USC vs. Connecticut is an elite rematch between star players and outstanding coaches
The seeds of the most anticipated game of the women’s college basketball season were planted decades ago, in the halls of Scarsdale High School in New York, where… Geno Auriemma He was hot on the trail of one of the most sought-after recruits in the sport. As part of his full push to impress her, the Connecticut coach went so far as to ask her best friend, who would one day make a name for herself in the same world as Auriemma, for help.
Lindsay Gottlieb She did her best to convince her friend Hillary Howard of Connecticut, but to no avail. But the relationship between Gottlieb and Auriemma remained. When Gottlieb injured her knee as a high school student, Auriemma reached out to offer his help. It was during that recovery process that Gottlieb first thought about coaching, and over the years, as she rose through the ranks, Auriemma would provide regular encouragement. When she led California to the Final Four in 2013, Auriemma, in the midst of a dynastic race with the Huskies, assured her she wouldn’t be the last.
I remember he looked at me and said: Enjoy the first part. “It’ll come back,” Gottlieb recalled this week.
And it was Connecticut that would eventually do so Keep Gottlieb and USC out of the Final Four Last season. With both teams now on a similar collision course this season, Gottlieb and Auriemma will meet again on Saturday in a marquee matchup billed as one of the most important games on the college basketball calendar.
Not only does it pit two of the best coaches in women’s college basketball against each other again, it’s also arguably the two biggest stars, USC JoJo Watkins and UConn Big Baker.
That was enough, amid a flurry of new conspiracies surrounding women’s college basketball, to pique the interest of Fox, which placed the game in a coveted prime time slot, where it is scheduled to follow Saturday’s NFL game on the network. to University of Southern CaliforniaIt’s one of nine games the team will play on national television this season, six more than last season.
“We thought it would be a great opportunity for both teams to test ourselves and each other, but also to put on a really good game on TV early,” Gottlieb said. “We have a team that we want to put on the biggest stage. We have a program that hopes to win in March, and you can only do that if you play quality games throughout the year.”
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USC is riding a six-game winning streak through Saturday, during which the Trojans have won their games by an average of 40 points. UConn has been similarly dominant, beating three ranked teams this season.
But the two competitors stumbled in the most difficult tests they had faced so far, as they both fell in their confrontation No. 3 Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame was an early test, and obviously we didn’t pass it,” Gottlieb said. “You want to be at your best early on and then try to grow from there; but if you’re not, the alternative is to look in the mirror and get better and keep working on the things that you think will help you achieve that. I think we’ve grown since then.” “
Much of that process since then has focused on finding more firepower alongside Watkins, which Gottlieb says is now seeing “defenses built around stopping her.” However, the sophomore star has managed to score 20 or more points in all but one game this season.
forward Kiki Eriavin He wasn’t on the roster when USC lost to UConn last March, but has so far been one of the best secondary scoring threats in the sport this season, averaging 18.7 points per game. But USC may need more than Watkins and Eriavin alone to take down the Huskies.
That’s because Connecticut has a deeper well of scorers behind Bueckers, who shoots an absurd 58% from the perimeter. Overall, no team in women’s college basketball has been hotter from the court this season than the Huskies, one of four teams in the sport that have made better than 50% of their shots.
UConn forward Sarah Strong should provide a suitable foil to Eriavin as the Huskies’ leading secondary scorer (17 points per game) and rebounding threat (8.3 rebounds per game). She had a career-high performance against Iowa State in which she scored 29 goals.
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“You have to worry a lot about Paige, it opens things up for Sarah,” Gottlieb said.
This is just one aspect of a chess match that should not only provide both powers with an early gauge of where their seasons are headed, but should also give the sport an early early game to maintain its momentum.
Gottlieb said this was an opportunity, and one she couldn’t turn down when Fox first expressed interest.
“I’ve known for a long time that there are two teams and a few windows that get exposure,” Gottlieb said. “In fact, as we have tried to present the program, it is certainly important.”
This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.