No. 1 Huskies Hammer Tulsa For Second Time This Season

The No. 1-ranked UConn Huskies cruised to a 94-30 victory Wednesday night in front of 2,091 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. UConn improved to 19-0 and 9-0 in the American Athletic Conference, while the Golden Hurricane fell to 7-14 and 4-6 in league play.
 
The Huskies won their 56th straight game, the third longest streak in NCAA history, and has now won 103 of its last 104 games.
 
Two-time National Player of the Year Breanna Stewart had game-highs of 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Huskies. Katie Lou Samuelson and Moriah Jefferson added 14 points and Napheesa Collier had 12 points. For Tulsa, Tatyana Perez had six points to lead seven Tulsa players scoring in the game.
 
UConn shot 57 percent from the field, while the Hurricane shot just 18 percent from the field and 19 percent on 4-of-21 from behind the arc. The Huskies held Tulsa to single-digits in three of the four quarters, including three points in the first quarter, nine in the second and six in the fourth period.
 
"Obviously we couldn't create any offense, but they are averaging 90 points a game and tonight they got 94.  They are averaging 52-percent from the floor and today they shot 57-percent.  They didn't do anything over and beyond what they do from an offensive standpoint," said Tulsa Head Coach Matilda Mossman.
 
The Huskies came out in the second half and outscored Tulsa 21-12 in the third quarter to take a 74-24 lead heading into the final period, and closed out the game with a 20-6 fourth quarter advantage. UConn scored 31 points off of turnovers, 36 points in the paint and had 15 second-chance points for the game.
 
"Defensively they are so athletic, they are so fast and they put so much pressure on you, that we just could not get into an offense.  Then we multiplied our problems by taking bad shots and then didn't get back on the defensive end to allow them to score points in transition," added Mossman. "They didn't do anything different to us than they have done to the last 55 opponents, they are just really good."
 
UConn got out to a 5-0 lead at the start of the game before Tulsa's Kelsee Grovey knocked down a three-pointer to make the score 5-3 at the 7:52 mark. However, that would be the only points of the first quarter for the Hurricane as UConn had a 25-3 advantage after the first period.
 
Clark's two free throws at the 8:16 mark of the second quarter ended nearly a 10-minute drought between baskets for the Hurricane, and made the score 29-5. 
 
The Huskies went on to shoot 57-percent from the field and 42-percent from three-point range in the first half for a 53-12 halftime lead. UConn forced 14 Tulsa turnovers and held a 21-5 edge on points off turnovers, while outscoring Tulsa in the paint 16-2 in the first 20 minutes.
 

Tulsa goes on the road for its next two games, traveling to Orlando, Florida to play the UCF Knights for a Saturday 12 noon game and next Wednesday (Feb. 3) in Greenville, North Carolina against the East Carolina Pirates.