The Arkansas State Red Wolves came to Storrs and Gampel Pavilion looking for prey. Unfortunately, the UConn Huskies were hungry and proceeded to make a smorgasbord of Arkansas State.
The Huskies simply overpowered the Red Wolves from the get-go, and they had no answer for anything that UConn threw at them. Arkansas State, typically a very good three-point shooting team, was held to 6 – 40. UConn, who has had some uneven production from three, went 13 – 28, with Azzi Fudd going 6 – 9.
Fudd led all scorers with 27 points, followed by Sarah Strong and Ashlynn Shade with 20 points each. Paige Bueckers scored 11 points in 22 minutes. Crislyn Rose led Arkansas State with 7 points. UConn shot 58.8% and held the Red Wolves to 17.1%.
ESPN’s Chiney Ogwumike said:
“UConn is the definition of a well-oiled machine.”
They certainly played that way, and have been since their statement win over South Carolina. Obviously, with this being the last tournament for Paige Bueckers, nothing would cap off her UConn career better than helping to bring title No. 12 to UConn. But this will not be an easy path.
With a potential Elite Eight matchup with USC, one of UConn’s regular season losses, their mission will be one of non-stop determination. It will be essential to keep the machine consistently well-oiled. If this game indicates what is to come, regardless of their opponent, they just might.
UConn will face No. 10 seed South Dakota State on Monday night. The latter upset No. 7 seed Oklahoma State.
And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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