The 1-3-1 Round of 32: Baylor (20-12) vs UConn (30-5)

The last time that Baylor and UConn met happened to be the end of an era in Waco. The top-seeded Huskies took advantage of a hamstring injury that sidelined the National Defensive Player of the Year, Didi Richards, and freshman All-American Paige Bueckers led UConn on a 19-0 run.

Baylor surged back in the fourth quarter and had an opportunity to win, but a controversial no-call as two Huskies mauled BU guard Dijonai Carrington. UConn danced their way into the Final Four, while Kim Mulkey headed to Baton Rouge following the Bears’ Elite 8 exit.

On Monday night when the Bears and Huskies take to the hardwood, Baylor will have an entirely new coaching staff led by Nicki Collen, while only two players remain from the 2021 squad — Caitlin Bickle and Sarah Andrews. Bickle spoke about the upcoming matchup and how different it will be from the last time these two met in San Antonio.

“It’s so different, because we’re such different teams. They have a couple that were there then, we have a couple, but we’re such different teams, especially our team,” said Bickle. “We have a new head coach, we have so many different girls who maybe watched that game on different teams or they were in high school, but there’s such different girls on our team.”

As these two historic programs get set for another bout on a national stage, here’s the 1-3-1 on seventh-seed Baylor (20-12) and second-seed UConn (30-5).

One Player:

With Bueckers out for the season with an ACL, UConn did what any perennial power would do — looked for another 5-star player to step up and be the star. Junior forward Aaliyah Edwards let everyone know she wasn’t to be slept on, as she torched 15-seed Vermont in the first round with a career-high 28 points along with seven rebounds, five assists, four steals and four blocks.

Edwards is just one of only two Huskies to play in every game this season and against top 25 opponents she is averaging 18.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while shooting 56.4 percent from the field.

She was named an AP Third Team All-American this season after averaging career highs with 16.6 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 57.3 percent from the field this year.

Three Nuggets:

●      Monday will be the 10th meeting all-time between the Bears and the Huskies and third meeting in the postseason between the two programs — UConn leads the series 5-4.

●      UConn is 131-22 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, which is the winningest record in the sport.

●      The Bears have won two of the last three matchups with the Huskies.

One Concern:

Baylor is going to have their hands full in the paint on Monday night, which makes their habitual foul troubles not ideal. UConn scored 54 points in the paint and had 23 points off turnovers in their 95-52 rout of Vermont in the opening round.

With Edwards at 6-foot-3, UConn adds more size in the paint with 6-foot-5 grad-student Dorka Juhasz. A former two-time First Team All-Big 10 at Ohio State, Juhasz had a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double against Vermont.  

The Bears will need to play disciplined and rely on contributions from their bench in order to keep their season alive. 

Game Info:

It will be a Big Monday affair for Baylor and UConn as they look to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m. on ESPN from the Huskies' home court — Gampel Pavilion. It will mark just the second meeting between the two programs in Storrs, Connecticut.