The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
The UConn Huskies punched their ticket to the Elite Eight by defeating the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday.
Full team effort helps UConn overwhelm Iowa, reach Elite Eight
SAN ANTONIO — Geno Auriemma has been coaching long enough to know better.
Pregame storylines don’t always hold true to form, especially in the pressure-cooker of March. It’s why Auriemma, back on the UConn sidelines after isolating for 10 days following a positive COVID-19 test, thought it was unfair for all the hype heading into Saturday to be about Paige Bueckers vs. Caitlin Clark rather than the game itself. He argued it was bigger than both freshmen, much bigger.
And he was right. It proved to be about one school asserting its dominance over another, about the most illustrious program in the sport doing what it usually does this time of year.
Back in the Sweet 16 for the 27th consecutive tournament, the Huskies were too quick, too physical, too talented for Iowa. The top-seeded Huskies overwhelmed the fifth-seeded Hawkeyes 92-72 at the Alamodome, advancing to their 15th straight Elite Eight.
The Huskies will play secondseeded Baylor on Monday in San Antonio (time to be determined).
“In all these matchups of players that get all the hype, it usually comes down to somebody else and something else,” Auriemma said. “I think our defense, as bad as it was at times, was really, really good when it had to be. Christyn Williams and Evina Westbrook and Olivia (Nelson-Ododa), our three juniors, were amazing.”
It didn’t matter that Iowa had an electrifying freshman in Clark, who came into play leading the country in scoring. Williams, determined to show she’s
more than a scorer, bottled Clark up wherever she went, making her fight for every point. Nor did it matter that the Hawkeyes (20-10) had an ultra-efficient post player in Monika Czinano. The Huskies made life difficult for her, too.
In addition to hounding Clark — keeping her to 21 points on 7 of 21 shooting — Williams was brilliant offensively. Williams poured in 27 points, 18 in the first half, breaking the Hawkeyes’ spirit one basket at a time.
But it wasn’t just Williams. The 6-foot-5 Nelson-Ododa (11 rebounds, seven assists) and 6-3 freshman Aaliyah Edwards (18 points) bullied the Hawkeyes down low from the start, outscoring them 46-26 in the paint and controlling the boards, 42-25. Westbrook (17 points, 10 assists, nine boards) had a hand in that as well, finishing one rebound shy of a tripledouble. Bueckers added 18 points, eight helpers and nine rebounds.
“E and Liv and Aaliyah did a great job of hitting the offensive boards,” Williams said. “They always do a great job of doing that. But today it was great.”
UConn jumped ahead 22-18 after the first quarter then stretched its lead to 49-35 at halftime. At that point, Clark had just seven points on 2 of 11 shooting (1 of 6 from 3), while Williams led UConn.
Auriemma called it the unquestioned best game of Williams’ career.
“Christyn was amazing,” Auriemma said. “I mean, she just had this look in her eye the first half when she was just — it looked like she could score from anywhere, any time she wanted. She takes great pride in her defense now and her rebounding, her ability to make a play for someone else, to see things.”
Iowa never really threatened the rest of the way, climbing as close as eight on multiple occasions in the third.
The Huskies were relentless defensively. The Hawkeyes, the nation’s second-most proficient offense, matched a seasonlow with 72 points. They shot 43%.
McKenna Warnock recorded 20 points and Czinano scored 14.
“Obviously they’re a good overall team,” Clark said. “We knew what they were going to do on defense — they were going to deny me the ball. I don’t think it was anything new that I’ve seen this season. That’s what we’ve seen all throughout the Big Ten. Progressing throughout my career, going to be the same thing.”
Said Bueckers: “Whenever we get beat, we know we’ve got Liv behind us. They can’t get the ball inside.”
The Huskies weren’t going to let Clark ruin their day, not at this stage of the tournament. They’ve come too far in this bizarre season to stop now.
“This is the time where all our work has to pay off,” Westbrook said. “From when we first got to campus in June-July, all the hard work that we put in, all the stoppage from COVID, just everything that we’ve been through, all the adversity … not being able to come home for Christmas … this is what we’re here for. It’s March, it’s UConn time, it’s winning time.” it’s