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Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
SAN ANTONIO – Their regular-season clash in January was canceled due to a COVID-19 number, but women’s basketball titans UConn and Baylor will reunite in 2021 after all, on Monday’s final of the NCAA River Walk Regional tournament. And after his team survived a close call-up Saturday against Michigan’s No. 6 league (78-75 in overtime), Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said his Elite Eight game will coincide quite a bit. .
“You’re watching two programs that value defense,” Mulkey said. “I think Baylor and UConn are among the top three in the country in defending the field goal percentage. So look at the rebound. That could explain to you why the two programs are respected across the country.
“Then, yeah, it could be an ugly game. When I say ugly, it could be a low score, it could be some changes. There are those who mean boring. They may not be 80’s and 90’s. I don’t know.”
On Saturday, Baylor, No. 2 seed, was the first to defend the field goal percentage (31.7) and No. 1 seed UConn, third (32.9), and Alamo’s head coach Regional, No. 1, Stanford, second, at 32.7. In Sweet 16’s wins, Baylor allowed Michigan to shoot 46%, and UConn allowed Iowa to shoot 43.3%.
Baylor paused COVID-19 in January after Mulkey contracted the coronavirus, which is why the Geno Auriemma Huskies and Lady Bears did not meet at the time.
“They’re two very proud programs,” Mulkey said. “I will definitely not beat Geno, so our players will compete better and try to beat their players.
“It’s very difficult to sustain something that is an elite level. You see programs that are Cinderella, they do it (up and down) and then you see those that stay a little bit in the middle, they have good programs. We want you to stay up here and we want to play in championships “.
The Lady Bears are the defending national champions, winning their third title in 2019. UConn has 11 NCAA titles, the most recent in 2016, and has reached the 12 consecutive Final Fours. This will be the second time the teams meet in the NCAA tournament. It looked like they would face off for the NCAA title in 2013, when Baylor was champion in defense. But the Lady Bears got upset that year at the Sweet 16 in Louisville, and UConn won the first of four consecutive championships behind Breanna Stewart.
The series record is tied 4-4, with the first meeting in the semifinals of the 2010 NCAA tournament here at the Alamodome. UConn, which was then heading for a perfect second straight season, won 70-50.
Since then, three UConn-Baylor games have been decided by six points or less. Three others had 11-point margins. Baylor’s 74-58 victory last season in Hartford, Connecticut, was close (55-52 through three quarters) before the Lady Bears dominated the fourth quarter and outscored the Huskies 19-6.
Defense has played an important role in Baylor’s wins over UConn. In Lady Bears ’68-57 victory in January 2019, they kept UConn at 29.4% of the field, the Huskies’ worst shooting percentage in 20 years. In 2020, the Huskies shot a little worse against Baylor: 29.0%.
After winning his first two NCAA Tournament games this year by 49 and 42 points, Baylor had to sweat victory Saturday against a Michigan team making its first appearance in the Sweet 16.
“The later you go, the harder the opponent will be and the tighter the games will be,” Mulkey said. “I guess you could say we did enough on the offensive and defensive tip to win the game in overtime.”
Baylor junior NaLyssa Smith, who tied a record NCAA championship goal percentage on Saturday, going 11-for-11 on the road to 24 points, said she faced UConn: “Oh, we’re very excited is what we thrive on [on] the most.”