The UConn women’s basketball team mounted a spectacular second-half comeback but fell just short in a 72-70 loss to No. 7 USC in front of a sold-out crowd at the XL Center on Saturday night.
The No. 4 Huskies (10-2) got behind by as many as 14 points in the second quarter, then outscored USC 41-30 after halftime to cement the matchup as an instant classic. Superstar Paige Bueckers led UConn with 22 points shooting 9-for-22 from the field, and freshman standout Sarah Strong recorded the third double-double of her career with 22 points and 13 rebounds plus five assists.
“I’m really, really proud of the team that came out locker room to play in the second half. I’m kind of disappointed and not at all happy with the team that came out to start the game,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “So we gotta figure out what the difference is between those two teams … I thought the execution part in the first half was as a bad as I’ve seen in a few years here at Connecticut. It’s not that we can’t do it, because we spent 20 minutes doing it. If you look at the stats, you can’t really pick anything apart.”
USC star JuJu Watkins was impressive with 25 points plus six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Projected WNBA lottery pick Kiki Iriafen added 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the Trojans. The pair led USC to its first win over UConn in program history, delivering the Huskies their first home loss of 2024-25. The teams had not met in the regular season since 2003.
UConn came out sluggish allowing a 9-0 run over the first four minutes of the game, but Bueckers ignited the Huskies’ offense with a signature off-balance pull-up jump shot for the team’s first field goal of the game. Strong, who scored UConn’s first points on a pair of free throws, got involved quickly adding a contested 3-pointer moments later to close the Trojans’ lead to a single possession.
A 6-0 UConn run ended with an pull-up jump shot from Watkins, who logged 10 points in the first quarter alone. The sophomore phenom started 2-for-2 from 3-point range contributing to a 3-for-5 first quarter for USC, while the Huskies’ shooters struggled to get hot beginning 1-for-5 from outside. Though Watkins picked up her second foul late in the opening quarter, USC continued to extend its lead holding UConn scoreless for nearly six total minutes in the first.
Paige Bueckers #5 of the Connecticut Huskies drives to the rim against JuJu Watkins #12 of the USC Trojans during the first half of an NCAA women’s basketball game at the XL Center on Dec. 21, 2024 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
UConn found itself trading layups and jumpers for 3-pointers in the second quarter amid an elite shooting performance from the Trojans. USC had one of its best halves of the season going 7-for-11 from beyond the arc, powered by its trio of top-ranked freshmen. Kennedy Smith, playing in her first game since undergoing a surgical procedure on Nov. 23, hit a pair of threes in the first half, and Kayleigh Heckel added one as part of her perfect shooting start from the field. Smith finished the game with nine points going 3-for-6 from 3-point range.
The Huskies ended the first half on a three-minute scoring drought, and Bueckers entered halftime with just seven points shooting 30% from the field. She made UConn’s lone 3-pointer of the second quarter on an assist from Azzi Fudd, but Strong was held to two points in the second. USC hit seven 3-pointers in the first half, more than it had made in six of 11 previous complete games this season.
“In order for us to win, generally speaking, it’s when you make (shots), and it’s also how many ways you have to score,” Auriemma said. “They could score inside on us today, which we understand that, but they made threes they don’t (usually) make, so that that that ends up being the margin in the end. We shot more free throws, and we made more free throws than them, but in these games, if we don’t make more threes than the other team, it’s going to be really hard for us to win.”
The Huskies struggled to find momentum again early in the second half, but Bueckers came out aggressive and put up six points in the first five minutes of the third quarter. KK Arnold then checked off the bench and injected life into the Huskies helping force four turnovers in five minutes against the Trojans. The string of defensive stops turned into a 14-2 run that got UConn back to a single-digit deficit.
The crowd hit its loudest decibel of the game as Arnold made a steal that she converted into an assist on a Shade 3-pointer, and it roared somehow louder when she did the same for Bueckers off another Trojans turnover moments later. UConn ended on a 13-2 run with nine points from Buckers in the quarter, and the Huskies combined to force seven turnovers against USC after finishing the first half with seven.
“That’s that’s KK’s role, and that’s what she does for us,” Bueckers said. “She brings a different intensity off the bench, a different spark off the bench. You saw it defensively, but just the way she pushes out transition, gets easy baskets for us. The game turned around when she got in the game with her ball pressure, with her getting in passing lanes, her defensive intensity, so she was a person that sparked that second-half run.”
Sarah Strong #21 of the Connecticut Huskies shoots against takes the shot during the first half of an NCAA women’s basketball game at the XL Center on Dec. 21, 2024 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)
The teams traded buckets to open the fourth quarter until the Huskies hit four field goals in a row to close the Trojans’ lead to just one point with six minutes to play. The arena exploded as Morgan Cheli drained a 3-pointer that made it a single-possession game, and Bueckers added another signature jump shot to put UConn within one and force a USC timeout.
The back-and-forth continued down the stretch as USC fought to maintain its suddenly-narrow lead. UConn got in front briefly with more than five minutes to go, then tied the game with less than three minutes left, and cut it back to a one-point deficit in the final 30 seconds as the Trojans responded again and again. Strong had a chance to tie it with five seconds on the clock after she drew a foul against Watkins from the 3-point line, but she hit just one of her free throws, and the Huskies couldn’t get a final shot attempt up off despite grabbing the rebound off the second miss.
“Some people run from the flame, and other kids run to it. (Sarah) wants to be in that situation,” Auriemma said. “She relishes that situation. Nobody’s more disappointed than she is right now in that moment, but I would put her in that moment every single game for the rest of the season, and have confidence that you know she’s going to come through.”
Originally Published: December 21, 2024 at 10:13 PM EST
