By Derek DeBurger
No. 18 Louisville will showdown against the face of women’s college basketball in the No. 17 UConn Huskies.
Currently sitting at 6-3 on the year, the Huskies haven’t gotten out to the start that they thought they would. The three losses have all been to undefeated, top-five teams, so if the Cards want to pull off the upset they’ll need to play like one. According to Warren Nolan, #2 Bracketologist and college basketball RPI calculator, UConn has played the toughest schedule of anyone in the country.
One of the Huskies’ top players, Azzi Fudd, was recently ruled out for the entire season with an injury. Even without Fudd, UConn still has two no-doubt first-round picks in Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards. Bueckers is coming off of yet another knee injury that kept her off the court for a full season. Despite the setback, she’s back like she never left, averaging 19.8 points per game.
Outside of Bueckers, UConn has had a more difficult time getting the ball through the hoop this season only averaging 77.4 points per game. While it may not be what Huskies fans are used to, they’ve scored 62 points or more in every outing, better than the 58 points a game that the Cards are giving up on defense.
The Huskies are excellent at sharing the ball. They average 16.2 assists per game, finding ways to get looks for both Bueckers and all the former five-star recruits that surround her.
On the other end, UConn is only giving up 65.6 points per game. Louisville has scored below 65 points once this year and came out victorious against a physical Ole Miss team in Oxford. If the Cards can muck up their game they’ll have a really good chance to pull off the win. Louisville just played a physical game against Morehead State on Wednesday, and the Huskies, who haven’t played since Sunday, are far more rested. If the Cards end up getting down and dirty they run the slight risk of running out of gas before the fourth quarter.
This will be the biggest test for the Cards this year, and it should be an exciting matchup. The game is at UConn, and the Cards are currently on a five-game winning streak in Hartford dating back to their time as conference foes. I’m super excited to see Olivia Cochran battle down low with Edwards.
The Cards have all the ability to get a signature win on the year, but it won’t be easy. I’m looking forward to Saturday’s game, and hopeful the Cards improve to 11-1 on the year.
