UConn Huskies win record 28th consecutive opener in NCAA women’s basketball tournament

STORRS, Conn. – UConn Huskies coach Geno Auriemma was not happy with how his team played its first round game against Mercer in the first 20 minutes of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament.

Yes, UConn was 43-23 at the half, but his offensive left a lot to be desired and defensively it did not impose his will quite as the Auriemma teams were historically inclined to do. The Huskies turned a switch after the break, however, to run away with an 83-38 victory. And they did it behind the scenes of the game, which was an underrated trademark of the best UConn teams: the defense.

UConn has a third-quarter shutout of the Mercer Bears (20-0) en route to winning the program’s 28th consecutive NCAA Tournament opener, a new Division I women’s basketball record, surpassing Tennessee’s 27 straight from 1982- 2008.

It’s just the third time since the women’s quarterfinals in 2016 that a team has held an opponent in a NCAA Tournament competition. Stanford made it to Friday night in the first quarter against Montana State, and South Carolina also closed out Texas in the fourth quarter of their Elite Eight matchup last season.

In the third frame, the Huskies forced the Bears to go 0 for 12 from the floor and turn the ball over six times. With UConn finally healthy and able to take advantage of its full nine-person rotation, it is able to use full court pressure more often and more aggressively with its expanded arsenal of staff.

“I just think the whole court pressure to be kind of more aggressive,” said student Dorka Juhász about what worked in the third trimester. “Even the first half we were full of court pressure, but I thought we were more locked in in the third quarter. As it got sharper. We could get some claws, get some traps. So I think it was just a different one. Kind of a thought. “

The Bears had done an admirable job of keeping things tight in the first half, never leaving more than 21 and making UConn uncomfortable in the offensive line at the start. But the 20-0 lead gave UConn a 63-23 edge in the fourth, knocking the wind out of Mercer and putting any potential comeback out of hand.

“The best teams we’ve had over the years have been really hard to score against, really hard to run their offense,” Auriemma said. “Because we put the kind of pressure we put on them by shooting, it now puts even more pressure on them to score and it just accelerates the downslide.”

The Huskies’ defensive effort is led by sophomore guard Nika Mühl, who came off the bench on Saturday after spending most of the season. Auriemma would normally like to have her join them to start the game, as he knows she offers a defensive advantage and toughness to some players on his team.

Instead, he gave the reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers the angle, now six games back from knee surgery. The Sophomore Point Guard played 25 minutes, the most they have recovered from his December injury, hitting 12 points (5-7 shots) to go with five assists and four rebounds.

Once Mühl was added to the game late in the first half, UConn automatically seemed to increase their defensive intensity, forcing offense and turning it into points at the other end. The Bears scored just three points on the floor in the first five minutes of the mill.

“For a young team, I think it’s pretty unusual [to have buy-in on defense]”said Auriemma.” For so many young players like us, they want to be so good defensively. I think Nika is a big deal in all of this. I mean if she’s not in the game, our defense is not the same and you saw it today. The minute she gets into the game, things change, and then people get caught up and now it’s contagious.

In total, UConn finished with 23 quick break points and 23 points from turnover, with Mercer 21 turnover in the afternoon. UConn has now limited seven of its last nine opponents to 40 points or less. But the real test will be when the Huskies face some of the higher-powered insults this coming week.

After all, Rhyne Howard and Kentucky could wait in Sweet 16, the multi-talented NC State in the Elite Eight and even better offensive teams in Minneapolis.

“Any good team that stays in the NCAA Tournament for a few weeks from now will probably be a really, really good defensive team,” Auriemma said. “And if we want to be that team, then it has to be as good as it is today and even better.”