No. 2 UConn meets No. 15 Vermont on Saturday, March 18 at 3 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN. Fans can also watch basketball games for free by signing up for a fuboTV trial.
- LIVE BROADCAST: Sign up here to watch the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament First Four
Vermont is attempting to accomplish something that has never been accomplished before in the women’s NCAA tournament: defeat a No. 2 seed. UConn comes into play after winning the Big East tournament while Vermont is on a 17-game winning streak.
How To Watch UConn vs. Vermont (Women’s NCAA March Madness 2023)
What time does the game start? What TV channel is it airing on? – Saturday’s game begins at 3:00 p.m. EST at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticuit. The game will be televised in English via ESPN. Viewers without cable can watch on ESPN and fuboTV.
Information about the live stream – watchESPN | fuboTV | noose | DirecTV – Cable fans can use their TV provider’s credentials to watch through WatchESPN or the ESPN app. Fans who don’t have cable can also stream the games via a la carte streaming services like fuboTV, which have free trials.
More women’s basketball coverage via Associated Press:
STORRS, Conn. (AP) – Most coaches know their team’s identity and have established a rotation as the NCAA tournament rolls around.
But questions remain for Geno Auriemma and second-placed UConn (29-5) as two former starters have only recently returned to help the Huskies, a run for a 12th national title and 15th straight Final Four to start.
Guard Azzi Fudd missed 22 games this season with two knee injuries before returning to the Big East Tournament. Winger Caroline Ducharme returned in mid-February after missing 13 games with concussion. Neither of them have yet to return to their pre-injury form.
But with Fudd and Ducharme behind, the Huskies drove through the conference tournament. They won their three games by averaging 20 points after finishing the regular season 7-3, with each game decided by 10 points or fewer.
Fudd, who averaged just under 18 points per game before her injury, averaged just 8.3 points over the three tournament games and Ducharme averaged four points overall.
Both are expected to play significant minutes on Saturday when the second-placed Huskies open their NCAA tournament against America East champions Vermont (25-6). The winner faces either Baylor (19-12) as No. 7 or Alabama (20-10) as No. 10 on Monday night.
“It changes how you approach your rotation; It changes the number of minutes people play and it can affect the chemistry and the flow,” Auriemma said. “But it’s a good problem, right? It is better than the other alternative. The bottom line is that we’ve gotten better, and that can only help.”
Only two players – Aaliyah Edwards and Lou Lopez Senechal – were healthy enough to play the full season for UConn, who had to postpone a game earlier this season due to a lack of healthy bodies.
The Huskies have 10 players available but are still shorthanded. They’ve been without former International Player of the Year Paige Buckers and newcomer Ice Brady all season; Both suffered serious knee injuries before the start of the campaign.
Auriemma even missed time with an illness and while grieving the death of his mother. Assistant head coach Chris Dailey missed a game after collapsing on the pitch during the national anthem.
UConn is hoping that like last year, when Buckers returned from a knee injury just before the postseason, the return of Ducharme and Fudd can help propel the Huskies back into title contention.
“Throughout the year we were used to being faced with different situations,” said Senechal. “I think we’ve adjusted really well to the Big East tournament. And I think now our mentality is just to have the same mindset that we had during that Big East tournament and take it to the NCAA tournament.
Forward Aubrey Griffin, who underwent back surgery last year, exited the Big East title game against Villanova with cramps but paced Friday’s practice with no apparent ill effects.
Vermont coach Alisa Kresge said she’s not worried about who might or might not play for Connecticut. But she allowed her players, many of whom grew up as fans of UConn, to spend part of Friday staring at the banners and names hanging in the Gampel pavilion and celebrating where they would enter the court.
“Take that in for a second, but if the tip goes off, we’ll have to get to work,” she said.
Baylor, playing in his 19th straight NCAA tournament, is in an unfamiliar position. After losing their last two games and six of their last nine, the Bears are traveling to another school’s home court for the first two rounds for the first time since 2012.
Forward Caitlin Bickel said it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“Playing on the street, I think everything is so much more exciting, the atmosphere in March Madness is so much more exciting,” she said.
This is Alabama’s second trip to the NCAA tournament in the last three years.
Both teams have faced tough competition this season. Baylor has played against 11 ranked teams and has gone 5-6 in those games. The Crimson Tide have played 12 games against current NCAA tournament teams and won 6-6 in those competitions.
“We’re very similar in the adversities that we’ve had,” said Alabama coach Kristy Curry. “It’s a brand new season and it will be interesting to see whose will is a little bit stronger than the other.”
