It was chippy, it was tense and it certainly wasn’t pretty. But No. 2 UConn pushed past No. 7 Central Florida to land a place in the Sweet 16 on Monday, extending its own NCAA record for the program’s 28th consecutive appearance in the women’s tournament’s second weekend.
Monday’s second-round game was notably rough for the Huskies, however. They started the night slowly and struggled with fundamentals throughout. (That included a 2-of-12 performance on layups.) When UConn finally managed to go up by double digits in the fourth quarter, UCF pulled right back, keeping the game close until its final seconds. In the end, UConn escaped with the win, 52–47, but they got just about all they could handle in the process. This was a physical, pace-setting Knights squad whose ability belied their seeding, and they offered something of a blueprint for wearing down these Huskies.
“It was what we thought it would be,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma. “It was going to be difficult. It was going to be really ugly-looking. And it was.”
