NO. 2 UCONN VS. NO. 15 VERMONT

Location: Gampel Pavilion

Tip: 3 p.m. (Ch. 8)

Records: Vermont 25-6, UConn 29-5.

Last game: Vermont beat Albany in the America East tournament final 38-36; UConn beat Villanova in the Big East tournament final 67-56.

Last game’s starters: Vermont, 5-8 G Emma Utterback (14.0 ppg, 4.2 apg, 1.2 spg), 6-1 F Anna Olson (11.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg), 6-1 F Delaney Richason (9.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg), 5-9 G Bella Vito (3.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg), 5-8 G Catherine Gilwee (10.5 ppg, 3.1 apg).

UConn, 6-3 F Aaliyah Edwards (16.6 ppg, 9.2 rpg, 2.4 apg, 1.1 bpg), 6-5 F Dorka Juhasz (14.3 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 3.0 apg), 6-1 G/F Lou Lopez Senechal (15.7 ppg), 6-1 F Aubrey Griffin (12.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.5 spg), 5-10 G Nika Muhl (7.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 7.8 apg, 1.4 spg).

Noteworthy: Vermont is the America East champion, making its seventh overall NCAA appearance and its first since 2010, when the Catamounts beat Wisconsin in the first round before going on to lose to Notre Dame. Vermont is known for its defense under head coach Alisa Kresge and associate coach Dominique Bryant, holding teams to 36.5% shooting this season, 27.4% from beyond the 3-point line. UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Friday that Vermont’s makeup is a lot like a number of Big East teams on the Huskies’ schedule. “If you saw a lot of our games in the Big East, you saw it’s not always easy to score points in our league,” Auriemma said. “Those teams are exceptionally well coached defensively because they have to be. When you have a team that plays defense like that, when you have a team that is committed like that, they don’t have to score a lot of points. If you look at them on film and take away the Vermont jersey, you would say, ‘Which team is that?’ They look as good as a lot of teams that we have on our schedule.” ... Seniors Delaney Richason and Emma Utterback represented Vermont at Friday’s NCAA press conference. Both admitted to watching UConn play growing up. Richason’s favorite member of the Huskies was Katie Lou Samuelson (both wear No. 33) and Utterback named UConn great Maya Moore. Said Kresge: “So I grew up watching Geno. He’s done so much for the game. I’ve always been the type like, keep winning. I didn’t want to change anything. I loved that. You can keep winning. Like, that is so impressive. I’m not looking forward to the day that Geno’s not on the sideline. I think it’s incredible what he’s done for our game and what he’s done for USA basketball. I’m a big fan of his.” ... UConn’s Aubrey Griffin, who left the Big East tournament championship game with back spasms, said she’s “feeling good,” headed into NCAA tournament. Griffin took part in the portion of practice the media was allowed to watch Friday, working out with the guards . ... This is the sixth time in program history that UConn has been a No. 2 seed. The Huskies are 21-4 as the No. 2 seed, including the 2004 national championship . ... Vermont has won 17 straight games . ... UConn and Vermont have matched up once before in the NCAA tournament, with UConn winning 104-65 in the first round in 2009.