AAC SEMIFINALS
No. 1 UConn vs. No. 4 South Florida
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena Tip: 4 p.m. (ESPN2) Records: South Florida 19-12 overall, UConn 27-3 overall
Last game: South Florida beat No. 5 Tulane 64-50 in the AAC quarterfinals Saturday; UConn beat No. 8 Temple 94-61 in the AAC quarterfinals Saturday.
Probable starters: South Florida, 5-8 G Elisa Pinzan (9.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.7 apg), 5-8 G Elena Tsineke (12.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg), 6-2 C Shae Leverett (5.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg), 6-0 F Bethy Mununga (9.4 ppg, 10.2 rpg), 5-10 G Sydni Harvey (12.0 ppg, 1.5 rpg). UConn, 6-1 F Megan Walker (19.4 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.0 apg), 5-5 G Crystal Dangerfield (15.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 4.1 apg, 1.9 spg), 5-11 G Christyn Williams (14.3 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.4 apg), 6-5 F Olivia Nelson-Ododa (11.0 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 2.8 apg, 3.1 bpg), 6-1 G Anna Makurat (8.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.1 apg).
Noteworthy: Lost in the excitement regarding the performance Saturday by UConn freshman Aubrey Griffin, who had 15 points and a career-high 16 rebounds while causing Temple to foul her nine times, was the effort by fellow freshman Anna Makurat. Makurat had 14 points, six rebounds and a teamhigh eight assists, which was not even a career high (she had 11 assists Feb. 7 vs. Memphis). "Anna knows where everybody is," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "If you get open, Anna will get you the ball. She's very good at making the right pass to the right person at the right time." Auriemma was asked if he thought the freshmen could have another outing like this one in Sunday's semifinal matchup with South Florida. He countered with a long pause, then asked the questioner, "Do you?" Said Auriemma: "By doing it today, hopefully they can do it tomorrow. By doing it tomorrow, hopefully they can do it Monday night." ... UConn played South Florida earlier in the week, beating the Bulls 80-39 Monday night at the XL Center. Megan Walker had 23 points in that game, including five 3-point field goals. The Huskies led 53-14 at halftime. Auriemma referred it it Saturday, in anticipation of the rematch with the Bulls, as the best first half his team has played this season. "Everything we set out to do, we did," Auriemma said. "That's unique and it doesn't always work out that way, but that particular first half, we couldn't have played any better defensively or offensively." Said South Florida coach Jose Fernandez: "We just saw them Monday and it was not a very good game. We did not help ourselves and had more turnovers than points in the first half. One thing we're going to have to do is play a little differently by taking care of the basketball." ... USF lost to UConn in last year's league tournament semifinals 81-45. South Florida is 12-6 overall in the tournament with five of the six losses coming to the six-time champion Huskies, four times in the championship game . ... South Florida's Elena Tsineke was named the AAC's Freshman of the Year on Friday. Tsineke, a native of Thessaloniki, Greece, was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for the first five games of the season — as was her sister Katerina at East Carolina — but reinstated on Nov. 20 after an appeal. Elena leads the Bulls in scoring with 12.5 points per game, including 14 points in Saturday's AAC quarterfinal win over Tulane, finishing in double figures in 18 of the 26 games she's played. She was an AAC third team honoree, as well as being named to the Freshman Team . ... UConn is 137-0 overall in the AAC, including tournament play.