UConn women’s basketball will be the No. 2 seed in the Albany region for this year’s NCAA tournament, which means they will begin their tournament run against Towson (15). The Huskies will then play the winner of Rutgers (7) /Buffalo (10).
Here’s what you need to know about UConn’s opponents on the road to the Albany regional:
Towson (15) | Friday, March 22nd, 6:30 p.m. ET | Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, CT
Towson ended their season on a three-game losing streak, but bounced back with three straight wins to win the Colonial Athletic Association conference tournament as the No. 4 seed. The victory marked the Tigers’ first CAA championship and sent them to a program-first NCAA tournament.
On the defensive end, the Tigers are an elite shot-blocking team. They rank second in the country for blocks per game (6.3), blocking nearly 15 percent of their opponents’ two-point attempts. It’s a team effort, too: four of their players average in the top 10 percent of the country for blocks per game.
On the offensive end, Towson is less effective, averaging just 67.4 points per game and shooting 39 percent from the field. However, the Tigers have collected over 40 percent of their own misses (which ranks in the top 15 nationally per Her Hoop Stats) on the season, so UConn will need to have a strong presence on the defensive glass and limit second chance opportunities.
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Rutgers (7)
Rutgers heads into the tournament at 22-9 on the season, after being knocked out of the Big 10 tournament by Iowa in the semifinals. They earned the at-large bid with notable wins on their resume over Maryland and Michigan State in conference play. The Scarlet Knights have a strong defensive footprint, holding their opponents to 37 percent shooting from the floor and forcing a turnover on nearly a quarter of their opponents’ possessions.
The latter half of the season hasn’t been kind to Rutgers however, with their head coach Vivian Stringer taking a leave of absence from which she will not return this season, while two rotation players were dismissed in late February. The remaining players are led by redshirt senior Stasha Carey, who averages 12.1 points and 6.3 rebounds on the season.
Buffalo (10)
Buffalo earned the automatic big after beating both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to win the Mid-American Conference (MAC) championship. As a No. 10 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament, the Bulls are a line higher than they were during last year’s Sweet Sixteen run.
Unlike the other two teams headed to Storrs, Buffalo is strong on the offensive end, scoring an average of over 76 points per game. The offensive charge is led by senior guard Cierra Dillard, who is expected to be selected in next month’s WNBA Draft. She averages a team-high 25.3 points per game, and has the assist on over 35 percent of her teammates’ field goals when on the floor. As a whole, the Bulls don’t shoot the ball exceptionally well from the floor, but make up for it on the offensive glass, where they collect an average of over 14 boards per game.
Additionally, Buffalo is excellent at getting inside and earning a trip to the line — doing so on 20 percent of their two-point attempts. The Bulls convert those opportunities, too — 77 percent from the charity stripe on the season, which ranks 15th in the country.
UConn will square up against Towson on Friday night, at 6:30 pm in Gampel Pavilion. Assuming the Huskies take care of business in the first round, they’ll advance to play either Rutgers of Buffalo on Sunday, once again in Storrs.
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