UConn marches on
Bueckers finishes with double-double as Huskies advance
STORRS — UConn women’s basketball’s largest obstacle this season has been its lack of depth.
A look down its bench will shows six players, the majority once high school All-Americans, dressed in street clothes and unavailable to play due to various injuries. That leaves the No. 3 seeded Huskies with just eight available players for the entire NCAA Tournament.
So of course it was almost ironic that their first round opponent had a roster of nearly double that available.
But the Huskies are a different team come March. And on Saturday they proved just as such — using only seven to easily beat No. 14 Jackson State 8664 and advance to the NCAA Tournament second round for a record 30th-straight year.
The win gives the Huskies (30-5, 18-0 Big East) their 27th 30-win season and marks the 96th straight time UConn has beat an opponent in a first-time meeting.
UConn will play the winner of No. 6 Syracuse-No. 11 Arizona in Monday’s second round for the chance to advance to the Sweet 16 in Portland, Ore.
Paige Bueckers, playing in her first March Madness game since 2022, led with her fourth career double-double of 28 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. She was followed by freshman Ashlynn Shade with 26 points (the most by any UConn player in her NCAA Tournament debut). Aaliyah Edwards also finished with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Nika Muhl finished with seven points and seven assists. She’s now just one assist behind Moriah Jefferson for the UConn program all-time career assist record of 659.
Unlike games past where foul trouble would shorten UConn’s already limited bench early on, the Huskies remained calm on Saturday when things got tense and calls didn’t go their way.
Muhl, KK Arnold and Qadence Samuels all had two fouls
each at halftime. But UConn kept its poise thanks to Bueckers and Edwards.
While the Tigers attacked first by out-sprinting the Huskies to steal a loose ball following the opening tip, Bueckers and Edwards quickly killed their momentum.
Bueckers scored UConn’s first bucket and less than 10 seconds later Edwards (playing in her first game in over two weeks after breaking her nose) leaped up for a block down at the other end. The two were the most dominant on the floor. Together, they combined for 12 points in UConn’s 17-0 run midway through the first quarter.
The Huskies’ defense was quick, pestering and cohesive. Players called out switches and stalked the area under the hoop, ready for rebounds. Jackson State went nearly eight minutes in the opening quarter without a field goal and had a five-minute stretch also without one in the second.
Jackson State simply couldn’t find a way to stop the bleeding.
The Tigers entered the game second in the nation in field goal percent defense, limiting opponents to a 33.6 clip from the floor. At halftime, UConn was shooting 52.8 percent and had limited Jackson State to 30%.
Even when the Tigers swarmed Bueckers and Edwards, the Huskies’ other options were just as capable.
Ashlynn Shade scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter, including going 2 of 3 from deep. She was quick to find rebounds and didn’t come off the court once.
Seven of UConn’s players played in the first 35 minutes as UConn led by as much as 28 over the Tigers.