UConn will be tested tonight
No. 3 Huskies host No. 2 South Carolina
Dawn Staley has spoken a great deal about what the speed of this game will be.
"The pace has got to be in a place in which we put UConn back on their heels," said Staley, coach of the second-ranked South Carolina women's basketball team. "They're going to put us on our heels. We gotta give it right back to them and not be a halfcourt set-up team against UConn.
"We have to find some easy transition buckets and we gotta push tempo."
South Carolina (15-1), 11th in the nation with an average of 82.4 points per game, travels to meet No. 3 UConn (131), fourth in the nation at 87.1 points per game, at Gampel Pavilion beginning at 7 p.m. today (FS1), what is UConn's marquee matchup of the season so far.
South Carolina, which finished ranked No. 1 in the nation last year, topped UConn 70-52 a year ago in Columbia, South Carolina, holding UConn to 1-for-16 shooting in the first quarter for a grand total of two points. It was the Gamecocks' first win in the series.
South Carolina averages 20.3 fast break points per game while holding opponents to just 7.7 per game.
Now comes the time for UConn, then, featuring seven freshmen on its roster, to use the experience it has gained so far this season — particularly a 90-87 loss against guard-oriented No. 19 Arkansas on Jan. 28 — as preparation for an anticipated sprint against South Carolina.
"I think it's a huge challenge just like the Arkansas guards were," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We're going to have to do better, obviously, than we did in the Arkansas game. We didn't do a very good job of defending them either off the dribble going to the basket or from the 3-point line, so we have to do a better job with at least one of those things (Monday) if we want a chance to win.
"Then you throw in the fact that they've got a terrific inside game. This is probably the biggest test that our defense will face all season long up to this point."
Inside, the matchup will be between South Carolina 6-foot-5 sophomore Aliyah Boston, a unanimous Associated Press Preseason All-American who is averaging 13.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, and UConn 6-5 junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa (13.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg), who ranks fourth nationally in field goal percentage.
Boston and Nelson-Ododa were each one of 10 candidates named recently for the Lisa Leslie Award, which goes to the nation's top center.
South Carolina is led in scoring by sophomore guard Zia Cooke with 16.2 points per game, one of three sophomore starters for the Gamecocks. UConn continues to be led by freshman guard Paige Bueckers, who is averaging 20.4 points per game and owns a string of four straight games with 20-or-more points.
Bueckers, whom Staley called "a generational player in her own right" in a pregame video conference, scored 30 in Friday night's 87-58 victory over Marquette.
"She's incredibly efficient. She makes the right basketball play. That is what makes her special," Staley said of Bueckers. "I'm just hoping that somebody's able to make her into something that she hasn't been all season, which is not very efficient. That's a hard feat."
Staley said she doesn't think this South Carolina team will be as intimidated to play against UConn as some have been in the past — "I think these players are a little bit different in that they just go out and play," Staley said.
Then again, this group has never played UConn on the road.
"They haven't really been to Gampel and they haven't seen those 11 national championship banners hanging up," Staley said. "That's why shoot-around is so important. You got to get in there, you got to feel that space, you gotta start looking around. Then during the game you've already seen it, so you can focus in on the task at hand."
Added Staley: "I think this is a little bit less pressure (than last year, having never beaten UConn before). At the same time I say that, I feel the pressure of actually having to do it again."
South Carolina's only loss of the season came against No. 4 North Carolina State, 54-46 on Dec. 3.
UConn, meanwhile, continues to build on its loss to Arkansas. Auriemma was impressed with Friday's win at Marquette, especially on defense where the Huskies held the Golden Eagles considerably under their season average of 74.3 points per game.
"I think the more games we play, the better rhythm we're going to get into and it certainly seems that way in the last week or so," Auriemma said.
Juniors Christyn Williams (16.8), Nelson-Ododa and Evina Westbrook (11.3) are all averaging double figures for the Huskies, while Auriemma continues to be complimentary of the freshmen and the fire they bring.
"(We have to) carry on that Marquette mindset but also ramp it up another notch," Nelson-Ododa said Sunday, asked what it will take to beat South Carolina. "They're definitely going to be one of the toughest teams that we've faced this season. Definitely having to go in with that mindset but know it's going to be a battle, so we're definitely going to have to rise to that occasion. Just start off like that and bring it from the start."