UConn v. South Carolina 2025 | Page 2 | The Boneyard

UConn v. South Carolina 2025

My take. 10% chance to win against SC.

We can’t be teams in different ways and Dawn knows that. Therefore they will be aggressive in terms of perimeter defense (ala ND style) and dare us to make jump shotS by players not named Paige and Azzi. AC will also double on Sarah if she’s in post. This means Sarah will need to make outside shots, and Shade/Chen/KK/Aubrey will have to play great which means hit open shots, drive and initiate contact to go to foul line. Since we haven’t seen any players outside of Paige, Sarah and (KK) rise to the occasion against top level competition I will find it hard to put faith that we can succeed.

PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG GIRLS!
 
bantamlaker said:
In the last 5 years UConn has played SCarolina 6 times, losing 5 of the 6. The one win was a 4 point win in OT in 2021. The losses include 18, 16, 15 and 18 point losses. SC rarely loses at home so a win would be a big upset. This team needs to go all out from the opening tip to the final buzzer and make this a competitive game. If that doesn’t happen it might be time to recognize that SC has become the premier program in women’s college basketball.
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Well then...it should be a challenging situation for both teams... GO HUSKIES.
 
Kat said:
Not that Paige Bueckers needs additional incentive but JuJu Watkins just gave her some, by scoring 38 points, pulling down 11 rebounds, and blocking 8 shots against UCLA. Paige saw that, and although she's a team-first player, I think she'd like to shine particularly brightly against South Carolina.
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you and i and most people would probably feel this way, indeed, but paige really is different: she just wants her team to win, her own heroics/stats are much lower in her list of priorities. she actually is like that, in my opinion, and not just saying the right thing.
 
How many people here would have predicted that USC would beat UCLA by 11 points after being down by 5 at the end of three quarters last night? USC won the fourth quarter by 24-8. I succumbed to drowsiness after three quarters, figuring that UCLA had the win in the bag, even though USC had led by as many as 14 in the first half.

Obviously I want to watch the fourth quarter when I can find time. But the commentary said that USC managed to keep Lauren Betts in check in the second half simply by not allowing her to set up in the low post -- and she could not shoot reliably when she was further away from the basket. That's the way Geno usually defends big players, and it works quite well when the opposing big has a questionable jump shot or lacks the mobility to get past a single defender impeding her path to the basket.

Since South Carolina this year does not have a dominant post, that specific strategy will not work for UConn on Sunday. But last night's game on the West Coast does show that unexpected things can happen in basketball if skill, luck, and preparation all converge when they are needed.
 
Tonyc said:
Man oh man . Everybody talking about loosing this game. Yeah we lost the past few years and many of those games with a shelton lineup and yes SC had a dominate big and UConn didnt. Things have changed we now have Azzi and Griff. I expect a very competitive game. I hope our girls aint thinkin about losing. I hope theyre thinkin about winnin. What was in the past is in the past. We have the players. All we have to do is put the ball in the basket like we've been doin and keep SC from doin it more then us. We need to go into this game with a winning attitude.
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You've touched on something very important, Tony: expecting to win vs expecting to lose. At the moment, SC is expected to win this game. Even in key games when UConn was favored (eg, all the games so far this season), they acted as if they expected to lose. That's crazy, and totally unlike any Husky bunch I remember. Tony is correct: we need to get back to believing in the UConn mystique. We are about WINNING: doesn't matter how often we're in the top 10, or how often we get to the Final Four, or how many games we once won in a row, or even how many NCs we've gotten. Once you start thinking about losing instead of KNOWING you're going to win, nothing good is likely to come. Ask Vince Lombardi about second place. It doesn't exist.
Anyone who is comfortable with the Huskies losing on Sunday better find another team.
 
We need this game to maintain our bracketology ranking at 2. If we beat SC, that will not give us a #1 seed because of the loss to Tennessee. If we win, we may get the best #2 seed which is just as good as the worst #1 seed. A loss will drop us down to a bad #2 seed, meaning we probably will have to beat 2 of the top 4 just to get to the final 4. Huge game for us, hopefully the kids will step up and win the game. Hey, if we do win, I won't complain if somebody prints t-shirts for the occasion. LOL
 
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If it was a home game I would give UConn a slight chance to win being away away game I don’t think we have a chance at all .. I don’t like SC or their coach but she has owned Geno on the court .. based on recruiting rankings we should have a edge but she seems to get the most out of her athletes than UConn does and they are physical and fast and deep .. but stranger things have happened ..
 
huskyd said:
You've touched on something very important, Tony: expecting to win vs expecting to lose. At the moment, SC is expected to win this game. Even in key games when UConn was favored (eg, all the games so far this season), they acted as if they expected to lose. That's crazy, and totally unlike any Husky bunch I remember. Tony is correct: we need to get back to believing in the UConn mystique. We are about WINNING: doesn't matter how often we're in the top 10, or how often we get to the Final Four, or how many games we once won in a row, or even how many NCs we've gotten. Once you start thinking about losing instead of KNOWING you're going to win, nothing good is likely to come. Ask Vince Lombardi about second place. It doesn't exist.
Anyone who is comfortable with the Huskies losing on Sunday better find another team.
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IMHO it's not about expecting to lose, but fear of losing. UConn like my baseball team the Yankees have a long history of winning. Every year a championship is expected and anything else is considered a failure, which is absurd. It does lead to a lot of whiny fans who are "embarrassed " when a championship is not achieved. It took me a while, but I've learned to enjoy the journey.
 
