STORRS — Before the UConn women’s basketball team took the court for its first round NCAA Tournament game against 14-seed Jackson State, senior forward Aaliyah Edwards requested an unusual addition to the pregame routine.
“We were waiting for the coaches to come in before we run out for warmups, and Aaliyah was like ‘Can we get a group hug?'” redshirt freshman Ice Brady said. “Everyone was like huh? Because we don’t do that. But then it hit me — and I’m very emotional — and I was like dang, this is really our last run with Aaliyah and Nika.”
“But no one else was crying and I didn’t want to be the only one, so I held in my tears.”
The 3-seed Huskies face 6-seed Syracuse in the second round on Monday (6 p.m., ESPN) for their final game at Gampel Pavillion this season. It will also be the last-ever home game for Edwards and fellow senior Nika Muhl, who both announced they will move on to professional basketball next season.
Monday’s matchup gives both Muhl and Edwards one more chance to hit career milestones in front of the adoring crowd in Storrs. Muhl is a single pass away from tying Moriah Jefferson‘s school-record 659 career assists from 2012-16, and Edwards needs 12 more rebounds to surpass 1,000. She averaging a career-high 9.4 boards per game in 2023-24 and has logged at least 10 in seven of the Huskies’ last 10 games.
“I’m sure that’s going to be a full circle, full moment story, whoever gets (the points),” Muhl said of her impending record-breaking assist. “Aaliyah was my first at UConn … so I’m sure she’s gonna be eager to get this one too, but I don’t care. If it’s one of the freshmen that would be so, so cool. If it’s one of my fellow seniors that have been here for four years, that’s going to cool. If I pass it to Coach out of bounds and he shoots it and makes it, maybe that would be even cooler.”
Fair warning: Syracuse’s high-scoring Dyaisha Fair tough task for UConn women in NCAA second round
While star guard Paige Bueckers and fifth-year forward Aubrey Griffin will be back in 2024-25 for another year of eligibility, the whole team feels the pressure to send Muhl and Edwards out of Gampel on a positive note. Nearly every minute of playing time for UConn is going to a freshman outside of the three senior starters, and Brady struggled to even articulate how impactful their leadership is on the underclassmen.
“We rely on them like, more than 100% of the time,” Brady said, laughing. “They do a great job of just keeping all of us under control. If things start to get out of wack, they’re the ones that bring us all in and check us and make sure we’re all on the same page … Our seniors, they’re everything to us.”
The game will still carry a bittersweet twinge for Bueckers as she attempts to savor these final experiences in a UConn jersey with her departing classmates, but the Huskies superstar has made playing with joy her priority in the postseason. Monday is just another opportunity to enjoy the March Madness atmosphere that she didn’t get to experience while sidelined with a torn ACL last year.
“I’m just trying to embrace it and have fun and play with a joy that’s contagious not just on the court but to everybody in the stands as well,” Bueckers said. “At the beginning of the Big East Tournament, I just told myself to have fun. I play so much better when I’m playing with joy and not thinking about the pressures that come with playing at UConn and being expected to win every game no matter who’s on the floor.”
UConn has advanced to at least the Sweet 16 in every NCAA Tournament since 1993, but Syracuse could prove a challenging matchup for the Huskies even on their home court. The Orange are anchored by star shooter Dyashia Fair, who could surpass Missouri State’s Jackie Stiles for the fourth-most career points in NCAA history. Fair, a third-team AP All-American, averages 22.3 points per game .
The Huskies have lost just one game this season at Gampel Pavilion, 82-65 to Notre Dame on Jan. 27. Syracuse was the only opponent to sweep the 2-seed in ACC play, most recently beating the Irish 79-65 in South Bend two days before they faced the Huskies. Auriemma tried to sign Orange coach Felisha Legette-Jack as a player when he was an assistant coach at Virginia, so he’s fully aware of how capable her team will be.
“Nothing about what’s happened at Syracuse is remotely surprising. I tried really, really hard to get Felisha that job before, and they finally realized the obvious thing for them to do,” Auriemma said. “The way they play, the way she coaches them, how successful they’ve been in a short period of time, these are the same exact things she did at the University (at) Buffalo … I recruited her out of high school when I was at UVa, and I’ve been a fan of hers from back then. So yeah, when I saw they were in our bracket, I wasn’t too pleased.”
UConn women’s basketball vs. Syracuse: How to watch March Madness
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Time: 6 p.m.
Series: UConn leads, 40-12
Last meeting: UConn, 83-47; March 23, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas
Records: 3-seed UConn: 30-5, 18-0 Big East; 6-seed Syracuse: 24-7, 13-5 ACC
TV: ESPN – Christy Winters-Scott, Pam Ward
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9
