UConn vs. USC Preview: How, Who to Watch in Elite Eight Date
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Will the Final Four of this NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament feature fight or bite? The Connecticut Huskies and University of Southern California Trojans will figure it out on Monday night.
The Huskies and Trojans will decide the Spokane 4 region's Final Four representative in a highly-anticipated duel that many have longed for ever since USC escaped from Hartford with a 72-70 decision. The cross-coast pleasantries go back further, as the Huskies took last year's bout in the Elite Eight, denying SoCal its first Final Four appearance since 1986.
Anyone remotely familiar with the tournament, however, knows that the rematch is missing one of its literal shooting stars.
This NCAA Tournament as a whole has had a dark cloud over it ever since USC star JuJu Watkins tore her ACL in second round action against Mississippi State. The injury ended her illustrious sophomore season and removed one of college basketball's most promising talents from March Madness. Watkins had a game-best 25 poins in the most recent get-together in Hartford.
USC at least had no problem with its first Watkins-less excursion, as they took down Kansas State 67-61 in the weekend's regional semifinal action. That win came hours after the Huskies secured their own Elite Eight fate, as they overcame a narrow halftime deficit to obliterate Oklahoma 82-59. Paige Bueckers set a career-best in scoring for the second consecutive game, putting up 40 tallies less than a week after she had 34 in the Round of 32 triumph over South Dakota State in her Storrs coda.
The winner of Monday's game will face UCLA in the Women's Final Four on Friday night in Tampa.
Who: (1) USC Trojans (31-3, 17-1) vs. (2) Connecticut Huskies (34-3, 18-0)
What: NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, Spokane 4 Regional Final
Where: Spokane Arena, Spokane, WA
When/Watch: Monday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN
Who's Favored: UCONN -13.5
Keep An Eye On: Sarah Strong
With Watkins out, USC has both clamped down in the paint and forced opponents to find their footing on the inside: the Trojans' trio in the first rounds of the tournament shot less than 27 percent from three-point range and, if they dared to infiltrate the inside have to deal with Kiki Iriafen and Rayah Marshall. That's going to raise the pressure on Strong (and Jana El-Alfy), who has impressed in her first NCAA excursions to date. Perhaps no one's impressed with inflated box scores against Arkansas State and South Dakota State, but the freshman Strong held her own against Raegan Beers of Oklahoma, flirting with a triple-double while Bueckers handled the outside work.
Trojan to Watch: Avery Howell
Reports of USC's demise have been greatly exaggerated and it'd be an insult to Iriafen and Marshall's talents to assume so. But the Trojans enjoyed the breakouts of their respective first-years in the Sweet 16 triumph over Kansas State, as Kennedy Smith broke out for 19 points while Howell did a little bit of everything in the second start of her California career, putting in 18 points, eight rebounds, and four steals, all setting or matching premature career-bests. Howell even held her own in her 12th collegiate game against the Huskies in December as the Trojans' sixth woman, scoring six points and playing decent defense. How Howell composes herself in her largest opportunity yet could be the difference between falling as the No. 1 seed and an unlikely Final Four trip.
They Said It
"You try not to think about the stakes or the pressure or getting to the Final Four. Obviously that's there, so you try not to think about it and just go out and play every single game the same way like it's your last, like it's the most important 40 minutes of your life. ... We just want the season to keep going as long as possible. So leaving nothing up to chance, giving it our all for that 40 minutes to play for another 40 is our team mindset."-Paige Bueckers (h/t Alexa Philippou, ESPN)
Prediction
UConn knows not to take the Trojans' lightly; you don't build a reputation like they have by going into games for granted. USC is dangerous with Watkins and without Watkins and anything they do from here on out is a success. Past and present endeavors on the Husky end, however, have prepared them for moments like this and their resilience and experience will prove to be the ultimate difference.
As inspiring as the Watkins-less exploits of the Trojans can potentially be, the Huskies are the last team that's going to show any form of sympathy. Expect a fight, but don't expect UConn to pity the SoCal sorrow.
UConn 85, USC 79
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
