The UConn Huskies are heading back to the Final Four after a thrilling 69-67 win over Baylor that came down to the wire. This will be the 13th consecutive trip to the Final Four for Geno and the program, but for the Huskies’ current squad, they might as well be heading to their first.
With no seniors on the roster and last year’s NCAA Tournament canceled, only Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams have played in a Final Four. For the other 10 players, this will all be new for them.
“You’re not necessarily thinking about the other 12 (Final Fours),” head coach Geno Auriemma said postgame. “We have 10 kids on our team that have not been to one Final Four and so that to me is what the excitement is all about. Those 10 kids have never been to one and they’re getting an opportunity to go to their very first.”
Because of that, UConn made sure to enjoy the moment after the final buzzer sounded on Monday night. Paige Bueckers picked off Baylor’s hail mary attempt in the final second, threw the ball high into the air, and flexed with a big scream. The team mobbed each other at mid-court with impossibly wide smiles on their faces.
Auriemma got in on the celebration too. He walked over to his team with a stoic look on his face, only to then release a big cheer that sent the players into a frenzy.
The Huskies weren’t done. As they collected their hats and t-shirts for winning the River Walk Region, the players got their hands on confetti and mobbed Auriemma in a flurry of yellow, red, and blue during his postgame interview on ESPN.
UConn did maintain one program tradition, though: It didn’t cut down the nets, as teams often do after Elite Eight victories. The Huskies exclusively reserve that for when they win the national championship.
In fact, that tradition is so ingrained that Christyn Williams didn’t even know that was out of the ordinary, leading to a funny exchange with Evina Westbrook.
“What do you do with the net?” Williams asked.
“Some people savor it, put it in their collage,” Westbrook said with a laugh.
While the Huskies won’t be happy by only making the Final Four, they’ll still revel in their victory for the next day. After that, all their attention turns to Arizona.
“It’s okay to celebrate today and tomorrow but then after tomorrow, we’re back on it,” Williams said. “But we do have unfinished business.”
Geno’s words of encouragement
When the final buzzer sounded, there was probably no one more relieved than Williams. The junior missed two crucial free throws in the final moments that would’ve padded UConn’s lead. Instead, the difference held at one point, and had Baylor won on a last-second shot, those misses would’ve loomed large. Now they’re just a footnote, even if Williams is still bothered by them.
“I was devastated that I missed those two free throws,” she said. “I mean those are big. [Baylor] could have very well gone down there and scored and we could have easily lost the game. As a junior on the team, I’m supposed to step up and knock those in, but I didn’t.”
After the game, Auriemma took Williams aside to speak with her for a brief moment, though he didn’t broach the topic of the missed free throws.
“He was just basically telling me that I can’t start off how I started because I wasn’t really there in the first half, but he was very proud of me that I switched things around and that a year ago I would have just let the whole game just go bad for me.But that’s growth in my game that I briefly switched it around. Basically, he said that I control my destiny,” Williams relayed postgame.
The junior finished with 21 points — 14 of which came in the second half — along with seven rebounds in 40 minutes of action.
Geno vs. Lebron
The controversial no-call at the end of UConn-Baylor elicited reactions from all across the basketball world, most notably from LeBron James:
Auriemma responded to James during his postgame conference call.
“I don’t think LeBron’s ever won a game on a bad call by the other team, by the officials on the other team, do you think? I probably doubt it,” he quipped. “I probably doubt that in his career, he’s ever won a game and decided to give it back because he looked at it and went ‘That was a foul."
