STORRS — UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has been through enough NCAA Tournaments in his 39 seasons to recognize a challenge when he sees one. For his No. 3-seed Huskies, he knows that 14-seed Jackson State will be anything but an easy out in the first round.
“This is the reason you want to be a No. 1 seed, so you don’t get this matchup in the first round,” Auriemma said. “I always say later in the season that I don’t care what seed we are, we just want to get in. Well that’s a bunch of crap, because you’re trying to avoid this game in the first round because they’re good … Their depth, they rebound the ball hard, they get it out in transition. They’re undefeated in their league for a reason.”
UConn enters the tournament ranked lower than a No. 2 for the first time since 2005 despite an undefeated record in the Big East and a fourth straight conference tournament championship. All five of the Huskies’ losses came against teams currently ranked in the top 11 nationally, and they dominated the Big East tournament with three straight victories by at least 25 points. The Huskies (29-5) host the Tigers (26-6) at Gampel Pavilion on Saturday (1 p.m., ABC).
Though not at the same level of competition, Jackson State’s record is remarkably similar to UConn’s. The Tigers also went undefeated in their conference and routed Alcorn State 68-44 to win the SWAC Tournament championship for the third time in five years under head coach Tomekia Reed. Reed also put her squad through the ringer early in the season with the third-hardest nonconference schedule in the country behind only UConn and SWAC rival Southern. Half of their six losses came against top-16 teams in NCAA Tournament seeding, and all were to Power 5 teams.
“We thought we could do a better job against those teams, but early on we struggled with our chemistry. We struggled with players accepting a new roles … but it helped us identify who we are and and what we’re capable of,” Reed said. “Going into the conference play we were able to build from that, and the players have enough pride and understanding to know that we are the bar in the SWAC … So our (nonconference) schedule prepared us for that, and we are just hoping that it carries over into our game versus UConn.”
THEE 2024 SWAC CHAMPIONS🏆
The Jackson State women’s basketball program notches it’s ninth SWAC title with a 68-44 win over Alcorn State! This marks the third title in the @CoachTReed’s era🔥#TheeILove | #SWACWBB | #GoJSUTigersWBB🐅 pic.twitter.com/i6nBYX2U93
— Jackson State Women’s Basketball (@GoJSUTigersWBB) March 16, 2024
The Tigers are fueled by depth, a luxury the Huskies don’t have this season with six players out due to season-ending injuries. Twelve of 15 members of the roster have earned minutes in at least 20 games, and nine different players have started at least three times. The backcourt duo of Miya Crump and Ti’lan Boler anchor Jackson State averaging 11.6 and 11.7 points per game, respectively, but the team’s secret weapon is 6-foot-6 center Angel Jackson.
Jackson was the SWAC defensive player of the year and leads a Tigers defense that ranks top 30 nationally in points allowed, top 25 in scoring margin and top 15 in blocks per game. Jackson averages 10 points and seven rebounds per game, and Jackson State also ranks ninth in the country in offensive rebounding.
“A lot of times the NCAA Tournament is truly about the matchups that you get,” Auriemma said. “You don’t get to see much of some of the teams you’re going to play … so there’s this misconception that because you never hear of them and you never see them, how can they be any good? Obviously we’ve never subscribed to that, and then watching them play, you can see why they’ve dominated that league and why they’re so well-coached and how hard they play.”
Jackson State and UConn have never met previously, but the Tigers are no stranger to competing with teams out of their depth in the tournament. The last time they were a 14-seed after winning the SWAC in 2022, Reid’s Tigers took Kim Mulkey’s LSU to overtime before ultimately falling, 83-77. They also lost to Mulkey’s Baylor squad as a 16-seed in 2021 when she led the Bears to the national title. Jackson State has never won a March Madness game in six appearances since 1982.
“I told my team after losing to Baylor by 50, we will be back in the NCAA tournament and we will not be blown out like that again,” Reed says. “When you win your conference and come into this tournament and get blown out, it’s like … That’s not how we identify. That’s not who we are. We’re not going to walk away with our heads down because we’re still a good team and still a good program … We learned overall as a group from that.”
But a Round 1 upset at Gampel Pavilion would be far more unprecedented for the Huskies than last season’s Sweet 16 upset that ended a 14-year streak of Final Four appearances. UConn has reached at least the Sweet 16 every year since 1993, and Auriemma has led the team out of the first round in 34 of 36 tournaments since 1989.
The last time the Huskies were a 3-seed, they routed Ivy League champion Dartmouth 95-47 in their opening game and beat Florida State by 18 in the second round before falling to Stanford in the Sweet 16.
How to watch
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Time: 1 p.m.
Series: First meeting
Records: 3-seed UConn: 29-5, 18-0 Big East; 14-seed Jackson State: 26-6, 18-0 SWAC
TV: ABC – Christy Winters-Scott, Pam Ward
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9