Was It A Foul? Who Cares? Huskies Win!
The Story: We’re still hyperventilating. The UConn women played one of their most exciting games in school history, beating Baylor 69-67 in San Antonio last night to advance to the Final Four after a no-call with 3.7 seconds remaining left the Lady Bears searching for answers.
Refs ruled no foul on DiJonai Carrington's potential game-winner. #ncaaW pic.twitter.com/amSH91IEQV
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 30, 2021
WHAT HAPPENED? Nothing, apparently. Down one, Baylor’s DiJonai Carrington, who torched the Huskies all night, drove to the hoop and took a shot from just outside the left block, only to run full steam into Aaliyah Edwards and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. Her shot went nowhere, and Christyn Williams snagged the ball under the basket and was fouled with 0.8 seconds remaining to essentially seal the win. We here at The Daily are objective journalists at heart, so we can safely say that yes, Carrington was hit as she was shot. But quit yer bellyachin’ — the refs allowed a physical game from the start, and if Baylor didn’t want to be in that position, it shouldn’t have allowed, say, a 19-0 second-half run, among all kinds of other shenanigans.
WHAT DID KIM MULKEY SAY? “You don’t need a quote from me. I’ve got still shots and video from two angles. One kid hits her in the face and one kid hits her in the elbow.”
WHAT DID LEBRON JAMES SAY? “C’mon, man. That was a foul!”
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “I don’t think LeBron’s ever won a game on a bad call by the officials. Do you think? I probably doubt it. I probably doubt in his career, he’s ever won a game and decided to give it back because he went, ‘That was a foul.’ It is what it is. At one time, I asked one of the officials, ‘How did Paige end up on ground with a Baylor player on top of her on a loose ball?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know.’ That was the answer. He said, ‘I don’t know.’ So you want to go back and check every single call throughout the entire game and then add them all up? You don’t. That’s the nature of sports. That’s the nature of sports! We probably fouled a number of times during the game and we didn’t get called for it. They probably fouled a number of times during the game and didn’t get called for it. We got free throws because of non-fouls. You can go back and forth throughout the whole thing. The bottom line is the officials did what they’re gonna do and if they would have said it was a foul, I’d be on the other end going, ‘You can’t make that call and call that a foul.’ It is what it is. I’m not gonna sit here and apologize for it. People are gonna want to talk about it for the rest of the week. You’re not going to change the outcome, and you’re not going to make me feel bad if you say it was a foul.”
WHOA. Yeah. Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?
— Jeff Jacobs (@jeffjacobs123) March 30, 2021
SO WHAT ELSE HAPPENED? A whole lot of stuff. Basically, the Huskies went on a 16-4 run to open the game, squandered it all once Edwards went out with two fouls, then rallied back only after Baylor’s DiDi Richards, probably the best defensive guard in the country, appeared to injure a hamstring late in the third quarter. Her absence deflated Baylor, which held a 55-45 lead with 2:09 left in the third quarter and then trailed 64-55 with 6:48 left in the game. The refs, as we noted, allowed a style of play from the start that would have made Mike Tyson blush, and the Huskies looked really good in the first half by spreading the floor, pushing the pace and scoring in transition. But they couldn’t keep Baylor out of the paint, especially after Edwards picked up her second foul midway through the first quarter, and things devolved from there. It was bleak for a while … until it wasn’t.
BUECKERS SHINES QUIETLY: The matchup with ol’ pal Caitlin Clark had Paige Bueckers a bit flustered on Saturday, and she recovered last night to the tune of 28 points. But it wasn’t her typical performance by any means, as she had just three rebounds and finished without an assist for the first time all season. (We know, right?) What she did do, though, was look ridiculously confident in the face of a difficult situation. She scored 10 of the Huskies’ 19 points during that run, and on one possession late, when she was picked up at half court by Carrington, Bueckers stared her down and challenged the fifth-year senior head-on. Though it’s unclear whether she understood its significance or was too young and naive to realize the statement she was making, it was amazing nonetheless.
