Photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images

Mississippi States Teaira McCowan, right, blocks UConns Gabby Williams during the second half of the national semifinals in Dallas Friday.

Mississippi States Teaira McCowan, right, blocks UConns Gabby Williams during the second half of the national semifinals in Dallas Friday.

Mississippi States Morgan William (2) shoots her game-winning shot at the buzzer over UConns Gabby Williams (15) on Friday night in Dallas. Mississippi State upset No. 1 UConn 66-64 in overtime.

Mississippi States Morgan William (2) shoots her game-winning shot at the buzzer over UConns Gabby Williams (15) on Friday night in Dallas. Mississippi State upset No. 1 UConn 66-64 in overtime.

DALLAS UConns stay at the top is over.

For the first time since 2012, there will a new champion in womens college basketball. Mississippi State made that clear after shocking the sport with a 66-64 takedown of the Huskies in overtime on Friday at the Final Four.

We had to redeem ourselves from last year, of course, said Bulldogs guard Morgan William, whose buzzer-beating jump shot erased the sting of a 60-point loss to the Huskies in last years Sweet 16. I mean, just watching film, our coaches just preparing us, tell us what we can do. We believed them. We just went out there and fought.

Theres still plenty to digest after UConns record 111-game winning streak came to a close. Here are five factors that enabled the Bulldogs to pull off a win that almost nobody thought was possible.

THE MAGIC LIVES ON: What were the odds of William topping her magical 41-point performance in Mississippi States Elite Eight upset of Baylor? Slim to none, it seemed.

Nevertheless, William topped one of the best individual performances in tournament history by making possibly the biggest shot in tournament history. All UConn coach Geno Auriemma could do was smile.

Things happen for a reason, Auriemma said. I just kind of shook my head. This kids had an incredible run.

When it went in, it was almost like, Of course. Of course its going to go in. Shes had an amazing run so far.

POOR CLOCK MANAGEMENT: UConn conceivably couldve held the ball for the last shot of overtime after Katie Lou Samuelson knocked down two free throws to tie it 64-64 with 26.6 seconds left. But rather than bleed down the 25-second shot clock, Saniya Chong drove into the lane and put up an off-balance shot with 14.2 seconds left that missed the rim entirely and sailed out of bounds.

The worst-case scenario for the Huskies shouldve been double overtime.

Saniya just tried to make a great play. God bless her, Auriemma said. There was a collision and nothing happened. Shes pretty good at drawing fouls. (She was) just impatient a little bit, thats all.

EDGE ON THE BOARDS: By taking advantage of UConns undersized frontcourt, the Bulldogs exploited one of their opponents few weaknesses. The Bulldogs finished with a 37-31 edge on the boards and 28-20 advantage on points in the paint.

Teaira McCowan, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, was quietly effective, notching 10 points and eight rebounds despite playing just 25 minutes because of foul trouble.

I guess with us, we kind of knew going in we had to impose our will, as coach said, said 6-1 forward Breanna Richardson, whose team also out-scored UConn 18-4 on second-chance points. He said even if we get a couple early fouls, make them count.

RIDING THE WAVES: While plenty was made of the 14-0 Mississippi State run that put the tournaments No. 1 overall seed down 16 points midway into the second quarter, the Bulldogs response to the 9-0 UConn spurt that followed was just as important.

Refusing to be bullied by the Huskies, the Bulldogs pushed their lead back to eight points at halftime. The Huskies hadnt trailed by more than four points at halftime at any point during their incredible win streak.

We knew they were going to make a run, Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer said. So what you got to do is try to minimize that run. You go in at half up eight. Im sure everybody across the country went, Thats nice, the little team played really good. Second half, theyll come out and kick their (butt).

HEART OF A CHAMPION: How many times have teams had that deer-in-the-headlights look against big, bad UConn? How many times have we seen upset-minded opponents melt down under pressure?

The Bulldogs werent intimidated by UConn, and it showed.

In that moment, they were ready for that moment, Schaefer said.

dbonjour@ctpost.com; @DougBonjour

Visit link:
Anatomy of an upset - CT Post