Swanson: UConn dominates USC — and that’s bad news for UCLA
LOS ANGELES — The No. 1 Connecticut women’s basketball team came to L.A. on Saturday and demolished No. 16 USC, 79-51 – and I’m so sorry, UCLA.
I watched the Huskies – who came into the nationally televised non-conference showdown as 20-point favorites – run the Trojans out of their own gym and couldn’t stop thinking about the No. 4-ranked Bruins.
The better-than-ever Bruins. The big-dreaming Bruins. The now-or-never Bruins who came into this season with a senior-stacked squad, healthier and hungrier and with extended range and improved floor spacing. And, yes, national player-of-the-year candidate Lauren Betts back at center to anchor a team that spent much of last season ranked No. 1 in the nation as a precursor to its first Final Four run in the NCAA era.
That run ended in a blowout, of course. With the national semifinal loss against – yep – UConn, who beat the Bruins 85-51, including holding them to a nine-point second quarter to match the Trojans’ nine-point first quarter Saturday.
But while Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s Trojans navigate a season with a roster of newbies and new faces and without the great JuJu Watkins, out recovering from a torn ACL – across town, the Bruins are making one last, heartfelt push for a national championship with the core that’s changed the calculus in Westwood.
UCLA might be one of the best teams in the country these days, but I wouldn’t bet on UCLA against these Huskies.
I wouldn’t bet on anyone against these Huskies. Well, maybe the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Maybe.
Otherwise, nope. Not against the Huskies, who routed South Carolina in the national championship, 82-59, for their 12th NCAA crown in April. Who’ve ended USC’s season each of the past two years, both times in the Elite Eight.
Definitely wouldn’t bet against these Huskies, who are playing better at this point in the schedule than they were last season, even though they lost popular guard Paige Bueckers to the pros; she went No. 1 to the WNBA’s Dallas Wings and won Rookie of the Year unanimously.
The Huskies, who are now 10-0 after dismantling USC, and who were so much faster and stronger and more aggressive than the Trojans (7-3). UConn got only 14 points from Sarah Strong – credit USC’s Kennedy Smith, who did her best to “mess her up, push her out … just make it difficult. I think it worked a little bit,” the sophomore guard said – and the Huskies still waltzed to another win.
These Huskies look like the Huskies of old, like the Huskies looked the last time they came out to California for non-conference action, back in 2004, during Chino native Diana Taurasi’s senior season, for victories at Pepperdine and USC.
Those Huskies who won a third consecutive championship, having overtaken Tennessee as the nation’s foremost women’s basketball power. Those Huskies were the class of a sport that wasn’t nearly as deep as it is now, not nearly as widely formidable, with even a pair of could-be contenders building all the way out in L.A.
You wouldn’t have bet against those Huskies, and you certainly won’t want to bet against this crew, either, with its waves of depth coming relentlessly at opponents. With WNBA-star-to-be Azzi Fudd shooting nearly 54% from 3-point range – including going 3 of 6 from deep Saturday, when UConn actually did most of its damage in the paint, where it outscored the Trojans, 44-22.
These Huskies and their swarming, suffocating defense that totally stifled USC, which kept scrapping but still managed to shoot just 30.2% (16 for 53) from the field. That had swaths of fans of all ages at Galen Center decked out in navy blue.
No, these Huskies are so impressive that the hardest part about coaching them, their famously demanding coach Geno Auriemma said, is having to figure out how to play 12 players who all deserve playing time. “Luckily,” he joked, “two of them are out,” injured.
Credit to the Trojans for taking UConn on, for bringing these world-beaters back out West to play before a crowd of 9,035 on Saturday. For signing up for such a challenging test – especially without Watkins’ services. With Watkins last season, the Trojans were among the nation’s top teams; they beat UConn in Storrs, Conn., 72-70, and they earned the No. 2 overall ranking in March – the program’s best in 39 years.
Naturally, without last year’s national player of the year on the floor now, they’re much less imposing.
“Yeah, who made the schedule?” Gottlieb joked, clarifying, “it was me.”
“That’s where we want to be, right?” she continued. “We scheduled South Carolina, we scheduled UConn, Notre Dame, those are home-and-homes. And, obviously, UCLA is on our [Big Ten Conference] schedule twice. So, it’s not for the faint of heart. But that’s how we want it here. This is what we want to be.”
It’s what everyone should want to be. And it’s where UConn – which experienced a title drought between 2016 and 2025 – is. Again.
Dancing and dominating and demolishing. Which is most unfortunate for other would-be contenders, like UCLA, whose paths will likely eventually cross UConn’s.