Guru’s WBB Report: No. 2 UConn’s Mix of Good Karma and Paige Bueckers Brings Upset of No. 1 South Carolina

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Game days are busy enough that coaches don’t have much extra time to pay attention to the ongoing news in the rest of the world, or even in their own sport for that matter, unless someone provides information of which they might not become aware until much later.

And so it was that in what was to be a match of Hall of Fame women’s coaches with Philly backgrounds, Monday night, who were also the previous and current USA national team coaches outside their collegiate occupation, in a big national rivalry game that survived all the frenetic drops and makeups caused by COVID-19 protocols, that by the time the opening tip occurred at UConn’s Gampel Pavilion on the campus in Storrs, the game had the acquired the highest promotional attachment attainable in regular season competition: 1 vs 2.

And how that came to be can be attributed to the latest in a largesse of good karma that has surrounded the UConn program ever since it took off in 1994-95 finishing with the Huskies’ first unbeaten NCAA title at 35-0, after several months earlier beating Tennessee on the underside of a 1 vs. 2 game before meeting again as the top dog in the title round.

“Meant to be,” Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who grew up in Norristown, smiled to one of his Philly acquaintances when the postgame presser after that triumph had ended.

Ten more titles to date has followed that one with all kind of milestone-bashing achievements.

“I didn’t know what they were talking about today, ‘Hey, big match-up. 1 vs. 2. This is you’re record when you’re 1 vs. 2. This is your record when you’re 2 vs. 1.’ What’s everybody talking about. Because that’s how little I think about these matters.”

Oh, and in Monday’s game as the underside of a 1 vs. 2 facing Philly’s Dawn Staley’s South Carolina powerhouse, the Huskies had something else — a freshman who in a matter of weeks is starting to overshadow the UConn greats of the past in their rookie seasons — like Rebecca Lobo, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Brianna Stewart, Swin Cash, and others who have gone on to All-American, WNBA, and Olympic claim.

Like Paige Bueckers, many of them have arrived as the nation’s top prospect, but none of them have ever scored 30 or more points in three straight games at any time, let alone earlier in a freshman season.

Late last month, Bueckers started heading for legends status when she nailed a three-pointer with the shot-clock winding down to seal Tennessee’s fate down in Knoxville.

But Monday’s heroics quickly paled that performance.

With the game about to go South Carolina’s way off a rallying 11-0 run, Bueckers scored four points closing regulation to force overtime helped by the Gamecocks missing several winning chances, and then scored nine more for a 63-59 upset victory.

But once again, it wasn’t just the overall scoring that ended with 31 points, it was the last shot with again the clock winding down to its final ten seconds.

The three-pointer attempt bounced up from the rim and briefly hung in mid-air and then dropped through the net.

Bueckers had been shooting over 70 percent in from deep  in recent games and in this one overall she was 14-for-26 and had six steals playing in all 45 minutes to bring the Huskies to 14-1, losing only in a tight non-conference meeting at the end of last month at then-No. 17 Arkansas.

“There’s not much you can say,” Auriemma said. “She’s that player. She’s that player that comes along and people talk about, `Hey, did you see that kid from Connecticut? She’s that kid.

“The most impressive thing about Paige is that she plays the same pace the entire game. She goes at a pace that allows her to use her skill. That usually comes to you a little bit later. She’s got it at such a young age that she allows the game to slow down and make the play that has to be made. And her defense is getting better all the time.”

“It was not a surprise,” classmate Nika Muhl said of the game-winner. “That’s Paige, that’s what she does.”

“It bounced straight up some I’m thinking, ‘This has got to go in,’” Bueckers said after a night that prior to the winner had cooled off from long range. “It looked good, it felt good. I would say I got a nice bounce.”

Monday’s game was a pay-back after South Carolina (15-2) finally stopped the Huskies’ 8-0 run in the series, winning 70-54 down in Columbia last year.

“She makes big shots,” said Staley, who has her own array of talent led by sophomore Aliyah Boston, who scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. “She makes big shots when her number is called time and time again.”

Earlier in the day for last week’s performances, Bueckers in a rarity, while continuing to pile up Big East freshman weekly awards, she also doubled getting the conference’s player of the week.

That acclaim is then flipping to the national level. Seven days ago, she became the first in the four-year history of the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) freshman honor to win it consecutively, and off her pregame success, she appeared on a path to extend it to three straight, and with her play against the Gamecocks, she’s likely the frontrunner next week.

“I thought the crowd really helped us tonight,” Auriemma quipped.

Bueckers’ family from Minnesota was in attendance but as in most places, fans are extremely limited and schools are using the marketing style of the pros from the summer filling the seats with cardboard cutouts.

Auriemma did concede the lack of a 10,000 crowd in the arena, while if occurred would make an electrifying atmosphere, might be a blessing in disguise for a team loaded with underclassmen.

“When we played at South Carolina last year, you couldn’t hear yourself think. When they came up here two years ago, I couldn’t hear my assistants talking to me, it was so loud.

“Sometimes that gets some freshmen so jacked up that they play out of their mind. And sometimes it scares the hell out of them and they feel the nerves. Playing these games in this environment. You could feel the tension in the game, obviously, but it wasn’t your typical, huh, it was a heavyweight fight but only two guys in a bar after closing time. That was about it.”

Connecticut is now 22-3 in 1 vs. 2 games.

As for the likihood of reaching No. 1 next week, Auriemma said, “It means you beat a good team. You didn’t have your ‘A’ stuff, but somehow you won the game. And you had to go extra innings. And you went old school. You didn’t bring in relievers. Paige went the distance.”

