The UConn women's basketball team took down Duke women's basketball on Saturday to advance to the Elite 8. The Huskies got out to a big lead as they led by 20 points late in the third, but the Blue Devils stormed back and cut it to five in the fourth quarter. UConn ended up finding a way to get the win, however, and the game finished 53-45 in their favor.
Last season, UConn women's basketball lost in the Sweet 16. They still have a lot of work to do to achieve their ultimate goal of winning a national title, but this one still felt good.
“Coming off last season and finishing with a Sweet 16 loss, it was a sour taste in our mouth, especially for our seniors,” Aaliyah Edwards said after the game, according to a tweet from UConn on SNY. “But I think having this one, it was an ugly win, but we got the win. We're advancing so it does feel good and excited and ready for Monday.”
Aaliyah Edwards and UConn know that the road will be tougher in the Elite 8. They will be playing one seed USC, and they have only tomorrow to get ready.
“It does but we had to set it up another tone and really dig deep because we are limited to bodies and making sure that we recover and rest tomorrow and lock in tomorrow for Monday,” Edwards continued. “Just because it's a tougher team each time we advance it's a tougher team, tougher matchup and the game is gonna speed up and I think that we just need to play smarter basketball.”
UConn did have some issues on offense on Saturday, but their defense was terrific. They had a plan coming in, and they executed well.
“The mindset was to be disruptive,” Aaliyah Edwards said. “And I think that we did that perfectly. We just didn't convert it on the offensive end. But as long as we apply that same pressure on Monday, I think that will be okay.”
Geno Auriemma reacts to the win
Getting wins in this tournament is never easy, and UConn women's basketball head coach Geno Auriemma knows that better than everyone. He has gotten a lot of them, but they are challenging to get.
“The wins at this time of the year are really hard to come by,” Geno Auriemma said. “And sometimes every once in a while, they just are really fluid and flowing and everything's great and everybody lives happily ever after. And most times, it's a real struggle. And I think two great defensive teams playing against each other tonight made it really hard for anybody to get open looks. So, you know, we got up 20 and we kind of like took our foot off the gas to take a breather, and it was just like, we couldn't get our mojo back. So we'll get to rest up a little bit for Monday.”
The Huskies and Trojans will battle it out on Monday night at 9:00 ET, and the game will be airing on ESPN.
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