The 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2022 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. It determined the national champion for the 2021–22 season and was contested by the UConn Huskies and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The game was played on April 3, 2022, at the _target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2] In the game, the Gamecocks jumped out to an 18-point lead early in the second quarter and held off UConn scoring runs to win the national championship, 64–49. South Carolina's Aliyah Boston was voted the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player (MOP). This was UConn's first loss in the women's national championship game.
| National championship game | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | April 3, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Venue | _target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Aliyah Boston, South Carolina | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | South Carolina by 4.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 18,304 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Nielsen Ratings | 0.91 (4.47 million)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Participants
editSouth Carolina
editThe Gamecocks, who represent the University of South Carolina and play their home games at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, came to the championship game after being ranked No. 1 in every poll from the preseason through this matchup, the final game of the year. Led by coach of the year Dawn Staley and player of the year Aliyah Boston, South Carolina defeated a healthy UConn team in November's Battle 4 Atlantis tournament final, 73–57.[3]
South Carolina lost only two games during the season: one in overtime against unranked Missouri in December, and one in the SEC Tournament, where the unranked Kentucky Wildcats surprised the Gamecocks in the finals.[4] In the NCAA Tournament, South Carolina drew a No. 1 seed in the Greensboro Regional, where they won handily against Howard and Miami on their home court, then defeated a scrappy No. 5 seed North Carolina team. They then dominated Cinderella No. 10 seed Creighton in Greensboro to advance to the Final Four. The Gamecocks defeated Louisville, who never led after the second quarter, to advance to their second consecutive March Madness finals.[5]
The Gamecocks entered this game with no injuries which affected their lineup.[5]
UConn
editThe Huskies, who represent the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut, and split their home games between Gampel Pavilion and XL Center, came to the finals after a 30–5 season, an uncharacteristic year in which eight different players suffered injuries which kept them out of two or more games.[6] UConn started the season ranked No. 2 behind the Gamecocks.[7] Coached by Hall of Famers Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey and led by last year's player of the year Paige Bueckers, UConn utilized eleven different starting lineups; eight different players led the Huskies in scoring in games during the season. In December, Bueckers suffered a broken bone in her knee,[8] which kept her out of play for nineteen games, but she rejoined the team in late February with limited minutes until the NCAA Tournament.[9] Bueckers's injury gave Auriemma and Dailey unexpected opportunities to develop blue-chip freshmen as scorers,[10] while three seniors and several experienced sophomores anchored the team.[11][12]
UConn lost regular season games against unranked Georgia Tech, Oregon, and Villanova, while losing to No. 6 Louisville in December. A healthy UConn dominated the Big East Tournament, defeating Villanova in the finals.[13] In the NCAA Tournament, the No. 2 seed Huskies beat Mercer and struggled on their home court against a physical UCF team. At the Bridgeport regional, UConn defeated Indiana, then emerged victorious in a game that announcers called an "instant classic", a two-overtime 91–87 contest against No. 1 seed NC State.[14] In a Final Four contest against Stanford, UConn out-rebounded the taller Cardinal squad and the Huskies' stifling defense held the defending national champions to a 34.8% shooting percentage to advance to this final with a 63–58 win.[15]
Senior forward Dorka Juhász suffered a wrist injury during the NC State contest and was the only starter injured for this contest.[16]
Starting lineups
edit| UConn | Position | South Carolina | |
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| Olivia Nelson-Ododa | F | Aliyah Boston | |
| Aaliyah Edwards | F | Victaria Saxton | |
| Christyn Williams | G | Zia Cooke | |
| Azzi Fudd | G | Brea Beal | |
| Paige Bueckers | G | Destanni Henderson | |
| Source[17] | |||
Game summary
edit
South Carolina jumped out to a 5–0 lead,[18] and held a nine-point lead by the first timeout in the game, three and a half minutes into the contest.[19] The Gamecocks already had seven second-chance points and eight rebounds.[19] Aliyah Boston made a jump shot with 19 seconds to go in the first quarter, giving the Gamecocks a 22–8 lead.[18] South Carolina had seven offensive rebounds in the quarter and held a 12–3 edge in rebounds.[20]
One minute passed in the second quarter before Destanni Henderson scored its first points on a three-pointer, as in the first quarter. UConn followed with two jump shots and the Gamecocks made a layup before Henderson scored another three-pointer with 7:38 to play, extending the Gamecocks' lead to 18 points. A pair of shots by Paige Bueckers narrowed the deficit to 16 with seven minutes left, and the Huskies further made up ground after Bueckers made one of her two free throws with just over five minutes left. A minute-long scoring drought by both teams was broken with 4:01 by Caroline Ducharme, though another scoring drought of nearly two minutes followed. This was again broken by a Ducharme layup, which narrowed the South Carolina lead to single digits for the first time since the score was 13–4 with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. Evina Westbrook and Henderson traded layups and Bueckers made a jump shot, which narrowed the deficit to seven points, and a free throw by Saniya Rivers with 23 seconds left bumped the lead to eight. This would be the final scoring play of the first half, and the Gamecocks took a 35–27 lead to the locker room.[18]
UConn began the second half with the ball, but two missed shots resulted in no points from their first possession. Boston opened the second half scoring with a layup 54 seconds into the half, and South Carolina's lead was pushed to eleven points with a free throw from Zia Cooke just under two minutes later. Boston made one of two free throws with 6:19 to play and Henderson made both of hers six seconds later, and Cooke scored a layup with 5:18 on the clock, extending the Gamecocks' lead to sixteen points as a result of their 8–0 run. This run was broken seconds later by Bueckers, who scored a jump shot with an assist from Nika Mühl. Over two minutes passed with no scoring before Edwards scored a layup with 2:41.[18] UConn continued their scoring run with three-point shots from Ducharme and Westbrook,[18] and their 10–0 streak cut the Gamecocks' lead to six points.[20] Henderson made a free throw and a jump shot in the quarter's final minute, giving South Carolina a nine-point lead at the conclusion of the third quarter.[18]
