UConn Women vs SMU – What’s Changed Since They Last Played?

On Tuesday February 25 the UConn Huskies will finish up their trip to Texas with a road game at SMU. The last time these teams met, UConn beat the Mustangs 102-41. All five starters had double digit scoring, led by Bria Hartley (21 points) and Breanna Stewart (20 points). The Mustangs were led by Keena Mays (20 points) although no other SMU player scored more than 5 points. SMU shot 20% for the game and only 16% from beyond the arc.

Since that game, SMU has gone 2-2 with losses to Rutgers (65-64) and UCF (59-54) followed by wins over Houston (67-50) and Memphis (78-74). SMU’s scoring dipped for a few games due to the loss of third leading scorer Destynee Hives-McCray for the remainder of the season for an undisclosed medical reason. Since her loss on Feb. 13, forward Aikil Simpson has picked up her game and Keena Mays, who had been averaging 20 points before the UConn game upped her scoring in a spectacular fashion, averaging almost 24 points in the last four games. The kid has Game with a capital G.

Last time out, UConn roared out of the gate with a 19-0 run before Gabrielle Williams ended it with a free throw at the 14:26 mark in the first half. Akil Simpson had 5 points on 2-15 shooting because she is essentially the only threat in the paint for the Mustangs and she had to guard Stefanie Dolson. I don’t expect that to be much changed on Tuesday even with Simpson’s improved play. UConn’s frontcourt is just too big and too versatile for the guard oriented Mustangs to stop.

I also don’t expect another 60 point win. For one thing, SMU will be on its home floor, a court unfamiliar to the Huskies. UConn is also without Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis although Saniya Chong, who had 7 points, 2 rebounds, and 6 assists in the first game, has had much more of an impact for the Huskies since Kaleena became ill. But, still, SMU has to be motivated since they have nothing to lose and much to gain by a win over UConn.

For the Huskies’ part, it just needs to get by SMU to get back home and rest for a few days before taking on Rutgers at home and Louisville on the road. Mosqueda-Lewis was diagnosed with mono on February 7 and was expected to be out 3-6 weeks. Three weeks is February 28th or so, the earliest she might return. Recent news is encouraging so hopefully she’ll return sooner rather than later but for now, UConn just needs to keep its current roster as rested as possible.

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