Dugway said:
After the game, the Boneyard will have a bunch of really nasty comments posted about how bad we are, how bad the Big East is, and that we will be lucky to make it to the Sweet 16. Another portion of the comments will be pollyannaish in that we are inexperienced, with a bunch of different lineups and have yet to gel it all together, even though this will have been the 27th game of the season. I will be reading them all and thinking that the truth is somewhere in between those extremes and rooting for us regardless.
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The only thing I agree with you are your comments about what will happen on the BY.
 
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huskyd said:
Anyone who is comfortable with the Huskies losing on Sunday better find another team.
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Or another board.

I agree with everything that has been said about what UConn needs to do to win. Let me add 1 more thing. Too often a player, and not necessarily the other team's star, goes absolutely bananas and has a career game never to be seen again. UConn cannot let that happen on Sunday. If someone scores a couple of early, unexpected baskets, UConn has to jump on that kid. Thay cannot let it become 4, 6, 8 baskets before they recognize "holy cow", she's having a career game. Very likely it's too late then.
 
WLT1717 said:
I will be looking to see whether (1) the refs call it tight, which would favor UCONN (but is unlikely given few refs stand up to Dawn), (2) Sarah regains her mojo, (3) UCONN can reasonably match SC on the boards, (4) Azzi manages to step up against a top 10/non-Big East opponent, and (5) KK plays more minutes than Kaitkyn.
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Believe if we take care of #3, we’ll win the game. It’s been our “achilles heel” against them recently. Think the the other points (maybe not #1 - Staley is the modern day Summit when it comes to officiating) will be fine.
 
HuskyNan said:
In 2023, Lou and the Huskies lost by 4 points. The was a questionable inbounds play where the So Carolina player handed the ball to a teammate, which should have been a turnover. However, it wasn’t called. I’m not saying the Huskies would have won the game if it were called but it was a point of discussion here.

Nika, Aaliyah, and Lou willed that team to be in a position to potentially win. If this year’s team can show that same fortitude, they have a chance

View attachment 106975
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It might have been the 6 fouls on Cardoso that might have been the tipping point, when Nike & Lou 'only' got 5 fouls...:cool::D:cool:
 
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Shouldn’t really be a ton of pressure today a road game we are not expected to win. I’m not even sure it will matter much regarding seeding as the s curve not strictly followed . So hope they can play loose.
 
bantamlaker said:
In the last 5 years UConn has played SCarolina 6 times, losing 5 of the 6. The one win was a 4 point win in OT in 2021. The losses include 18, 16, 15 and 18 point losses. SC rarely loses at home so a win would be a big upset. This team needs to go all out from the opening tip to the final buzzer and make this a competitive game. If that doesn’t happen it might be time to recognize that SC has become the premier program in women’s college basketball.
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A glaring insight into the obvious.
 
Dugway said:
All in all, we are going to play solid defense, but even so, So Car is going to put 77 on the scoreboard. A big part of that will be due to lack of rebounding and giving up poorly guarded 3-pt shots.

Paige, Sarah & Azzi => Don’t know which, but One of the three will have a good game, 20-pts. One will have a pretty good game, 15-Pts. And one will have a poor game, 5-pts. Between them we score 40-pts in total.

KK & KC => between them we score another dozen pts.

Jana & Aubrey => between them we score another dozen.

Ashlynn => she will be quiet and take just three shots for 2-pts total.

So Car 77
UConn 66
MOV -11

After the game, the Boneyard will have a bunch of really nasty comments posted about how bad we are, how bad the Big East is, and that we will be lucky to make it to the Sweet 16. Another portion of the comments will be pollyannaish in that we are inexperienced, with a bunch of different lineups and have yet to gel it all together, even though this will have been the 27th game of the season. I will be reading them all and thinking that the truth is somewhere in between those extremes and rooting for us regardless.
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A structural challenge given the roster which accounts for the Huskies current and anticipated position heading into the big dance.
 
