The top-ranked UConn women’s basketball team opens its season on Monday against No. 6 Ohio State. • When: Monday, 5:30 p.m. • Where: Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio • Records (2014-15): UConn 38-1, Ohio State 24-11 • TV: ESPN2 • Radio: WTIC-1080, WELI-960 Advertisement KEEP AN EYE ON • Offense, offense, offense: Teams don’t usually engage in a full-court offensive shootout with UConn but scoring early and often is the name of Ohio State’s game. Guards Kelsey Mitchell (the nation’s leading scorer at a freshman) and Amheryst Alston have the green light to shoot and certainly are willing to oblige as evidenced by the 35 combined field-goal attempts for the duo a season ago and 43 shots attempted in the loss to South Carolina. The Huskies have a few decent offensive players as well, so time will tell if the Buckeyes can outscore the Huskies. • Short bench for Huskies: UConn will be without junior guard Saniya Chong (IT Band Syndrome), freshman forward De’Janae Boykin (tender Achilles’ tendon) and sophomore center Natalie Butler (injured thumb). Highly-touted freshmen Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson will be the first two players off UConn’s bench assuming Gabby Williams gets the start as is expected. On the other side, after dealing with a seemingly endless flood of injuries last season, a healthy Ohio State team went 10 players deep in a season-opening loss at South Carolina. • Hit the ground running: Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff admitted that opening the season against the top two ranked teams in the national polls is not exactly ideal scheduling. However, the chance to play a nationally-televised game against UConn was too much exposure for McGuff to turn down. PROBABLE STARTERS UCONN Player Pos. PPG* Moriah Jefferson G 12.4 Kia Nurse G 10.2 Gabby Williams F 8.3 Breanna Stewart F 17.6 Morgan Tuck G 14.4 OHIO STATE Player Pos. PPG* Kelsey Mitchell G 24.9 Cait Craft G 7.6 Amheryst Alston G 19.8 Shayla Cooper F 10.7 Alexa Hart F/C 12.2 * — (2014-15 stats)
Continue Reading: Women’s basketball gameday capsule: No. 1 UConn at No. 6 Ohio State