Karma came into play for the 1 vs. 2 level the showdown occurred, dating to the start of the season when the Gamecocks, who had won 12 in a row before the latest loss, began as No. 1 picking up from their first-ever finish at the top, but unable to compete for a title when the NCAA tournament and virtually everything else in the sports world was canceled last spring as the pandemic took hold.

Then N.C. State pulled an unlikely upset at South Carolina, dropping them to fifth while Stanford reached first. 

Then last month unranked Colorado felled the Cardinal, and Louisville, for the first time-ever, became No. 1 while the Gamecocks started reversing rankings direction and were second last week.

N.C. State, pulling a rare second-win on the road over a No. 1, toppled Louisville and along with South Carolina had a possible claim to No. 1 in the latest poll, Monday, until losing at UNC Sunday.

That set the stage for the 60th 1 vs. 2 game in the 45-year history of the Associated Press rankings, whose current poll released Monday was the 800th.

The South Carolina loss means UConn next week will likely rise to the top and stay there the rest of the ranking season that ends before the NCAAs gets under way.

“We were just off,” Staley said. “We were off. There was no fluidity, we were off. We were off. We let the moment get ahead of us and we did some things that were uncharacteristic that you don’t have enough timeouts to make adjustments.”

Staley paid tribute to her mentor from her Temple coaching days, men’s coach John Chaney, who passed away a week ago Friday after a short illness at the age of 89. She watched from afar Monday afternoon ahead of the game when Temple live streamed the three-hour celebration of life service.

As to if he would be proud of the Gamecocks’ performance, Staley quipped saying, “Offensively is what we had issues with. Coach Chaney, he would be proud, but he would look at those 21 turnovers and he would dissect all 21. And that’s what we will do.

“I told our team, everything we want is still in front of us. Would it be a great game to get? Yes. Absolutely. 

“But everything is in front of us. Good teams, good players, learn to turn the page and get ready to play the game on Thursday.

Staley paid tribute to Chaney, wearing one of his game-day style motifs, a white button down shirt with a big collar and a loose black tie.

The Gamecocks return to the SEC wars, where they are on a program-record win streak, hosting Missouri Thursday, while Connecticut on Wednesday will host Seton Hall back in the Big East.

The win was Auriemma’s 1,104th, all at UConn and second behind Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who recently took over the Division I women’s record, now at 1,111 and next plays Friday at Oregon State.

The late Tennessee legend Pat Summitt had the record at 1,098 when she retired fighting Azheimer’s Disease after the 2012 season, bypassed by VanDerveer last December and Auriemma did likewise last month.

Arizona Sweeps Oregon: While the 1-2 national battle was going on in New England, No. 10 Arizona played at No. 11 Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene in the PAC-12 and beat the Ducks 79-59 to complete a series sweep.

“They upped the intensity level and we didn’t go with them, unfortunately,” said Oregon coach Kelly Graves. “We did some good things tonight. But defensively, we weren’t nearly on point like we were at their place.”

Nyara Sabally scored 17 points on 7-of-10 from the field for Oregon (12-4, 9-4 PAC-12), while Sedona Prince scored 10 against the Wildcats (12-2, 10-2 PAC-12).

Cate Reese topped four Arizona players scoring in double figures with 25 points.

Saint Joseph’s Blasted by Saint Louis: If just a narrow three-point loss Sunday gave hope that things were fixable 24 hours later to split with Saint Louis, that hope was dashed off the play of Ciaja Harbinson, who scored a career-high 30 points for the Billikens in an 81-58 win at the host Hawks’ Hagan Arena in a 5 p.m. start Monday that completed a back-to-back set of wins on the same school.

“You’re playing a team twice and you’re playing against one of the best players, if not the best player in the conference,” said Saint Joseph’s coach Cindy Griffin. “She did an unbelievable job coming at us, making unbelievable shots. That took the wind out of our sails.

“They were opportunistic. They were balanaced. It was their day.”

Katie Jekot had 17 for the Hawks (5-5, 3-5 A-10), while Rachel Kent had 16 points for Saint Louis (7-3, 5-3), which left town with three wins, the two on Saint Joseph’s and a win at La Salle. Natalie McNeal scored 13.

The next game for Griffin’s squad is a weekend trip to Fordham Friday and Davidson Sunday.

Rider Swept at Marist: The Broncs were unable to get a split in their visit to the Red Foxes, being swamped 27-12 in the fourth quarter to lose 70-57 in their second of two days at McCann Arena up at Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference following Sunday’s loss.

Makayla Firebaugh had 15 points for Rider (5-16, 4-12 (MAAC), while Daja Moses scored 12, and Victoria Toomey scored 11.

Marist (12-2, 10-2) is contending for the regular season title in the conference after sharing first in the standings a year ago but giving up the top seed to the Broncs in the MAAC tourney that moved to Atlantic City, where it will be again next month, but didn’t get past the quarterfinals round, being cancelled just ahead of the NCAA tourney shutdown and everything else in the sports world.

The Broncs return home to continue play in the conference Saturday and Sunday hosting Niagara both days.

The next action for local teams is Wednesday when Penn State tries to make it five straight in the Big Ten, visiting No. 15 Indiana at 4 p.m. in Bloomington at Alumni Hall on the Big Ten Network, while Temple will be looking for a third straight win in the American Athletic Conference, hosting Houston in McGonigle Hall seeking revenge with the game aired on ESPN+.

And that’s the report.

But that’s where karma comes into play in making the affair even bigger.