Win over Iowa showcases what Huskies are all about: Team play
SAN ANTONIO — Going into Saturday’s UConn-Iowa Sweet 16 matchup, Paige Bueckers knew that all the hype surrounding the game was on the matchup between her and Iowa’s own freshman phenom, Caitlin Clark.
Bueckers didn’t want it to be that way — and she even told her teammates that, by the time they’d take the court at the Alamodome, it wouldn’t be about any two players but about the 10-plus who’d take the floor.
That’s exactly how the game transpired. UConn’s team basketball was precisely how the Huskies managed to come away with a 92-72 win over the Hawkeyes and advance to the program’s 15th straight Elite Eight where they will face
Baylor on Monday night.
Junior Christyn Williams (27 points) had the best game of her UConn career, stealing most of the headlines coming out of the game. Bueckers finished in triple-double territory with 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
Four players scored at least 17 points for the Huskies, and
three had at least nine rebounds, with Evina Westbrook falling one rebound short of a triple-double. In her second straight start in place of an injured Nika Muhl, freshman Aaliyah Edwards was a difference-maker, while junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa controlled the boards and helped facilitate UConn’s offense.
Even Anna Makurat came off the bench and hit the most clutch pair of threes of her career to put the game away.
The Huskies (27-1) finished with a season-high 30 assists on 40 made baskets, and Geno Auriemma credited UConn’s team defense, not just the efforts of primary defender Williams, in holding Clark to 21 points on 21 attempts.
“It was a whole team effort,” Bueckers said. “A lot of pressure was on me, and I knew my teammates were going to have my back. They performed as well as they have all season. I think it was a really good team victory.”
The game was also a reminder that this is true UConn basketball — basketball that is never about one superstar, even if there’s one on the team.
“I think what’s cool about playing here is that a lot of different teams can say ‘You can play team basketball’ but we really play team basketball,” Westbrook said. “It’s definitely a UConn type of culture, team basketball, and it’s been like that for decades now.”
Here’s more on how the Huskies did it:
Evina Westbrook’s brilliance
No UConn player’s impact has been as overlooked over the course of the season as much Westbrook’s. All year she’s done the dirty work, not always putting up a lot of points but setting the tone with her defensive intensity, getting involved as a facilitator and regularly contributing as a rebounder.
Westbrook did all that and more Saturday. She had 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, as well as two steals and a block. She also hit three first-half 3s against Iowa’s zone, had eight points in the first quarter and ultimately finished with the most 3s she’s made and points she’s scored since the Arkansas game in late January. She accounted for a third of UConn’s assists and her eight defensive rebounds helped keep the ball out of the Hawkeyes’ hands.
“E, she does everything for this team. I’ ve said that once before and she just keeps proving my point,” Bueckers said. “Rebounds, assists, passing, defense, scoring, just anything we need her to do, she’ s going to do it, she’ s going to do it to the best of her ability, and when anybody’s slacking, she’s going to pickup for us .”
Aaliyah Edwards? Unstoppable
In UConn’s three games in San Antonio, Edwards has arguably been the Huskies’ MVP. Her performance Saturday was just one example of that. The freshman forward scored six of UConn’s first eight points, establishing UConn’s paint presence, and finished with 9 of 11 shooting, the sort of efficiency fans have come to expect as she approaches the end of her freshman year. Edwards has only missed four shots from the field in San Antonio, putting up at least 17 points in each of her tournament games, and her defense (two blocks, two steals) continues to impress.
“We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for her,” Auriemma said.
“That kid has really added so much to our team. Her strength, her physicality, her toughness, her finishing around the basket.
“The way she runs the floor, to have a freshman like that, I can’t even imagine what she’s going to look like in a couple years.”
Olivia Nelson-Ododa does her job
Nelson-Ododa showed Saturday that gaudy offensive numbers aren’t necessary to make a difference on the floor. The junior center only took six shots, making two of them. But she came away with 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end that helped UConn earn a 14-4 edge in second-chance points and come away with a 42-25 advantage on the boards.
Bueckers and Westbrook also went out of their way to praise Nelson-Ododa’s defense on Iowa’s bigs (Monika Czinano was limited to 14 points, below her average of 19.5) and willingness to do the little things like boxing out and setting screens. Westbrook called her their “glue” player.
“Christyn Williams and Evina Westbrook and Olivia, our three juniors, were amazing,” Auriemma said. “They just played the way you would want your upperclassmen to play.”
Auriemma thinks Edwards’ emergence helps Nelson-Ododa be the player she prefers to be. And in the end, everyone benefits.
“More than anything, I think what [Edwards] does is she takes a lot of pressure off of Liv,” Auriemma said. “It allows Liv to be what Liv likes to be. Catch the ball at the high post, be someone who facilitates our offense [Nelson-Ododa had7seven assists] and it allows Aaliyah to muscle her way around, because you put your best defensive big man on Liv, now Aaliyah is going to have her way a lot of times.”
Anna Makurat got in on the fun
Makurat has had as tough a season as any UConn player. She only played nine games before sitting for the rest of the regular season with a stress fracture. She returned for the Big East Tournament and it took some time for her to find her footing. But her two threes at the end of the Saturday’s game no doubt were a boost to her confidence.
As Iowa hung around midway through the fourth, Makurat had what ended up being the dagger three to put UConn ahead by 15 with 4:22 to play. A deflated Iowa only managed two points after that. Makurat sank another three with 20 seconds left to up UConn’s lead to 20.
“We need everybody in order to win in the Elite Eight, the Final Four, in the championship,” Bueckers said. “Having that confidence now, it sort of builds us up for practice [Sunday] and on Monday. It was really big for her to do that tonight.”
Auriemma admitted that he was hesitant to put Makurat in, and had told the sophomore, “At some point you got to make one, you got to make a couple, you got to help us a little bit.” Assistant coach Jamelle Elliott and video coordinator Ben Kantor pushed him to give her a chance.
As part of an inside joke, after Makurat’s final three, Bueckers tapped Auriemma on the butt when he wasn’t looking as she ran down the floor.
“I think Paige was letting me know. She never passes up an opportunity to let me know when I’m wrong,” Auriemma said. “Trust me when I tell you that.”