Three UConn-South Carolina matchups in one season? Maybe
The UConn women’s basketball team is known for playing a stacked nonconference schedule and this year will be no different.
No. 2 UConn will play at least six teams ranked in the top 25 of the Associated Press’ preseason poll: South Carolina (1), Louisville (6), Oregon (10), Tennessee (15), Georgia Tech (t-17) and UCLA (20). Not included in that group is the season opener against Arkansas, the sole team to beat them in the regular season last year.
With nonconference play picking up right off the bat, here are some storylines to follow for this stretch of the Huskies’ season.
Early test at Battle 4 Atlantis
After their season opener versus Arkansas, the Huskies will participate in the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis women’s tournament, where they will take on Minnesota and then either No. 21 USF or Syracuse. Either No. 10 Oregon or No. 1 South Carolina, teams the Huskies were independently set to face in nonconference play this season, could await in the championship game.
A 1-vs-2 matchup in mid-November would be a whole lot of fun, even if neither team has figured out how to play its best basketball yet.
Double-dose of Pac-12 fun
After an all-Pac-12 NCAA Championship game in 2021, the Huskies will get a double-dose of the conference this year, facing UCLA Dec. 11 in Newark, N.J., in the Never Forget Tribute Classic, and at Oregon on Jan. 17.
UCLA, which UConn last met in the 2019 Sweet 16, graduated 2021 WNBA Rookie of the Year Michaela Onyenwere, but the Bruins hope to rebound following a COVID-disrupted and injury-riddled 2020-21 where at one point they only had seven players available. It’ll help to return All-Pac-12 selection Charisma Osborne, the Bruins’ second-leading scorer last year, and bring in some intriguing newcomers (nine in all), including Wake Forest transfer Gina Conti.
Oregon’s personnel has completely changed since the Ducks demolished UConn on its home floor in February 2020. They have more newcomers (seven) than returners (six), but they do bring back three core players from last season: Te-Hina Paopao, Sedona Prince and Nyara Sabally (sister of Satou). USC transfer Endyia Rogers is among their new additions.
Paige Bueckers vs. Hailey Van Lith
It was a shame when Louisville and UConn’s 2020 matchup was cancelled due to a positive COVID19 test in the Huskies’ program. Since then first-team All-American Dana Evans left for the WNBA, so this year’s Louisville team is not expected to have the same firepower as last year’s, which fell to eventual national champion Stanford in the Elite Eight.
Still fans can look forward to the Paige Bueckers-Hailey Van Lith backcourt matchup when the Cardinals and Huskies meet
at the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at Mohegan Sun on Dec. 19. Van Lith was the No. 7 player in the Class of 2020 per espnW, while Bueckers was the top-ranked prospect, and the pair have been teammates on various USA Basketball squads. With Evans gone, Lith will no doubt play a larger role as a sophomore, but Louisville is expected to be a more balanced team overall with the likes of Kianna Smith, Olivia Cochran and transfer Chelsie Hall also contributing.
Tennessee rematch after last year’s Knoxville thriller
No matter what team Tennessee has in a given year, the Lady Vols are always a tough matchup with their length, defense and ability to dominate the glass. Since the Huskies revived the series with their historic rival, neither matchup has been a runaway win for UConn. The first, a 60-45 victory at the XL Center in January 2020, was hardly pretty. Then last year’s win in Knoxville, 67-61, was a nailbiter until Bueckers sealed it with a dagger 3 on a sprained ankle, her first big-time play for UConn on a national stage.
This year’s Tennessee team may have lost Rennia Davis to the WNBA, but it returns other major pieces, including Rae Burrell (who came away with 18 and eight against the Huskies’ last year), Jordan Horston and Tamari Key, while adding Troy transfer Alexus Dye. Tennessee will provide a good midseason test on Feb. 6.
Buckle up for some epic South Carolina showdowns
It’s not an unreasonable assumption that there could be three South Carolina-UConn showdowns this season. The first may come at the Battle 4 Atlantis this month. The second in Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 27. A third could happen at the
Final Four or in the national title game.
Both teams share a similar roster construction. The Gamecocks return all their players, the Huskies all but one. South Carolina got a huge transfer in Kamilla Cardoso from Syracuse, UConn got one in Dorka Juhász from Ohio State. Their 2021 recruiting classes were ranked No. 1 (SC) and No. 2 (UConn).
While the Gamecocks are led by All-American Aliyah Boston, the Huskies have reigning national player of the year Bueckers. And surrounding those superstars are the likes of Zia Cooke and Destanni Henderson for South Carolina, and Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa for UConn. Both teams experienced heartbreak in April when they fell in the Final Four (South Carolina to Stanford, UConn to Arizona).
Other tidbits
The Dec. 9 Georgia Tech meeting will serve as a homecoming game for Nelson-Ododa, who hails from Winder, Georgia. The home game against Notre Dame will be the first Geno Auriemma coaches against head coach Niele Ivey, a former player for the Irish. Auriemma will also be coaching against Minnesota head coach Lindsay Whalen for the first time. Minnesota and UConn last played when Whalen was a senior in the 2004 national semifinal game, which UConn won on the way to clinching its third straight national title. Auriemma also coached Whalen on the 2012 and 2016 Olympic teams.
Williams in particular will be pumped to start the season against Arkansas. The Huskies fell to the Razorbacks 90-87 this past January in Williams’ de facto homecoming game, so she’s looking forward to, ideally, enacting some revenge. “I can’t wait,” she said. “I went home [for the summer] and people were talking and I didn’t like it too much. Just know, I am still upset.”