No. 1 UCONN vs. No. 16 HIGH POINT
NCAA Tournament first round When: Sunday, 8 p.m.
Where: Alamodome, San Antonio
Records: UConn 24-1 (21-0, Big East); High Point (22-6, 20-3 Big South)
TV: ESPN
Radio: 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
No Geno, no problem? Associate head coach Chris Dailey, in her 36th year with UConn, is filling in for head coach Geno Auriemma through the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament after Auriemma tested positive for COVID-19. Assistant Shea Ralph also remains away from the team after a member of her family was diagnosed with the coronavirus.
The Huskies are down to just two coaches — Dailey and assistant Jamelle Elliott — but have had Ben Kantor, the program’s video coordinator, help with practices and scouting.
Dailey has stepped in for Auriemma on five different occasions since arriving together at UConn in 1985 and is 10-0 in his absence.
Aside from additional media responsibilities, Dailey’s job hasn’t changed much in place of Auriemma.
“I think we’re in good shape,” she said. On ‘point’ from deep: High Point has made the second-most 3-pointers in the country at 276 and is also averaging the second-most at 10.2 per game. The Panthers rank 22nd in 3-point percentage at 36.4.
In that way, Dailey said the Panthers are comparable to most Big East teams.
“They make a lot of 3s,” she noted. “One good thing is that we’ve played a lot of teams like that. DePaul, Creighton, Villanova, all those teams are similar to High Point.”
Jenson Edwards and Skyler Curran, High Point’s top two scorers, are shooting 43.5% and 42.5% from beyond the arc, respectively.
On the glass: The Panthers, who have only one player taller than 6-foot-1, rank 203rd nationally with 36.3 rebounds per
game and are 303rd in offensive rebounding (7.0). UConn is 27th on the boards (41.8).
First things first: UConn has won 26 straight first-round NCAA games, dating to a loss to Louisville in 1993. This is High Point’s first trip to the tournament.
No. 1 seeds are 103-1 against No. 16 seeds since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994.
PROBABLE STARTERS