STORRS, Connecticut — The UConn women’s basketball team will have a full house cheering them on at their second-round match-up Monday night.
The team announced Monday – just hours before the game against UCF – that the game was sold out.
The No. 2 seed Huskies, who routed Mercer in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, are 13-0 against the No. 7 seed Knights. Their rivalry dates back to their days together in the American Athletic Conference, which UConn left in 2020 to rejoin the Big East.
And while the Huskies were never beaten by a conference opponent in seven years in the AAC, UCF came close, falling by just seven points at home in January 2020.
The Huskies will be trying for their 28th straight second-round win. UCF, on the other hand, won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game on Saturday, when the Knights (26-3) beat Florida for the first time in the history of that in-state rivalry.
UCF, which has won 14 straight games, came into the tournament leading the nation in scoring defense, giving up just 47.5 points a game.
“Their defensive philosophy is to be very, very disruptive,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “They work really, really hard to get you out of your stuff, out of your rhythm. You’ve got to do a really good job of taking care of the ball, being assertive with the ball, and I think you’ve got to be the more aggressive team when you play against them.”
UConn also is among the nation's best defensive teams, giving up just 41.6 points per game over its last 10. The Huskies outscored Mercer 20-0 during the third quarter on Saturday, becoming just the third team to hold an opponent scoreless during a period since the women went to quarters in 2016.
UConn's Paige Bueckers is looking more like her old self after returning from the left knee injury that kept her sidelined for well over two months.
The Huskies and Knights tip off Monday night at 9 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.
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