that somehow went through the cylinder. From there, the Huskies won it on the free throw line. “I don’t want to say ‘Hand of God’ but there was definite intervention there for those two to go in.”

UConn women's basketball: How seniors contributed to Final Four ... (CT Insider)

Seniors Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa struggled in the first half before...

But some how, some way, when she gets in big games, she finds a way to knock in two or three of them. “She has a tendancy to kind of of come up big in these moments. She converted a layup and hit a free throw early in the fourth quarter as UConn seized control. She hit another 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter to give the Huskies a six-point cushion. UConn’s other senior did contribute, especially in the first half. Williams finished with 10 points on 3 of 13 shooting in 34 minutes.

UConn's bend-but-not-break mentality takes them to brink of NCAA ... (Just Women's Sports)

UConn emerged stronger from a season of adversity, relying on that resolve to outlast Stanford and advance to the national championship game.

Christyn Williams struggled to get into a shooting rhythm, going just 3-for-13 from the floor. And on Monday, they’d lost key bench contributor Dorka Juhász to a gruesome wrist fracture. And this week, few pundits had them beating the reigning champion Stanford Cardinal on Friday without Juhász.