The No. 4 South Carolina women's basketball team (22-2, 10-1) is hosting the No. 7 UConn Huskies on Sunday afternoon with ESPN’s College GameDay heading to Columbia to preview the matchup.
The Daily Gamecock interviewed Associate Sports Editor Avery Becker and Women’s Basketball Beat Writer Jake McCreven of UConn’s The Daily Campus to gain insight on the top 10 matchup.
Daily Gamecock: How would you guys assess how UConn has been playing up to this point?
Becker: “For me personally, I think it's just been utter domination, especially in their Big East matchups. They've been winning by close to 40, 50 points almost every single game. And that's just because we have star players from all ends of the roster, and I think the front runners in that are definitely (redshirt senior guard) Paige Bueckers and (freshman forward) Sarah Strong. I love Sarah Strong, our new freshman this year. She was the No. 1 ESPN-ranked recruit. She's just been such a good addition to our program this year. She can play any position one through five, and I know that (head coach) Geno (Auriemma) loves to kinda switch her around a little bit, especially when he plays small ball.”
Even with the injury this year, it feels like it is very much Paige Buecker's season. How would you grade her in her final season in Storrs?
McCreven: “She spent about three weeks injured … and they kinda dominated every game while she was out. But the difference she has when she's on the court, I mean, you can't really replicate it with any other player. She's just so efficient, especially from shooting mid-range shots. Geno talks about this all the time. When she gets the ball on kind of a high-screen dribble to the top of the post, it's going in at least 80% of the time. And she's so efficient on the offensive end, but she's also such a pest on the defensive end.”
Who else for UConn has to have a strong performance for them to give the Gamecocks a strong fight?
Becker: “As far as players to look out for against the Gamecocks, ... (graduate guard) Azzi Fudd and (graduate guard) Kaitlyn Chen. Azzi Fudd's a really good shooter on an on-night … these past few games, she's just done a really great job of being kind of a pest on the offensive end and just really getting those shots in. She's been doing really well shooting from three as well. Her and Kaitlyn Chen are kind of behind-the-scenes players, but they're also difference makers on the court too, if that makes sense. Then on the defensive side of things, (redshirt senior guard/forward) Aubrey Griffin is just coming back from an ACL injury as well, ... a lot of her teammates have been kind of emphasizing how much of a defensive pest she is and how well she is defensively and how versatile of a player she is.”
UConn's already played in two top 10 games this season against Notre Dame and USC, however, they lost both. What do you think UConn has to do in order to beat the Gamecocks?
McCreven: "So, obviously, everyone looks at the two losses. You're like, 'Oh, you haven't beaten the kind of cream of the crop', which is true. But you look at some of the other wins that they have, they demolished Iowa State, and they put North Carolina to bed pretty early too. They need the bigs to step up … and in those two losses, they just didn't. Iowa State has one of the better centers in the country, (sophomore center) Audi Crooks… and they shut her down. You look at USC, they were getting rebounds, and they got second-chance points, and they ended up winning. So I think it really comes down to the play of the centers … it's just a matter of 'Can you win on the boards?' That's gonna be the matchup that determines the game."
Is there anything else that you think South Carolina has that is really gonna be a problem for the Huskies?
McCreven: “Well home court advantage obviously. I think that's kinda like the thing that stands out, but there's also a few other things, like the attitude, the class that South Carolina plays with, they have confidence in every game. The last few meetings between these two teams have not gone UConn’s way. So, I think it's more of a mental thing than anything else because I think the two teams match up very well physically. It's just a matter of who gets over that mental block."
Who wins and what’s your score prediction?
McCreven: “I'll take UConn. I'll ride with my Huskies. You know, score-wise … I'll go 78-73.”
Becker: “I'll do 68-60 for UConn. I'm gonna ride with my Huskies too. I think it's gonna be a little bit lesser of a scoring game than Jake thinks. I definitely think it's gonna be a battle.”