David54 said:
Shouldn’t really be a ton of pressure today a road game we are not expected to win. I’m not even sure it will matter much regarding seeding as the s curve not strictly followed . So hope they can play loose.
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You are correct, it won't
 
The problem with relying on three point shooters is that they frequently blow hot and cold. Post players tend to be more reliable scorers if not as flashy. I just hope Azzi is blowing "hot" today.
 
huskyd said:
You've touched on something very important, Tony: expecting to win vs expecting to lose. At the moment, SC is expected to win this game. Even in key games when UConn was favored (eg, all the games so far this season), they acted as if they expected to lose. That's crazy, and totally unlike any Husky bunch I remember. Tony is correct: we need to get back to believing in the UConn mystique. We are about WINNING: doesn't matter how often we're in the top 10, or how often we get to the Final Four, or how many games we once won in a row, or even how many NCs we've gotten. Once you start thinking about losing instead of KNOWING you're going to win, nothing good is likely to come. Ask Vince Lombardi about second place. It doesn't exist.
Anyone who is comfortable with the Huskies losing on Sunday better find another team.
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If they give it their all and come up short, well that's reality and I I would be comfortable with a Huskie loss.
 
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Pre game on ABC has been interesting. Possibly because of time constraints (or laziness) they really don't delve into availability other than Watkins and Fudd. No mention of lack of Aubrey in UCONN early losses or UCONN being without two of their "bigs" currently (Ice being a true big and Morgan being that small lineup hybrid big)...
 
There is one thing in these big games that we no longer have. It has eroded away over the last 8 years. We had a 6th man on the court the uniform, and now it is gone.
 
Dugway said:
Just a few predictions:

It’ll be similar to the ND and the USC games in which we will come out, seem intimidated, and start the game poorly. In the Second Qtr, one of our big three will come on strong, we will hold our own and even get a little bit back. 3rd, unfortunately we get beat up again, and lose what we gained in the 2nd. And the Gamecocks will play the prevent in the 4th in which neither team will play up to expectations.

All in all, we are going to play solid defense, but even so, So Car is going to put 77 on the scoreboard. A big part of that will be due to lack of rebounding and giving up poorly guarded 3-pt shots.

Paige, Sarah & Azzi => Don’t know which, but One of the three will have a good game, 20-pts. One will have a pretty good game, 15-Pts. And one will have a poor game, 5-pts. Between them we score 40-pts in total.

KK & KC => between them we score another dozen pts.

Jana & Aubrey => between them we score another dozen.

Ashlynn => she will be quiet and take just three shots for 2-pts total.

So Car 77
UConn 66
MOV -11

After the game, the Boneyard will have a bunch of really nasty comments posted about how bad we are, how bad the Big East is, and that we will be lucky to make it to the Sweet 16. Another portion of the comments will be pollyannaish in that we are inexperienced, with a bunch of different lineups and have yet to gel it all together, even though this will have been the 27th game of the season. I will be reading them all and thinking that the truth is somewhere in between those extremes and rooting for us regardless.
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Absolutely nothing is as delicious as eating CROW
 
RSHERMVIKES said:
I have a feeling in the back of my brain, (and at 77 I don't get too many feelings anywhere) that this could be UConn's best game of the year!
The healthy players will step up for Ice and Morgan being out and play their hearts out for a 2 point win!
The talking suits don't think UConn have a chance and Geno and Staff loves the underdog look!
UConn pride takes over and motivates our girls to an outstanding performance!
But then again I'm 77 and I can't remember my name sometimes!
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What are the Lottery numbers??? :)
 
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What an awesome performance by the Huskies, I'll admit I did not see that coming at all, but they dominated every aspect of the game. Kudos to the ladies, now lets see that effort every game for the rest of the season. On another note, how about Jana, that was somewhat of a break out game for her.
 
RockyMTblue2 said:
There is one thing in these big games that we no longer have. It has eroded away over the last 8 years. We had a 6th man on the court the uniform, and now it is gone.
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Interesting point and I somewhat agree with you. It's good for the game though that stars are spread around to 7-16 teams now. More big games, and the much awaited quick growth in TV.

The ghost of the UConn uniform showed up in Columbia today, however, to perplex Dawn and quiet 18,000.:D

Geno still managed to recruit amazingly well in the tougher market. The whole Paige era has been plagued by injury. Even today we had 4 injured from the full roster!

We were just fortunate that the 2 recent injuries don't really limit the team, as we have other comparable players at those spots.

SC on the other hand is only dealing with 1 injury, but it was a big one. Not from a scoring standpoint, but from a post defense, rebounding, intimidation, enforcer standpoint, Watson was missed in the frontcourt.

UConn also has an amazing core coming back for next 2 seasons. KK, Ash, Morgan, Allie, Sarah, Ice and Jana are not flashy, but they are all solid players providing many strategic options. It's also easy to integrate an Azzi, Caroline, a transfer, or freshman star with this kind of unselfish group.

The ghost of the uniform, and Geno/Chris are not done yet.
 
Wow did not see this coming. Maybe the most unexpected UCONN beatdown I’ve seen in nearly 30 years of following the spot. I’m not shocked UCONN won since I knew they were dangerous if they can hit shots but this was just an assault on a very good South Carolina team. The biggest surprise to me was the 48-29 advantage on the glass and Jana El Alfy turning into a beast out of nowhere after struggling much of the year. Congrats on the beat down. Very curious how this will affect potential seeding but that result definitely shakes things up for both South Carolina and UCONN.
 
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