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The Huskies know they can’t stop Clark, but they’ll try to make the game on Friday as difficult as possible.
UConn women’s basketball has become plenty familiar with defending elite scorers during its NCAA tournament run.
In the second round, the Huskies went up against Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair, who finished her career third on the women’s Division I all-time scoring list. In the Elite Eight, they faced USC’s JuJu Watkins, who set the women’s freshman scoring record.
Now comes the ultimate test: Caitlin Clark, the Iowa megastar who became the NCAA’s all-time scorer — men’s or women’s — during a senior season that’s put the sport on a rocket ship in terms of attention, viewership and popularity.
The first step in UConn’s plan for defending her? Acceptance.
“We don’t plan on stopping her,” Geno Auriemma said. “I tried calling all the other coaches that have stopped her, and none of them answer the phone. So we’re going to have to find a different way to win than stopping Caitlin Clark.”
That’s no different than how the Huskies approached their previous matchups against top scorers, though. They understand the player — whether it’s Fair, Watkins or Clark — will get their points.
“If a kid’s getting 20, 23, 25 every night, you’re not going to go out there and go, ‘Well, she’s only going to get six against us.’ I don’t think that’s realistic,” Auriemma said ahead of the Elite Eight.
That’s especially true with Clark. Not only does she lead the country with 32 points per game, she hasn’t been held under 20 points in any contest this season and just dropped 41 on LSU in the Elite Eight.
The key will be making Clark earn every point that she gets. Fair scored 20 points but did so on 6-22 shooting. Similarly, Watkins put up 29 points on 9-25 night. UConn can live with Clark putting up a big total as long as it’s less than efficient.
To do that, the Huskies will use a defense-by-committee approach. Nika Mühl will get the primary assignment on Clark — as she usually does for opponent’s top scorers — though it’ll hardly fall on her shoulders alone.
“People often think it’s one-on-one in those kinds of situations, but it never really is,” Mühl explained. “Maybe five percent of the game comes down to one-on-one defending.”
Instead, UConn will throw a variety of players and looks at Clark. The Huskies aren’t afraid to switch on ball screens or double-team if the opportunity presents itself. Their defense is structured so that if Clark gets by Mühl, she she won’t just have an open lane to the hoop.
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
UConn Huskies guard Nika Muhl (10) grabs a rebound during the second half against USC Trojans guard Kayla Williams.
“If they beat one line of defense, there’s gonna be another one thrown at them,” Aaliyah Edwards said.
The goal is to make sure the superstar always have a defender or two in her grill wherever she goes on the court. They’ll swarm her.
For the system to be effective, UConn has to be in sync on the defensive end, which requires constant communication. Although Mühl is the Huskies’ vocal leader on the floor, her position atop the defense means she can’t see much of what’s happening behind her.
That’s where Edwards comes in.
“Me being in the back end, I can see everything,” the senior forward said. “Nika’s the head, I’m in the back so I’m just helping direct her, helping make sure she isn’t running into a screen and helping her just do what she can do so we can be successful.”
Defending Clark will be hard enough on its own. UConn can’t compound that difficultly by getting into itself foul trouble — which has been an issue during the NCAA tournament.
The Huskies got by USC in large part because Mühl played the last 13 minutes of the game without picking up a fifth foul. In the Sweet Sixteen, Edwards spent much of the second half on the bench with fouls. They beat Syracuse in the second round despite Mühl fouling out with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. If either player starts picking up fouls against Iowa, that could spell disaster for UConn.
Mühl believes she’s up for the challenge though. She’s always been a defense-first player, so she’s relishing the chance to go up against Clark.
“It’s an enormous amount of pride and it kind of feeds my ego a little bit, if I can selfishly say that. I have fun on defense. I’ve always loved defense more than offense — I guess because I was so much better at it. But I enjoyed guarding good players,” she said. “Having that assignment (on Clark), I take a lot of pride in it. I take it very personal and it’s fun. I have fun doing that.”
What makes this an especially difficult task for UConn is that this isn’t just any game. For as impressive as Clark’s resume is, the one thing missing is a national championship. The Huskies currently stand in her way.
That means UConn doesn’t just have to beat her. It has to end Clark’s collegiate career in order to advance to the title game on Monday.
The stakes don’t get much higher than that.
