STORRS, Conn. — South Dakota State will attempt to do something that hasn’t happened since 1993 on Monday night: Win an NCAA Tournament game on the road against the Connecticut Huskies.

UConn has won 61-straight tournament games at Gampel Pavilion and has made the Sweet 16 in 30-straight seasons. The last team to beat the Huskies in Storrs in the Big Dance was Louisville in the first round in 1993. The Cardinals were an 11-seed and the Huskies were a six-seed.

The Jackrabbits (30-3) are a No. 10 seed this season and the Huskies (32-3) are the No. 2 seed in the Spokane 4 Region. SDSU took down No. 7 seeded Oklahoma State 74-68 on Saturday afternoon and UConn dismantled No. 15 seeded Arkansas State 103-74.

ASU scored the first two points of the game against the Huskies on Saturday and then UConn proceeded to outscore the Red Wolves 34-3 the rest of the first quarter. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said it’s important for his team to get their footing under them early on Monday night, but they also need to do a good job of handling their emotions throughout the game.

“There's just going to be a lot of runs. There's going to be some emotion. We've got to handle all of it. Early on in the game, to your point, is going to be important. We've got to go out and establish that we can play the way we want to play to build some confidence to get ourselves going. That's going to be true after that, too, because they just have the ability to put runs on teams, and we've got to handle that throughout. But certainly, during the game, I think it'll be important to get some confidence, get some positive plays going in our direction and get everybody feeling comfortable,” Johnston said.

Arkansas State head coach Destinee Rogers said after Saturday’s loss that her team had “fear” and the environment affected them. SDSU junior guard Haleigh Timmer said she thinks her team won’t have that happen to them because they already played a game in the tournament and will use the confidence they gained from that on Monday night.

“I think a good thing is, we have the first game jitters out of the way, and hopefully, we can avoid some of those first-game nerves and kind of just go in with a lot of confidence using the momentum we have from Oklahoma State,” Timmer said.

SDSU does have experience playing against high-level competition. The Jacks played six teams that made the NCAA Tournament this season in the non-conference portion of their schedule. They went 3-3 in those games and Johnston said going up against UConn on Monday is why he likes to play such a hard non-conference schedule.

“I won't rattle off the teams we've played, but we played several teams who are a one seed, capable one seeds, capable of winning national titles over the last several years, and I do think that that helps,” Johnston said. “It reminds you and reinforces how hard it is to play against those teams because of their talent and how well they execute and tomorrow will be no different. 

“But I think it helps us understand, okay, here's when we have struggles in those games, here's what's happening. When we have successes in those games, here's what's happening. So it gives us some focus on, here's how we have to try and play, here's the things that are going to be important for us to do well, and I think it helps.”

One of those games was against No. 6 ranked Texas on the road. The Jacks struggled with the Longhorns, who are now a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, losing 103-57. SDSU junior center Brooklyn Meyer said the Jacks learned that they’re going to need to play through adversity if they want to compete against the best of the best in women’s college basketball.

“I feel like going into Texas, we weren't probably quite ready for how fast they were going to play, and we weren't, I would say, ready to play. I feel like just going into it tomorrow with that mindset, it's probably not going to be perfect, but just trying to play the best we can and putting our best game forward is really what we're focusing on,” Meyer said.

Monday night’s game will be at 7 p.m. Central time and will be on ESPN. It’s the first time the Jacks have met the Huskies and UConn is the most storied program in women’s college basketball with 23 Final Four appearances and 11 national championships. 

Meyer said she grew up watching the Huskies so it’s going to be special going up against them in the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel like I watched them a lot growing up, and I was a huge fan, yeah, especially when Breanna Stewart was here. She was one of my favorite players to watch. I feel like it's a really cool experience for us to be here and to just experience this environment,” Meyer said.

Johnston acknowledged that this is a big moment for his program. He knows the amount of eyes that will be on Monday night’s game, but he wants to make sure his team still knows that they have a basketball game to play.

“ I think our players understand the history of Connecticut women's basketball,” Johnston said. “I don't think I have to sell that to them. I think they understand the interest that's going to be in this game in the arena, the interest that's going to be in the game being on ESPN. … I think we'll focus on the basketball [part of it]. But we'll do that in a way that I'm not sitting here trying to say we're going to minimize the importance of it, either. 

“I think some of those things are obvious, and I think they should lean into that and enjoy that and experience that. But as a coach and as a team, we've got to focus on the basketball [part] because that's what's really going to count tomorrow, and it's really trying to play our best in that environment and against that kind of opponent. So that's where our focus will be.”

So, what do the Jackrabbits think they have to do to pull off the monumental upset? Timmer said they have to slow down an offensive that shoots 51% from the field, which is the best in the country, and averages 81.5 points per game, which is ninth in Division I.

“I think one of the main things is how fast they play and how they push the ball in transition. So, taking away their transition game will be a huge part of what we do, and then, obviously, handling their offensive threats,” Timmer said.

On the other side, the Huskies know that they’re not going up against just any mid-major. They’re going up against a team that has tournament experience and has faced some of the toughest teams in the country.

UConn senior guard Paige Bueckers, who won the Naismith Player of the Year Award in 2021, said the Huskies have talked about how good of a program South Dakota State is.

“Yeah, we talked about how they're a really great team,” Bueckers said. “I mean, their record speaks for itself as well, obviously. Just knowing their history and how well they played in the tournament and how well they played in their conference, they're a really great team regardless of what conference they played in. We know they played a tough non-conference schedule. So they've seen opponents of higher stature — higher major, at that point it doesn't even matter. But we know they're a great team.”