WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

No. 1 UCONN vs. No. 3 ARIZONA

NCAA TOURNAMENT FINAL FOUR

When: Friday, 9:30 p.m.

Where: Alamodome, San Antonio

Records: UConn 28-1 (21-0, Big East); Arizona 20-5 (14-5, Pac-12)

TV: ESPN

Radio: UConn Sports Network (97.9 FM-ESPN Hartford, WAVZ 1300 AM, WICC 600 AM, WINE 940 AM, WGCH 1490 AM, WILI 1400 AM)

Streaming: Available via the WatchESPN app (WatchESPN.com)

KEEP AN EYE ON

Muhl improving: Freshman guard Nika Muhl (high right ankle sprain) has missed the last three games, but she was able to return to practice on Wednesday. Her status for the national semifinal against Arizona remains uncertain.

“It was encouraging that our medical staff said that after doing a little bit yesterday, she looked pretty good,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Thursday. “I’m hoping that after she does a little bit more today, she’ll feel just as good tomorrow morning when she wakes up. But we probably won’t know for certain, 100%, until after shootaround tomorrow.”

Forward Aaliyah Edwards has started in Muhl’s place, averaging 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds for the NCAA Tournament.

Guarding AI: How are the Huskies preparing for Pac-12 Player of the Year Aari McDonald? Assistant coach Jamelle Elliott, who is handling the scouting report, compared the 5-foot-6 senior Allen Iverson.

“I’m going to have to call some of my old coaching buddies in the old Big East and go, ‘How do you prepare for Allen Iverson?’” Auriemma joked. “She’s a dominant player.”

McDonald’s averaging a team-high 20.3 points and was co-defensive player of the year in the conference.

“There have been numerous times, more than you can count, where she just carries her team and wills them to win,” Auriemma said, “both with her physical talents and the intangibles that she brings. … I think she’s a phenomenal player, she’s a tremendous individual. I don’t know if any one player has been able to completely stop her from doing what she wants.”

History lesson: UConn won the only previous meeting between the schools, 74-57 in the 1998 Sweet 16 in Dayton, Ohio. Arizona coach Adia Barnes — then a senior and Pac-12 Player of the Year — was on that Arizona team.

“She was an impossible matchup for anybody at any level,” Auriemma recalled of the 5-11 Barnes. “You couldn’t guard her with a guard, you couldn’t guard her with a forward. She just was an absolute great basketball player — smart, really tough, skilled.”

What’s at stake: The Huskies, seeking their first trip to the national championship game since 2016, are in the Final Four for the 13th straight season and the 21st time in school history. Prior to this season, the furthest the Wildcats had advanced was that Sweet 16 game in 1998.

“It’s crazy,” McDonald said. “I give thanks to God. This is a big deal. We just created more history.”