How UConn girls’s basketball plans to defend Caitlin Clark

UConn girls’s basketball has turn out to be loads accustomed to defending elite scorers throughout its NCAA match run.

Within the second spherical, the Huskies went up towards Syracuse’s Dyaisha Honest, who completed her profession third on the ladies’s Division I all-time scoring listing. Within the Elite Eight, they confronted USC’s JuJu Watkins, who set the ladies’s freshman scoring file.

Now comes the final word check: Caitlin Clark, the Iowa megastar who grew to become the NCAA’s all-time scorer — males’s or girls’s — throughout a senior season that’s put the game on a rocket ship when it comes to consideration, viewership and recognition.

Step one in UConn’s plan for defending her? Acceptance.

“We don’t plan on stopping her,” Geno Auriemma stated. “I attempted calling all the opposite coaches which have stopped her, and none of them reply the cellphone. So we’re going to need to discover a completely different option to win than stopping Caitlin Clark.”

That’s no completely different than how the Huskies approached their earlier matchups towards prime scorers, although. They perceive the participant — whether or not it’s Honest, Watkins or Clark — will get their factors.

“If a child’s getting 20, 23, 25 each night time, you’re not going to go on the market and go, ‘Nicely, she’s solely going to get six towards us.’ I don’t suppose that’s sensible,” Auriemma stated forward of the Elite Eight.

That’s very true with Clark. Not solely does she lead the nation with 32 factors per sport, she hasn’t been held below 20 factors in any contest this season and simply dropped 41 on LSU within the Elite Eight.

The important thing might be making Clark earn each level that she will get. Honest scored 20 factors however did so on 6-22 taking pictures. Equally, Watkins put up 29 factors on 9-25 night time. UConn can dwell with Clark placing up an enormous complete so long as it’s lower than environment friendly.

To try this, the Huskies will use a defense-by-committee strategy. Nika Mühl will get the first task on Clark — as she often does for opponent’s prime scorers — although it’ll hardly fall on her shoulders alone.

“Folks usually suppose it’s one-on-one in these sorts of conditions, but it surely by no means actually is,” Mühl defined. “Perhaps 5 % of the sport comes right down to one-on-one defending.”

As a substitute, UConn will throw quite a lot of gamers and appears at Clark. The Huskies aren’t afraid to modify on ball screens or double-team if the chance presents itself. Their protection is structured in order that if Clark will get by Mühl, she she received’t simply have an open lane to the ring.

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“In the event that they beat one line of protection, there’s gonna be one other one thrown at them,” Aaliyah Edwards stated.

The purpose is to ensure the famous person all the time have a defender or two in her grill wherever she goes on the court docket. They’ll swarm her.

For the system to be efficient, UConn must be in sync on the defensive finish, which requires fixed communication. Though Mühl is the Huskies’ vocal chief on the ground, her place atop the protection means she will’t see a lot of what’s taking place behind her.

That’s the place Edwards is available in.

“Me being within the again finish, I can see all the things,” the senior ahead stated. “Nika’s the pinnacle, I’m within the again so I’m simply serving to direct her, serving to ensure she isn’t working right into a display screen and serving to her simply do what she will accomplish that we might be profitable.”

Defending Clark might be arduous sufficient by itself. UConn can’t compound that difficultly by stepping into itself foul bother — which has been a difficulty in the course of the NCAA match.

The Huskies obtained by USC largely as a result of Mühl performed the final 13 minutes of the sport with out choosing up a fifth foul. Within the Candy Sixteen, Edwards spent a lot of the second half on the bench with fouls. They beat Syracuse within the second spherical regardless of Mühl fouling out with 5 minutes left within the fourth quarter. If both participant begins choosing up fouls towards Iowa, that might spell catastrophe for UConn.

Mühl believes she’s up for the problem although. She’s all the time been a defense-first participant, so she’s relishing the prospect to go up towards Clark.

“It’s an unlimited quantity of satisfaction and it sort of feeds my ego a little bit bit, if I can selfishly say that. I’ve enjoyable on protection. I’ve all the time beloved protection greater than offense — I assume as a result of I used to be so significantly better at it. However I loved guarding good gamers,” she stated. “Having that task (on Clark), I take quite a lot of satisfaction in it. I take it very private and it’s enjoyable. I’ve enjoyable doing that.”

What makes this an particularly troublesome process for UConn is that this isn’t simply any sport. For as spectacular as Clark’s resume is, the one factor lacking is a nationwide championship. The Huskies at the moment stand in her means.

Meaning UConn doesn’t simply need to beat her. It has to finish Clark’s collegiate profession with a purpose to advance to the title sport on Monday.

The stakes don’t get a lot larger than that.