Edwards began the scoring in the fourth quarter for UConn, which was countered by a pair of layups by Henderson. Victaria Saxton made two free throws with just under seven minutes to play, and Ducharme made a layup to bring the lead down to eleven. A free throw from Boston and a jumper and layup from Henderson pushed the lead to sixteen points. Azzi Fudd and Bueckers made three-pointers for UConn with 4:09 and 3:23 to play, respectively, which brought the lead to within ten points for the final time. UConn began fouling around this time, as the game's next five points were scored on free throws by Henderson, Saxton, and Hall. UConn's final points of the contest would come with 1:51 to play, as Williams made a layup to make it 62–49. From there, Boston would score two free throws with 1:15 remaining before the Gamecocks would be able to run the clock out and claim their second national championship, 64–49.[18]
Boston finished with 11 points and a team-high 16 rebounds for her Division I-high 30th double-double of the season. She was named the tournament's MOP.[20] South Carolina outrebounded UConn by 25, one of the largest margins in the championship game's history. Bueckers had 14 points and six rebounds for UConn.[19]
April 3, 2022
7:00 p.m. CDT |
| No. 2 UConn Huskies 49, No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks 64 | ||
| Scoring by quarter: 8–22, 19–13, 10–11, 12–18 | ||
| Pts: P. Bueckers – 14 Rebs: P. Bueckers – 6 Asts: C. Williams, N. Mühl – 3 |
Pts: D. Henderson – 26 Rebs: A. Boston – 16 Asts: D. Henderson – 4 | |
_target Center – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Attendance: 18,304 Referees: Maj Forsberg, Michol Murray, Michael McConnell |
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Media coverage
editThe championship game was televised in the United States by ESPN.[21] The game was the most-viewed women's national championship broadcast since 2004, as it drew an average viewership of 4.85 million, with a peak viewership of 5.91 million.[22] This reflected an 18% increase in viewership over the previous season's title game.[23] It was also the most-watched ESPN college basketball broadcast since 2008.[22]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Metcalf, Mitch (April 5, 2022). "ShowBuzzDaily's Sunday 4.3.2022 Top 150 Sunday Cable Originals & Network Finals". Showbuzz Daily. Archived from the original on July 13, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ "2022 NCAA women's basketball tournament dates, schedule". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Archived from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
- ^ Diaz, Cory (November 22, 2021). "No. 1 South Carolina beats second-ranked UConn to win the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament championship". USA TODAY. Greenville News. Archived from the original on April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule". University of South Carolina Athletics. University of South Carolina. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ a b Armour, Nancy (April 2, 2022). "South Carolina's terrific season will be judged on what it does in title game". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Voepel, Mechelle (January 7, 2022). "UConn to have Nika Mühl back in return Sunday". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Philippou, Alexa (April 3, 2022). "Season like no other could catapult UConn to most improbable of NCAA women's basketball title runs". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Philippou, Alexa (December 7, 2021). "Paige Bueckers' injury: What is a tibial plateau fracture, what does recovery look like and what are the long-term implications?". courant.com. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ Philippou, Alexa (February 26, 2022). "Bueckers back in UConn rout: 'It was a lot of fun'". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 11, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ Connolly, Daniel (February 6, 2022). "After a career day, Azzi Fudd becomes the latest UConn freshman to burn Tennessee". The UConn Blog. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ Carroll, Charlotte (December 31, 2021). "How different is UConn without Paige Bueckers? These 3 stats tell the story". The Athletic. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ Connolly, Daniel (February 18, 2022). "UConn WBB Weekly: Huskies finding a silver lining to their injury troubles". The UConn Blog. SB Nation. Archived from the original on March 17, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ "2021-22 Women's Basketball Schedule". University of Connecticut Athletics. University of Connecticut. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Barnes, Katie (March 29, 2022). "UConn's double-overtime win over NC State an instant classic". ESPN. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
- ^ Schnell, Lindsay (April 2, 2022). "UConn women eliminate Stanford, earn first trip to national title game since 2016". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on April 3, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Philippou, Alexis (March 28, 2022). "UConn's Juhasz suffers season-ending wrist injury". ESPN. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
- ^ "UConn vs. South Carolina - Box Score". ESPN. April 3, 2022. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "UConn vs. South Carolina - Play-By-Play". ESPN. April 3, 2022. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ a b c Blinder, Alan (April 3, 2022). "South Carolina, a Dominant Force All Season, Delivers a Championship Over UConn". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ a b c Evans, Jace (April 3, 2022). "South Carolina dominates Connecticut to secure second national championship". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 4, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ "Women's Final Four: Broadcast info". National Collegiate Athletic Administration. April 5, 2022. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ a b Negley, Cassandra (April 7, 2022). "Why it matters South Carolina-UConn women's championship game was most-watched in 18 years". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved January 20, 2023.
- ^ Selbe, Nick (April 5, 2022). "South Carolina vs. UConn National Championship Draws Biggest Rating Since 2004". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved January 20, 2023.