Paige Bueckers leads UConn into the Final Four seeking her first NCAA championship. (Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
(Tyler Schank via Getty Images)
USC put up a fight.
But ultimately, Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong — and the absence of JuJu Watkins — proved too much to overcome.
The Trojans opened an early lead over UConn and then rallied from a 19-point halftime deficit to cut the UConn lead to five points to close the third quarter. But the Huskies withstood the run and opened the game back up en route to a 78-64 win to secure their spot in the Final Four.
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Bueckers and Strong took co-starring roles to lead UConn within two wins of its first national title since 2016. An eight-year national title drought isn’t a drought for any other program. But for a UConn team that won 11 NCAA championships from 1995 to 2016, it’s a sea change.
Bueckers will lead UConn into Tampa seeking to further cement her UConn legacy with the only thing missing from her résumé. She finished Monday night with 31 points, six assists, three rebounds and four steals while shooting 9 of 18 from the field and 4 of 8 from 3.
It was another sensational NCAA tournament performance from the UConn star, who scored a career-high 40 points in UConn’s Sweet 16 win over Oklahoma. Bueckers now has 105 points combined since UConn’s second-round win over South Dakota State. It adds up to highest three-game tally by any player in UConn’s storied history.
USC punched first after the opening tip, opening up an 11-5 lead while controlling the boards and limiting Bueckers and Azzi Fudd. But Strong sparked a 9-0 UConn run to lead the Huskies to a 14-11 lead at the first-quarter break.
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Then Bueckers found her stroke. After scoring two points in the first quarter, she finished the half with 13. She closed the second quarter with 3-pointers on consecutive possessions that extended the UConn lead to 39-25 at halftime.
The 14-point deficit was the largest that USC has faced in the last two seasons. The Trojans had the services of All-American JuJu Watkins for the better part of those two seasons. They, of course, did not on Monday after Watkins suffered a torn ACL in USC’s second-round win over Mississippi State.
But USC didn’t stop fighting in Watkins’ absence. UConn extended its lead to 19 points at 44-25 early in the third quarter. But the Trojans took advantage of a cold performance from Fudd and closed the third quarter with an 11-0 run to close the gap to 51-46 heading into the fourth.
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But UConn punched back again to start the fourth. Fudd finally found the bottom of the net after going scoreless through three quarters while shooting 0-for-9 from the field.
She started the fourth with a 3-pointer. With 6:54 remaining in regulation, she hit another 3 to extend UConn’s lead back to 62-48. USC closed the gap once again, but it was ultimately too much to overcome without its superstar to match Bueckers.
UConn will take on No. 1 seed UCLA in the Final Four. No. 1 seed South Carolina will face fellow No. 1 seed Texas in the other semifinal. UConn, a No. 2 seed, is the only non-No. 1 seed to advance.
