NO. 2 UCONN VS. NO. 7 BAYLOR
Monday at 9 p.m.
NCAA Tournament second round Gampel Pavilion
UConn (30-5), Baylor (20-12)
ESPN
UConn Sports Network, WGCH 1490 AM (Greenwich), WAVZ 1300 AM (New Haven), WATR 1320 AM (Waterbury), 97.9 FM-ESPN
KEEP AN EYE ON
The road continues: The No. 2 seeded UConn women’s basketball team will play in the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the 29th straight time Monday against No. 7 Baylor
The winner will fly across the country to play in the Seattle Regional of the Sweet 16 and face the winner of No. 6 North Carolina-No. 3 Ohio State.
UConn made quick work of No. 15 Vermont in Saturday’s first round, winning 95-52. Aaliyah Edwards paced UConn with a career-high 28 points while Dorka Juhász recorded her 14th double-double and Nika Mühl had 10 assists.
Star sophomore Azzi Fudd returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 4 in place of Aubrey Griffin. Griffin played just 6.5 minutes Saturday as she continues to deal with back spasms.
All 10 available players played Saturday and scored, marking the first time all year all 10 scored in a single game.
Some history: The No. 6-ranked Huskies have a heated history with Baylor, however; this will be the first time these teams meet under new Bears’ head coach Niki Collen. Collen took over the program in May 2021 after former coach Kim Mulkey left for the same job at LSU. UConn is 5-4 all-time against Baylor.
They most recently met in the 2021 Elite Eight where an infamous no-call shooting foul on UConn in the game’s final 10 seconds allowed the Huskies to win 69-67 and advance to the Final Four. The Huskies’ last loss to Baylor was on Jan. 9, 2020, in Hartford when they fell 74-58.
Edwards (26 minutes, four points, seven rebounds), Paige Bueckers (40 minutes, 28 points) and Griffin (25 minutes, three rebounds, two points) played in that Elite Eight. While Mühl was also on the roster but didn’t play because of a sprained ankle.
Baylor junior Caitlin Bickle (six minutes, two points) and Sarah Andrews (11 points, two points) also played in that game while current senior Jaden Owens was on the Baylor roster but didn’t play.
Monday will be the teams’ third meeting in the NCAA Tournament. Outside of the 2021 Elite Eight, they also met in the 2010 Final Four (their first-ever meeting against each other), with UConn winning 70-50 to advance to the championship game.
Scouting Baylor: The Bears defeated No. 10 Alabama in Saturday’s first round 78-74 in the third biggest comeback in NCAA Tournament history, per ESPN. Baylor ended the first quarter down 22-4. Yes, 4.
But the Bears shifted into a higher gear after halftime and went 3 of 4 from deep to begin the climb. A 3-pointer from Sarah Andrews gave Baylor its first lead of the game halfway through the third. With less than four minutes left in the game, Andrews made a jumper to tie the game and then another 3-pointer to take ahold of the lead. Alabama drained their own 3 to tie the game with about 1.5 minutes to go.
Fouls from Alabama put Baylor on the line six times in the game’s final minute. A pair of free throws from both Bella Fontleroy and Caitlin Bickle got Baylor back on top with 38 seconds left. The Bears kept the lead for the rest of the game.
Baylor ended the regular season at No. 5 in the Big 12 standings after losing six of its last nine games. The Bears fell to Iowa State, 74-63, in the Big 12 Tournament Quarterfinals.
Collen is 48-19 in her first two years in Waco. She took the job after three seasons coaching the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, where she was named the league’s Coach of the Year in 2018.
Collen also spent two seasons as an assistant coach under former Connecticut Sun head coach Curt Miller in Uncasville.
As a player, Collen helped both Purdue (1993-95) and Marquette (1995-98) reach the NCAA Tournament, including leading the Boilermakers to a Final Four in 1994.