Storrs, Connecticut (AP) — UConn and UCF will renew their physical rivals when the teams confront each other on Monday night.
2nd seed husky, The person who routed Mercer in the opening round, It’s 13-0 against the No. 7 Seed Night, which dates back to their time together at the American Athletic Conference where UConn left to rejoin the Big East in 2020.
And while Husky hadn’t lost to his opponents at the conference for seven years at AAC, UCF approached and fell only 7 points at home in January 2020.
Their last meeting took place a month later in Stords. I saw UConn win a tiny case by the age of 13. UCF’s Masseny Kaba got a deliberate foul after sending a shot to Husky Center’s Olivia Nelson Odda’s nose, and Diamond Battles received another foul when trying to thwart UConn’s layup. rice field.
“It’s our strength, so no matter who we play, it’s always a physical game,” Kaba said on Sunday. “That is, I can’t really talk about what happens. I don’t know if there’s anything technical or something called. I’m not a referee, but it will always be physical.”
Husky aims for 28 consecutive victories. On the other hand, UCF I won my first NCAA tournament game on Saturday. When the Knights (26-3) defeated Florida for the first time in the history of competition in the state.
UCF has also won the first AAC title of the season, and Katie Abrahamson Henderson hopes to win another title on Monday night.
“Now we have a lot of experience,” she said.
defense
UCF, who won 14 games in a row, entered the tournament, leading the country to gain defense and abandoning the game with only 47.5 points.
“Their defense philosophy is that it’s very, very destructive,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. “They are working really, really hard to get you out of your stuff, out of your rhythm. You have to take care of the ball and do a really good job of being positive about the ball. No, and I think you have to be a more aggressive team when you play against them. “
However, UConn is also one of the best defensive teams in the country, scoring only 41.6 points per game in the last 10 games. Husky beat Mercer 20-0 in the third quarter of Saturday to become the third team to keep their opponents scoreless. Since women went to a quarter in 2016.
Turn the page
UConn’s Paige Bueckers look like her old self after returning from a left knee injury that had her aside for more than two months.
In her sixth match back on Saturday, she started, played for 24 minutes, scored 12 points, achieved five assists and four rebounds.
“I don’t really want to force a shot,” she said. “I want to shoot when I’m open and involve everyone else.”
Auriemma said he would continue to play by ear when deciding how much Bueckers would play during the tournament.
“Monday may be 30 or 20 minutes,” he said. I think it depends a lot on what the game looks like and what she looks like. “
Sale of storms
At UConn, she was Nykesha Sales, a national player, but for UCF players, she’s assistant coach “Cool Keesh.”
The 45-year-old salesman, who scored 2,178 points as a husky, has been a UCF assistant for all six seasons of Abrahamson-Henderson.
Her current player wasn’t born when she set the record as a player, but they respected them by actually going up and down the court every day while she was running the scout team. Say I got it.
“She’s not kidding when she’s playing and the ball is in her hands,” Kaba said. To understand what type of player she was, we have to practice against her every day. “
“Thanks to her, thanks to all of our coaches, we feel competitive,” said Guard Tay Sanders. “But quiche is competitive. quiche isn’t playing.”
Sales still frequently called her ex-university coach, sent text messages, and ate at Auriemma’s restaurant with a UCF colleague on Saturday night. She said much of what she does as her coach can be traced back to what she learned at UConn.
“When it comes to drills, when it comes to actual strength, it’s about how you carry yourself off the court,” she said. “It’s just a little bit of everything.”
Husky and the Knights will tip off at 9pm on Monday night
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