WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

KEEP AN EYE ON

Keeping pace: Arkansas likes to push the pace offensively. The Razorbacks rank fifth nationally in scoring (85.4) and are first in 3-pointers made (158). UConn ranks ninth at scoring (85.1).

For the Razorbacks, experience is key. Three starters — Chelsea Dungee, Maryland/Oregon State transfer Destiny Slocum, and Amber Ramirez — are redshirt seniors. Dungee leads the team in scoring at 21.6 points per game.

“It’s a really difficult challenge they present,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “I don’t know that there’s an easy way to stop it. I’d like to think if you work really, really hard, you might be able to minimize it, but I don’t think you can completely stop it.”

The Huskies will try to control the tempo and slow down the Razorbacks’ highpowered offense.

“Every game we go into thinking we want to play how we want to play, not how they want to make us play,” UConn junior Evina Westbrook said. “That’s mainly our focus in every practice.”

Added Auriemma: “Luckily we’re not that fast, so we don’t have to worry about trying to run as fast as them. That’s not our game, but we’re not a walk the ball up the floor and run our halfcourt offense for 28 seconds either. That’s not who we are. We’re somewhere in the middle.”

Getting to the charity stripe: Arkansas gets to the free-throw line more than any team in the country, and it’s not particularly close. The Razorbacks’ 417 attempts (73.9 percent) are 79 more than the next closest team.

Communicating on defense and not overcommitting will be key for the Huskies.

“A lot of their points and a lot of their momentum comes from the free-throw line,” Westbrook noted.

Back to full strength?: UConn freshman Paige Bueckers (sprained right ankle) did not practice Tuesday, but is feeling better. Auriemma maintained that Bueckers has a “better chance of playing Thursday than of not playing.”

History lesson: The teams’ only previous meeting was a 100-64 UConn victory on Nov. 14, 1998 in San Jose, Calif. as part of an early season tournament that included Duke and Stanford.