WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY
No. 2 UCONN vs. No. 23 USF
What: Second round of Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament When: Sunday, noon
Where: Paradise Island, The Bahamas
Records: UConn (2-0), USF (3-1)
TV: FloHoops
Radio: UConn Sports Network
KEEP AN EYE ON
AAC, Revisited: UConn should have no problem defeating USF on Sunday. The Huskies spent seven years in the American Athletic Conference and never lost a conference game, including six wins over USF in the AAC Tournament. Six of USF’s current players, including its full starting lineup, were on the team during its last matchup with UConn in the 2020 AAC Tournament semifinal. Up until last season, UConn had spoiled four AAC Championship games for the Bulls. But with the Huskies now in the Big East, USF was able to win the program’s first AAC regular season and tournament titles in 2021. Last season, USF longtime coach Jose Fernandez won the conference’s Coach of the Year honor and guard Elisa Pinzan won Most Improved Player of the Year while Maria Alvarez winning co-Sixth Player of the Year
The only Huskies with experience playing against USF are seniors Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa and junior Aubrey Griffin. In UConn’s, 79-38, 2020 AAC Tournament semifinal win, Williams had 15 points, followed by Griffin with 10 and Nelson-Ododa with nine.
Post Player opportunity: Just like Arkansas, USF has less length than UConn. Only six players are 6-foot or taller with redshirt senior Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu the tallest at 6-4. She averages 17 minutes with 7.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Meanwhile UConn has eight players over 6-foot including three at 6-5. During UConn’s game against Arkansas, UConn coach Geno Auriemma blamed the team’s poor defense in the first half to its inability to guard the shorter, and quicker players, saying the team couldn’t avoid the bad matchups against their taller defenders.
“It wasn’t an easy day for post players because there wasn’t anybody for them to guard,” Auriemma said following UConn’s 95-80 season opening win over Arkansas last weekend. “If there were two of them in the game, one of them was always caught guarding the guard so it was really difficult.”
If UConn wants to play in the tournament’s inaugural championship on Monday, against either No. 1 South Carolina or No. 9 Oregon, then it needs to create better defensive matchups to tackle the size difference.
Fudd still looking to make an impact: UConn is still waiting for freshman Azzi Fudd to make her big college debut. In the team’s first two games she was somewhat quiet, giving away passes instead of taking shots. Against Minnesota on Saturday she scored five points to go along with four rebounds and one assist in 22 minutes (the lowest scorer of the six players who played 20 minutes or more). Auriemma has alternated between Fudd and graduate transfer Dorka Juhász as the first two players off the bench in both games. The Huskies don’t need Fudd to be the leading scorer every night, they have enough depth with other players, but are looking to her to create defensive stops and offensive sparks. Outside of her performance in UConn’s exhibition against Fort Hays State, the No. 1 recruit of 2021 has yet to really provide either.