Projected lottery pick and women’s basketball icon Paige Bueckers gazed up at the crowd in the Spokane Arena and shouted out in excitement a very vocal “Come on” as the whistle blew for a media timeout following her individual 19-0 run in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.
“It is easy to get down and not be as energized when the shots are not falling,” Bueckers said. “Once shots start falling, then you feel an energy boost and are just trying to channel that throughout the rest of the game.”
The University of Connecticut Huskies’ women’s basketball program has been the most successful college sports team this century by a significant margin. What sets UConn apart from the competition is its defensive resiliency. In his 40th season as the Huskies’ head coach, Geno Auriemma is seeking his 12th national title, and he obviously knows what it takes to win big games.
On March 29, the second-seeded Huskies (34-3) defeated the third-seeded Oklahoma Sooners (27-8) 82-59 in the Sweet 16. Not only was this a repeat matchup of the opening round of this year’s men’s tournament, but it was also a rematch of the 2002 women’s national title game. Coming into the game, UConn had won all 13 meetings between the two teams.
In the first quarter, Bueckers scored 11 points while the Sooners struggled, turning the ball over eight times and only scoring 12 points.
The Sooners shot 44.4% from beyond the arc in the second quarter and shot 62.5% from the field in the second quarter, compared to UConn’s 25%. Halfway through the quarter, the Sooners went on a 10-0 run in less than 90 seconds. Through two quarters, Oklahoma dominated the paint, outscoring UConn 18-8 and holding the Huskies to just 29.7% from the field.
The Sooners held a 36-32 halftime lead, fueled by strong post play on offense and defense and a strong scoring half from Payton Verhulst, who scored 13 of her 16 in the opening half. Verhulst drained two heavily contested threes as part of a personal 8-0 run, swaying the momentum in Oklahoma’s favor for the remainder of the half.
This loss for Oklahoma represents the end of the best season they have had under head coach Jennie Baranczyk. Their 27 wins were a program-high over the past 15 years, and matched the total they reached during their 2010 Final Four run. This was the Sooners’ 23rd tournament appearance this century, and 12th Sweet 16 appearance in program history.
Raegan Beers was arguably the biggest impact player this season for Oklahoma, shooting 64.5% from the field and averaging 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. She finished this game with 10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Oklahoma entered the game averaging over 85 points per game, which is top five in Division 1. Additionally, the Sooners scored at least 70 points in 31 out of their 34 games this year. Their 59 points against UConn was the lowest scoring total of the season for Oklahoma.
Auriemma knew his team had to be “really active to win today,” and that is precisely what happened for the entirety of the second half. The Huskies’ successful second half began with UConn’s defense displaying intense pressure, which the Sooners failed to penetrate. The lack of space that the Huskies allowed forced Oklahoma to throw a lot of bad passes and turn the ball over to a team that has excellent transition offense.
“They had a great first half, but we dug down defensively, stuck to our defense and I think that is what we wanted to hang our hat on,” Bueckers said.
It seemed as if there was a lid on the basket for UConn in the first half, but their formula for success took over later in the game. When the offense revolves around Bueckers and she is able to get open looks from the mid-range, every other aspect of the game opens up for UConn. After keeping UConn in check in the first half, the Sooners had no answer for Bueckers in the third and fourth quarters.
As has been the case all season long, once Bueckers gets on a hot streak, the rest of the team settles into their roles and they play to the best of their ability. They shot 58.3% in the second half, which was nearly a 30% increase from half-to-half. Bueckers scored 29 points in the second half and made eight of her nine shots in the fourth quarter despite checking out of the game with four minutes remaining.
She had career-highs of 40 points, sixteen field goals and six three-pointers. She also set UConn tournament records for most points in a game, most field goals made and most points in a half.
She scored the first five points of the second half, fueling a 23-4 UConn run that displayed the Huskies’ high-octane offense and suffocating defense. She has always been an elite scorer, but this was one of the highest volume-shooting games of her career.
“Today was unusual for her because she doesn’t necessarily like to shoot the ball as much as she did today, but circumstances were perfect because of how Oklahoma was playing,” Auriemma said.
Despite Bueckers’ career night, both she and Auriemma mentioned that she made numerous costly mental mistakes on defense. This was an aspect of this game that the average observer would not have noticed, but that level of attention to detail and the innate will to improve is what defines a generational player or coach.
Bueckers and the Huskies will face off with the top-seeded USC Trojans (31-3) on Monday at 6 p.m. with a spot in the final four on the line. USC bested UConn in December, but the Huskies are heavy favorites after All-American JuJu Watkins tore her ACL in the Round of 32.
“Paige is held to a different standard than a lot of other kids,” Auriemma said. “After this performance, people are going to expect 50 on Monday, so my job is to kind of alleviate that pressure.”
Liam Bradford can be reached at arg-sports@uidaho.edu