COLUMBIA, S.C. — It took almost four months, but the vision of what the UConn Huskies could be this season — in what Paige Bueckers has said is her final year at the college level — finally came to pass. In a dominant 87-58 road win at No. 4 South Carolina, the seventh-ranked Huskies sent a resounding statement through women’s college basketball: Don’t count them out yet.
The Gamecocks had won four straight against UConn, exercising a reign of dominance over the Huskies that few teams have had. The last time the Huskies had beaten South Carolina was on the heels of a 31-point performance from Bueckers during her freshman season in 2020-21. Since then, it had been all South Carolina as the program continued its ascent to the top of the sport.
But on Sunday in a sold-out Colonial Life Arena, Bueckers helped UConn rewrite this chapter of both her career and UConn’s season as the Huskies had failed to — up until this point — put a statement win on their resume. After Bueckers and Azzi Fudd finally came out of the game with a minute to play, the two sat on the bench, towels draped around their shoulders, with wide smiles.
UConn’s EMPHATIC statement 😳
South Carolina’s 71-game home winning streak is history as the No. 7 Huskies roll into Columbia and steamroll the No. 4 Gamecocks. pic.twitter.com/BXBvztrH4P
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 16, 2025
UConn’s victory, its first top-5 road win since 2018, ended South Carolina’s 71-game home win streak which began on Dec. 17, 2020, before any current member of the team was rostered. It was the fourth-longest in NCAA history.
The Huskies’ blowout also came a week after another Gamecock streak ended as South Carolina dropped its first SEC game after 57 consecutive wins in a loss at Texas last Sunday.
“We just got punked today,” Gamecocks senior guard Te-Hina Paopao said. “It’s very much embarrassing. That’s not who we are. It was very much self-inflicted as well.”
South Carolina entered Sunday’s contest favored to win by most — including ESPN’s betting line (+6.5 points) and pundits (all four College GameDay crew members picked SC to win) — considering how the Huskies had played against its top opponents so far this season and the Gamecocks’ statistical advantage on the glass.
But despite that advantage in the paint with experienced bigs like Sania Feagin and Chloe Kitts, UConn established an interior dominance early with a surprising performance from redshirt freshman Jana El-Alfy. The 6-foot-5 center, who sustained an Achilles injury and missed last season, hadn’t played more than 22 minutes in a game this season and had been inconsistent at best in her first year for the Huskies. She finished with eight points, six rebounds and one steal but put together a complete game that hadn’t been seen yet this year.
That was the story for several Huskies who put their best performances of the year on display against South Carolina. The Huskies put up the biggest lead on the Gamecocks of any team this season (29 points). Bueckers nearly recorded a double-double in 17 minutes of first-half play (seven points, six assists) and finished the day with 12 points and 10 assists in her first double-double of the season. Freshman forward Sarah Strong also made her presence felt throughout the opening 20 minutes and recorded her team-leading sixth double-double of the season, putting up 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Fudd — who didn’t play against Notre Dame, only played eight minutes against USC and had a lackluster performance against Tennessee — put together arguably her best performance of the season, opponent quality considered. She backed up a career-high 34-point performance against St. John’s on Wednesday with a 28-point outing against the Gamecocks. The senior made six 3-pointers as UConn finished with 13 makes from deep as a team. Only 18 times since the 2016-17 season have the Huskies made 13-plus 3s in a single game.
The hot 3-point shooting came at a good time. In its three losses this season, the Huskies had struggled to shoot from beyond the arc, they came out hot against the Gamecocks. UConn went 7-of-14 from 3 in the first half with Ashlynn Shade hitting 3-of-3 in the first two quarters in her best shooting performance this season outside of a 7-of-10 night against Iowa State in December.
Bueckers said that heading into Sunday’s heavyweight contest, the Huskies had stressed the importance of getting a fast start. Their defense managed to take the wind out of South Carolina’s sails from the jump and through 40, held the Gamecocks to their lowest-scoring output of the season. UConn forced 10 South Carolina first-half turnovers, held the Gamecocks to their lowest-scoring quarter of the season (9 points in the second quarter) and had an 11-0 points off turnover advantage.
Freshman forward Joyce Edwards led the Gamecocks with 17 points off the bench, but South Carolina struggled to muster any offensive rhythm. They made only three 3-pointers on 17.6 percent shooting from deep, had only six offensive rebounds — less than half of their season average — and only seven assists, their lowest total this season. South Carolina’s third defeat of the season is now its most since 2020-21.
“Win or lose, you got to push forward,” Paopao said. “It’s a great learning opportunity for us to get back to who we are. I think we kind of lost that today.”
The Gamecocks (23-3) will look to return to form Thursday against Arkansas. UConn (24-3), meanwhile, returns to Big East play on Wednesday in a matchup with Seton Hall.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
South Carolina Gamecocks, Connecticut Huskies, Women’s College Basketball
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