UConn women roll to recordsetting 1st-round blowout
PHOENIX — Even with Golden State’s Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson on the sidelines, the Phoenix Suns couldn’t beat the Warriors.
Quinn Cook did his best Curry imitation, scoring 16 of his career-high 28 points in a dominant third quarter, and the severely depleted Warriors handed the Suns their eighth straight loss and 23rd in 25 games, 124-109 on Saturday night.
“This is definitely one to feel good about,” said Draymond Green, who narrowly missed a triple-double for Golden State.
Nick Young added 20 points for the Warriors, who beat Phoenix for the 13th consecutive time despite playing without Curry (ankle), Durant (ribs) and Thompson (fractured thumb) — a trio that averages a combined 73 points per game. The Suns didn’t have leading scorer Devin Booker due to a right hand sprain.
Green had a season-high 25 points along with 11 rebounds and eight assists for Golden State, which had lost three of its last four after the injuries began to hit.
“I call Draymond the heartbeat of our team for a reason,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “When he is out there doing what he was doing tonight, playing with that kind of energy and focus, he is tremendous and leads our team no matter who’s out there.”
Rookie Josh Jackson scored a career-high 36 points for Phoenix. Troy Daniels added 18.
Phoenix led by 15 in the first quarter but was outscored 72-49 in the second half.
“Coach got after us a little bit at halftime,” Cook said. “First half I thought we were going through the motions a little bit. We locked in defensively which led to great shots on offense which got everyone going.”
The Suns outscored the Warriors 30-9 over an eightminute stretch in the first half to take their biggest lead at 50-35 on Daniels’ cutting layup with 6:52 left. Phoenix led 60-52 at the break.
The Warriors outscored Phoenix 29-7 over one stretch in the third quarter to lead 86-74 on Cook’s consecutive 3s with 3:34 left. A 7-0 Suns’ spurt cut it 88-83, and Golden State led 94-85 entering the fourth.
Phoenix never got any closer.
“We lost Cook a couple of times and that just accelerated it,” Suns interim coach Jay Triano said. “But you know, we struggled to score a little bit as well. We can’t give up the 3-point shot and we knew that going in. That was the whole focus of our game.”
Cook, coming off what was then a career-best 25 points in Friday night’s home loss to Sacramento, made all six of his shots in the third quarter, three of them 3s. He finished 10-of-16 shooting, 5 of 6 from deep.
“I always wanted to stay ready for the opportunity,” Cook said. “I never wanted to have the opportunity and not be ready. That has always been my mindset and my motivation.”
He is the first undrafted player this season to score at least 25 on consecutive nights.
“He has proven he can compete at this level,” Kerr said. “‘In the last couple of games, you can see what he can do. He is a great shooter. We have known that he is a good fit with us too.”
STORRS, Conn. — The UConn women’s team was in an online group chat watching the UMBC men upset top-seeded Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The players assured each other that they weren’t going to let anything similar happened to them. All upset hopes ended in the first few minutes of this game as the Huskies went on to a record-setting rout. Azura Stevens scored 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead six UConn players in double figures and the Huskies opened their NCAA Tournament with a 140-52 defeat of Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday.
“I don’t think (the UMBC) game put extra pressure on us, but watching a No. 1 go down kind of motivated us to kind of come out from the start to be ready to go,” Stevens said.
The women’s top seed set a record for points in a tour- nament game and all-time NCAA records for points in a period (55 in the first) and a half (94 in the first). And UConn’s 88-point margin of victory was the secondbiggest in tournament history. Baylor beat Texas Southern by 89 in the 2017 tournament.
The previous record for points in a tournament game was 121. The previous mark for points in a half was 80 and for a quarter was 45.
“I don’t think we were really aware, said Katie Lou Samuelson, who had 18 points and 10 assists. “We were aware of how quickly we were going up and down the court at that first media timeout. But, we were just getting a lot of opportunities and taking advantage of them whenever we could.”
Kia Nurse finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Napheesa Collier had 25 points and nine assists.
UConn (33-0) shot 65 percent from the floor, 73.6 percent in the first half, and outscored the No. 16 seed 96-10 in the paint.
Haley Thomas had 12 points and Caitlyn Kroll 11 for Saint Francis, which finishes the season 24-10. Jessica Kovatch, who came in as the nation’s second leading scorer at just under 25 points per game, finished with nine, all in the second half.
Saint Francis coach Joe Haigh said his game plan was to outscore the Huskies, to run and gun, while leaving UConn’s post players open for mid-range jump shots. His team averaged nearly 81 points a game coming into Saturday. The strategy didn’t work.
“There was only one chance that we would have had to come close in this game and that was going to be to shoot a million threes and hope that they go in,” Haigh said. “So, we shot a million 3s and we didn’t make them.”
The Red Flash attempted 57 shots from behind the arc, making just 10 of them.
Samuelson opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, the Huskies made their first nine shots. They took their first 30-point lead in the first quarter on Samuelson’s reverse layup that made it 41-10 and ended the quarter with a 55-19 lead.
Collier’s basket with more than six minutes left in the second quarter gave UConn a 68-26 lead, giving the Huskies the tournament record for points in a half. Nurse’s layup with more than three minutes remaining made it 82-28, giving them the NCAA record. UConn led 94-31 at the break.
UConn is looking for its 12th national title and fifth in six years. The Huskies haven’t lost in the opening round since 1993.
BIG PICTURE
UConn: The Huskies improved to 96-10 in the NCAA Tournament as a top seed and 114-18 overall, all under Geno Auriemma, who is the winningest coach in the tournament’s history.
BREAKING RECORDS
UConn’s scoring output was 19 points better than the old NCAA record of 121 set by Alabama against Duke in a four overtime game in the second round of the 1995 tournament. It also was just nine points fewer than Points than the all-time NCAA record put up by Long Beach State in a 149-69 win over San Jose State in February, 1987.
The Huskies also set a tournament record for rebounds and assists. They had 38 helpers on their 59 baskets. The old record was 37 by Stanford against Arkansas in the 1990 West Regional Final. Northwestern State holds the all-time record, getting 43 in a game against Arkansas Baptist in January, 1987.
The team’s 69 rebounds were two more than Duke pulled down against Alabama in that 1995 contest. Kentucky also had 67 against Wright State in a 2014 first-round game.
Saint Francis also set a record with its 57 attempts from behind the arc. The old record was 52 by Alabama in that game against the Blue Devils.
BENCH
The Huskies usually have a short bench, going six or seven players deep. Seven reserves saw action on Saturday and outscored the Saint Francis bench 6212.
HE SAID IT
UConn coach Geno Auriemma: “I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in anything quite like that. That was quite different than anything I’ve experienced either in the regular season or the NCAA Tournament. I thought we just took advantage of all the things that were available to us the entire game.”
UP NEXT
UConn will play Quinnipiac on Monday night, looking to make the Sweet 16 for a 25th straight season.