AND HER TEAMMATES: We’ve already gone over what Edwards means to the Huskies. She had just four points, but she had seven rebounds and three blocks in 26 minutes, and her mere presence changed the game. Nelson-Ododa finally scored against Baylor, even though she only had three points, and she chipped in eight rebounds and five blocks while battling foul trouble late. Williams had 21 points and seven rebounds, and we’d love to know what kind of wisdom and pep talk Geno gave her after the game once she missed three of four crucial free throws in the final 19 seconds. We have to give special credit to Evina Westbrook, who was a constant presence with 11 points and six rebounds, and once we acknowledge Aubrey Griffin throwing her body on the line and taking charge after charge … yep, that’s it. That’s everyone. A team effort.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Baylor likes to hold opponents under 40 percent shooting. That was a failure, as the Huskies shot 43.3 percent last night — even though it was their fifth-worst performance of the season. But they out-Baylored Baylor, allowing only 39.4 percent shooting. UConn had only nine assists on 26 baskets and 13 turnovers, which is very uncharacteristic, and was outscored in the paint, 42-28. NaLyssa Smith, a national player of the year candidate, had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Carrington, the graduate transfer from Stanford who chose Baylor over UConn and Oregon last summer, finished with a team-high 22 points on 7-fot-22 shooting, including 1-for-7 from 3-point range. So, you know, if you want to complain about that last shot, make one of the other 15 you missed. Or something.
SO, WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? Congratulations to you if you’ve read this far. You deserve a medal. But man, we were pumped watching that game, and it feels good to keep going, and remember, you’re paying big bucks for all this #content. First and foremost, yeah, it’s obvious Baylor should not have been a No. 2 seed, let alone one in UConn’s region. That should have been a national championship game — if it was, it would have been one of the best ever — and it can be argued that the Huskies’ path to a title, amazingly, only gets easier from here. But hey, Baylor has ended two of UConn’s big win streaks in recent years, so it can kick rocks. Up next is Arizona, which is gliding into the Final Four the first time with a little bit of fairy dust in its wings, and it’s probably going to be South Carolina or Stanford in the title game, and UConn already beat South Carolina. Honestly, we thought Baylor would have been the national champion (but don’t check our brackets). The defending champs played as tough as expected. And look — had we told you before the season that the Huskies, with seven freshmen and a high school senior, as Geno has said, would be in the Final Four, you’d probably think we were bonkers. Guilty as charged on that account regardless, but it’s a phenomenal effort from a bunch of players Geno has clearly loved to coach. And, to address that point, let’s leave us with one more …
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “There were stretches during this game where I could see it in their face that we didn’t believe that we could do it. What I was really most proud of is there was a point in time late in the third quarter where the look in their eyes changed. I talked about, ‘Look, we have two choices. We either figure out how to get stops and be tough enough to stay with our stuff on offense or we’re going home. There’s no other choice. I wish I could give you a third, but there’s no other choice.’ So that’s great coaching, right? ‘We either win or we go home.’”
UP NEXT: UConn plays Arizona on Friday in the Final Four, though a time has yet to be determined. The national title game is on Sunday. Game-watch party at the Silver household. Bring your masks. And nachos.
Bouknight Scouts … Bouknight
The Story: We are all looking for comparisons to James Bouknight in the NBA. Bouknight said people have compared him to Bulls guard Zach LaVine, one of the NBA’s leading scorers. Who does Bouknight want to pattern his game after? That would be Bradley Beal.
Football Ends Spring Practice Early
The Story: The football team, which was the first to cancel its season in August amid the pandemic, has also lost the rest of its spring practice sessions because of COVID-19.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies had three of their 15 practices remaining when the decision was made the draw the curtains. The school told state media outlets that some Tier I personnel, which includes players, coaches and other essential support staffers, had tested positive for the virus.
WHAT’S NEXT? It will likely be a few months before we hear something, anything, from the football team again, as practices aren’t set to resume until late July. The Huskies will open the season, their first as an independent, on Aug. 28 at Fresno State, but they have a pretty interesting schedule in place with a few exciting opponents.
Morning Reads
BC IN TOWN: The baseball team continues its homestand at Elliot Park today when it hosts Boston College. (UConnHuskies.com)
