Throughout the past decade, Connecticut has been one of the premier women’s college basketball programs, winning four national championships in the past eight seasons.
LSU has been nearly as successful the past four seasons, advancing to four-straight Final Fours, winning two regular season Southeastern Conference titles while being one win away from clinching another this season.
Monday night, two of the potential favorites to cut down the nets at the end of the season will collide when the No. 6 Lady Tigers (23-3, 12-0) host the No. 1 Huskies (26-1, 13-1 Big East) at 6 p.m, on ESPN 2
LSU comes into the matchup winning 19 of its past 20 games since the Lady Tigers’ 45-43 loss against Rutgers on Nov. 25.
LSU defeated Kentucky 52-48 on Thursday but struggled shooting the ball. The Lady Tigers hit just 50 percent of its free throws while missing all four of the team’s 3-point attempts.
The Wildcats dominated LSU on the glass, outrebounding the Lady Tigers 46-34. LSU has been outrebounded three times in SEC play this season.
Senior guard Erica White said LSU’s guards will crash the boards against UConn to aid the Lady Tigers’ post players.
“We need to control them on the boards,” White said. “As a team, they average plus-14 rebounding, so that is a major stat we will have to control.”
White and senior center Sylvia Fowles provided most of the offense against Kentucky, scoring 27 of the team’s 52 points.
Fowles has had success against the Huskies in her career, averaging 19 points and 16 rebounds in three meetings against UConn.
“[My success] has nothing to do with any one thing they do to defend me,” Fowles said. “It’s just the mental aspect. I think I lock in and lock down a little more against them because we know we need to play near perfect to beat them.”
UConn has been equally as hot as LSU this season, winning 12 out of 13 games in Big East play, including a 98-41 win Saturday against St. John’s.
The Huskies have been dominant on both sides of the floor, ranking No. 1 in the nation on defense. UConn allows only 49 points per game.
UConn is also No. 2 nationally in scoring offense, scoring more than 82 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field.
“This is a team that does everything,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor. “They run good, they play half court good, they lead the country in defense and they are the nation’s No. 1 offensive rebounding team. When you meet those teams you have to be ready to play.”
Freshman forward Maya Moore and sophomore center Tina Charles lead the Huskies on the interior, combining for more than 35 points and 17 rebounds per game.
Chancellor said LSU’s past matchups with the Huskies are not relevant because LSU has yet to face Moore.
“Moore makes them a different team,” Chancellor said. “She is a great player that can score, and she gives them a dimension right now that is unbelievable.”
The Huskies have battled injuries throughout the season and will be without junior guard Kalana Greene and senior guard Mel Thomas for the remainder of the year.
UConn’s backcourt duo averaged more than 18 points per game for the Huskies before their injuries.
White said the Huskies’ ability to win without two starters shows the level of talent UConn has on its roster.
“It just shows you how hard their coaches hit the roads to bring in great players,” White said. “Their leading scorer right now is a freshman, and Tina Charles is a sophomore and she is their second leading scorer.”
LSU and UConn are no strangers. The teams played each another three times in the past three seasons.
They split a pair of meetings this past season with LSU winning 73-50 in the Elite Eight. The Huskies won a regular season meeting 72-71 in the PMAC on Feb. 11.
“The last time we played them was in an Elite Eight game, and that didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to,” Charles said in a news release. “I think that this team is going to show that we want this win real bad, and we will see how much we have matured.”