The Colorado Buffaloes and UConn Huskies both advance to the Sweet Sixteen on Monday. Here are our recaps of their second round games:
No. 6 seed Colorado Buffaloes over No. 3 seed Duke Blue Devils61-53 (OT)
Aaronett Wonleh made an incredible layup while going down after an offensive rebound to increase the Buffaloes’ lead to five at the 1:33 mark of overtime, and the Blue Devils were never able to recover.
Colorado prevailed on 10 steals by Celeste Taylor, who nearly had a quadruple-double with eight points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
Duke scored first in OT on a Shayne Day-Wilson free throw, but Frida Forman answered with a short fadeaway that hit heavily over the left baseline. Vonleh scored the next four points on layups to make it 56–51 and Buffalo and Colorado led by at least four the rest of the way.
DeWilson missed a wide-open three that would have given the Blue Devils the lead with five seconds remaining in regulation. A Jaylyn Sherrod layup tied the game with 34 tackles for the Buffaloes.
Quay Miller led the Buffaloes in points (17), rebounds (14) and assists (three), while Sherrod had 14 points, six boards, three assists and two steals and Vonleh finished with 12 points and six boards.
Duke got 14 points and two steals from Elizabeth Balogun and 10 points, eight rebounds and two steals from Reagan Richardson.
Colorado put up an impressive 21-point performance in the first quarter on one of the best defenses in the country to lead by 10 after one. Duke won the second 15–11 and the third 17–7, but its offense failed when it mattered most, as the Blue Devils scored just 10 points in the fourth and overtime combined.
Duke is third in the nation in defensive rating and 153rd in offensive rating. He averaged 40.7 points in his regular-season finale and two ACC tournament games before leading his offense in an 89–49 victory over No. 14 seed Iona in the first round of the Big Dance. Against a good team like Colorado, the offense went back to struggling.
Buffalo won points on the glass 44–35, in the paint 34–20, and second chance points 16–6. Duke won on fast break points 15–2. Both teams committed over 20 turnovers.
This is the Sweet Sixteen’s first trip to Colorado since 2002.
No. 2 seed UConn Huskies over No. 7 seed boiler bear77-58
Azzi Fad broke his previous high for 22 points, 11 more than his previous high since returning from a knee injury on March 4 (it was his fifth game). The 22 points marked a game high and the Huskies were able to overcome a slow start to blow out the Bears. Baylor led 24–18 after one, before UConn won the second 22–11, the third 22–15, and the fourth 15–8.
Aaliyah Edwards added 19 points in the winning cause, while Nika Muhl had 10 assists and Aubrey Griffin hauled in 12 rebounds. Dorka Juhaj (11 points, seven boards, three assists, three steals) and Caroline Ducharme (10 points, six rebounds, three assists) were also important.
Baylor was led by four threes from Ja’Mee Asberry and Jaden Owens. Although Owens is a 27.7 percent 3-point shooter with 0.7 per game, he was 4-of-6 in the contest.
The Huskies won field goal percentage 51.6 to 34.4, rebounds 42–31, points in the paint 36–12 and second chance points 13–4. The teams combined attempted just 17 free throws.
