No. 5 Michigan Women Beat No. 2 UConn 77-66 for First Win Over a Top-Four Team
Te'Yala Delfosse scored a career-high 22 points as Michigan beat UConn 77-66 on Thursday night in Ann Arbor, the program's first win over a top-four team after 31 losses in such games.
No. 5 Michigan beat No. 2 UConn 77-66 on Thursday night at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, in front of 9,575 fans, for the first win over a top-four team in program history. Michigan had lost all 31 of its previous games against top-four opponents.
Junior wing Te’Yala Delfosse scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Wolverines, hitting four of six shots from three-point range. Olivia Olson added 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals, Courtney Ogden scored 12 and Syla Swords added 10, giving Michigan four players in double figures.
UConn freshman guard Jovana Popovic led all scorers with 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sarah Strong, the reigning national player of the year, scored 13 points with eight rebounds in a game cut short by foul trouble. Strong fouled out late as Michigan pulled away.
Fouls and turnovers decided the finish
UConn led 21-17 after the first quarter but scored only eight points in the second, and Michigan went into halftime in front. Strong scored 11 points in the third quarter to put the Huskies back ahead, and the lead changed hands 14 times. UConn led 57-55 with 8:30 left in the fourth before Michigan answered with an 8-0 run, including two three-pointers from Delfosse, and did not give the lead back.
Michigan won the discipline battle. The Wolverines committed 13 fouls to UConn’s 25 and attempted 24 free throws to the Huskies’ seven. Michigan turned the ball over 14 times to UConn’s 19 and gave up only four fast-break points.
“It certainly feels like a statement win,” Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico said after the game. “UConn is one of the best. I was in the Big East before I was in the Big Ten and I had to play against them at least one time every year. So for the past however long it’s been, 35, 40 years, they’ve been the team to beat.”
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma was blunt about his team’s play. “It’s not about the loss. It’s just disappointing to see how some of our players reacted when it was time to step up and make plays,” he said. “Everybody stands around, looks at Sarah [Strong] and looks at Jovana [Popovic] and says, ‘Bail us out,’ so I’m disappointed.”
A program still building
The win caps a rise under Barnes Arico, now in her 14th season and the winningest coach in program history. Last season Michigan set or tied program records for wins and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, its highest ever, on the way to a second Elite Eight. That run ended with a 77-41 loss to No. 1 seed Texas.
UConn, which beat Cornell 100-35 on Monday in its opener, next plays at home against No. 10 Iowa on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Seven of the Huskies’ next nine games are against ranked opponents, including No. 1 South Carolina, No. 4 Duke and No. 7 Louisville.
Reporting based on coverage by Maize n Brew and Fox Sports.
