• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Phoenix Sports Today

Phoenix Sports News Continuously Updated

  • Cardinals
  • Diamondbacks
  • Coyotes
  • Basketball
    • Mercury
    • Suns
  • Soccer
  • Colleges
    • Arizona State
    • Grand Canyon University
    • Northern Arizona
    • University of Arizona

First look at UConn, Arizona’s Final Four opponent

March 30, 2021 by AZ Desert Swarm Leave a Comment

Baylor v UConn
Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

By clinching a Final Four berth Monday night, the Arizona Wildcats are set to face the greatest college basketball program in modern history, the UConn Huskies. The two teams will square off Friday evening at a time still to be determined.

On the surface, it’s a matchup of David vs. Goliath. Arizona is in its first ever Final Four. UConn just clinched its 13th consecutive ticket to college hoops’ promised land.

Dig a little bit deeper, however, and you will find that this is not an ordinary Huskies group. Yes, UConn is 28-1 and considered one of the nation’s top two teams along side Stanford, but the Huskies are remarkably young.

UConn only has three upperclassmen – all starters – but the name that most fans will immediately recognize is Paige Bueckers, the freshman phenom putting up one of the greatest rookie seasons in women’s hoops history.

A 2021 First-Team All-American, Bueckers is a 5-foot-11 point guard who averages 20 points a game on 53% shooting. She is notoriously clutch in late-game situations and proved to be in the difference in UConn’s 69-67 Elite Eight win over Baylor. Bueckers scored 28 points including three three-pointers.

Bueckers maneuvers the backcourt next to a pair of juniors, Christyn Williams and Evina Westbrook.

Williams is a career 1,000-point scorer who has scored a combined 48 points over UConn’s last two games. Westbrook, a Salem, Ore. native and Tennessee transfer, has started every game for the Huskies this season. At 6-foot, she embodies the wing position and has a knack for getting to the glass.

Bueckers, Williams and Westbrook all played a full 40 minutes against Baylor Monday night.

UConn’s front court is led by junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa, the 2021 Big East Co-Defensive Player of the Year. Ododa has recorded four or more blocks in three of UConn’s last eight games. She also averages 12.4 points and 7.9 rebounds a game.

Then there’s Aaliyah Edwards, a prolific freshman and the 2021 Big East Sixth Man of the Year. An Ontario, Canada native, Edwards might be considered UConn’s wild card. She scored 17, 19 and 18 points in the Huskies’ first three NCAA Tournament games but also has a tendency to go quiet, as she did Monday against Baylor, scoring just four points in 26 minutes.

Nelson-Ododa and Edwards are 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-3 respectively, giving UConn’s starting five plenty of size.

Despite a loaded roster, UConn’s rotation has been cut to six, sometimes seven players. On Monday sophomore forward Aubrey Griffin was the only Husky to see time off the bench. She played 26 minutes and scored two points.

As a team, the Huskies average nearly 83 points and hold opponents to 52 points a game. UConn carries a +11.7 rebounding margin and a +3.7 turnover advantage.

If the Huskies have a true weakness, it’s free throw shooting: they make only 71% of their attempts from the charity stripe.

UConn will try to force Arizona into an up-and-down affair, something the Wildcats are well used to playing in the Pac-12. If Arizona is able to withstand UConn’s pressure, limit Bueckers’ scoring efficiency and avoid a lopsided rebound disparity, this game could go to the wire.

Filed Under: University of Arizona

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Dario Saric adds another great element to the Suns attack
  • Open Thread: Suns host Mavs on TNT Thursday night
  • Cardinals’ HC target Frank Reich hired by Panthers
  • Sean Payton spends entire day meeting with Cardinals on Thursday
  • Sean Payton’s, Brian Flores’ odds to be new Cardinals HC shorten

Categories

Archives

Our Partners

All Sports

  • 247 Sports
  • ArizonaSports.com - 98.7 FM
  • Bleacher Report
  • Heat Waved
  • OurSports Central
  • The Arizona Republic
  • The Sports Fan Journal
  • USA Today

Baseball

  • Arizona Diamondbacks
  • AZ Snake Pit
  • Last Word On Baseball
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Venom Strikes

Basketball

  • Phoenix Suns
  • Amico Hoops
  • Basketball Insiders
  • Bright Side Of The Sun
  • High Post Hoops
  • Hoops Hype
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Last Word On Pro Basketball
  • Pro Basketball Talk
  • Real GM
  • Valley Of The Suns

Football

  • Arizona Cardinals
  • Cardinals Gab
  • Cards Wire
  • Deep Dive
  • Last Word On Pro Football
  • NFL Trade Rumors
  • Our Turf Football
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Football Talk
  • Raising Zona
  • Revenge Of The Birds
  • Words From The Birds

Hockey

  • Elite Prospects
  • Five For Howling
  • Howlin Hockey
  • Last Word On Hockey
  • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Talk
  • The Hockey Writers

Soccer

  • Last Word on Soccer
  • MLS Multiplex

College

  • AZ Desert Swarm
  • Busting Brackets
  • College Football News
  • College Sports Madness
  • Devils In Detail
  • House Of Sparky
  • Last Word On College Basketball - Univ of Arizona
  • Saturday Blitz
  • Zags Blog
  • Zona Zealots

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in