STORRS, Conn. – South Dakota State hung around with 11-time national champion Connecticut in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday night, but the Huskies proved to be far too talented and ran away with a 91-57 victory.

No. 10 seeded SDSU led 10-4 at the midway point of the first quarter. No. 2 seeded Uconn then outscored the Jacks 15-4 in the final five minutes of the opening frame and it was capped off by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Paige Bueckers.

The second quarter was when the rout began for the Huskies. UConn used a 16-2 run to go up 43-22 with just over three minutes to go in the half. SDSU head coach Aaron Johnston said UConn’s defense really started to give the Jacks trouble in the second quarter.

“I just think their defensive pressure just wears on you,” Johnston said. “Early in the game, I thought we were fresh. We were in a good place. Their pressure starts to wear on you. So not like physically you get worn down but a couple of mistakes, all of a sudden you lose a bit of your mental edge and it can turn into a run, which they did a good job of.”

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said he was worried all day that what happened in the first five minutes was going to happen the whole game. He said that getting that separation in the second quarter was what led them to victory on Monday night.

“Well, the entire day today I kept thinking about how we would be able to get some separation from [SDSU] because of all the teams we've played this year, their sense of who they are, what they're trying to do, every possession down the floor, how determined they are is second to none. I was fearful that the game would be played like it was played that first quarter, that it would be four quarters of that. That's how much respect I have for [Johnston] and for their team as a whole and I think getting that separation made the difference and we were able to capitalize on it,” Auriemma said.

At one point Bueckers, who was a National Player of the Year in 2021 and will be a candidate to win the award again this season, made eight-straight shots in the second quarter and she scored 21 points in the first half. She finished with 34 points in her final game at Gampel Pavilion. Fellow UConn guard Azzi Fudd was on the bench during the stretch in the second quarter when Bueckers was hot and she said it was incredible to watch.

“It's incredible to watch, but you almost feel sorry for the other team because you know when Paige is locked in, there's nothing you can do to stop her. It doesn't matter what shot she takes, the ball's going to go in. I was on the bench getting to watch most of it so that was really fun to just get to watch and see what she does and she makes it look so easy. We have all the trust in the world in her so just gotta sit back and enjoy the Paige show,” Fudd said.

SDSU used a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 43-28 heading into halftime. It was then 47-33 two minutes into the second half and UConn went on a 10-0 run to put the game away. The Huskies largest lead of the game came with 5:41 left in the game as they led 84-43.

UConn shot 57.6% from the field and was 8-of-18 from three. Fudd had 17 points and Sarah Strong had 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks.

On the other end SDSU shot 41.2% from the field and was 9-of-22 from beyond the arc. The Jacks had 25 turnovers and the Huskies turned those into 35 points.

It was the final game in a Jackrabbit uniform for Paige Meyer, Mesa Byom, Kallie Theisen and Madysen Vlastuin. Paige Meyer led the four seniors with 16 points. She set the SDSU single-season assist record on Saturday against Oklahoma State and finishes her career as the program’s leader in career assists. Meyer said it was tough to go out with a loss like that but she enjoyed playing with her teammates one last time.

“Being a Jackrabbit has been the best thing. Playing the last game with [all of my teammates] sunk in there. I just love this group so much. It's been a really special year and I'm just really going to miss being a Jackrabbit,” Meyer said.

The Jackrabbits, who finished the season with a record of 30-4, played six NCAA Tournament teams in the non-conference portion of their schedule. They went 3-3 in those games and one of those losses was a 104-57 defeat to Texas, who is now a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The final three quarters on Monday night looked eerily similar to that loss in late December to the Longhorns. 

Johnston didn’t want his team to think about that on Monday night though. He wanted his team to remember what they mean to the state of South Dakota.

“I'll tell you what I talked about with the team,” Johnston said. “One, I think in my mind as a coach, you're always trying to find ways to get better. We want to win these games. I can sit here and say that and that's a true statement. That is the goal. We have to find a way to continue to play better if we want to advance. I don't have any problem saying that. 

“… I heard [our players] say that a few times, as they were young girls, they grew up watching Connecticut. I reminded them that there are young girls at home watching them that want to be Jackrabbits. The takeaway is, yeah, we're going to figure out some basketball stuff and try to keep moving forward in our plan, but not to forget the impact that our women have on our communities and our state and our young people back home.

“I think that's an incredibly powerful statement to kind of be on the stage with a [UConn] team that's certainly at a different level right now, both nationally, how they play and the impact they have but to remind our players they can have that same impact locally and that they can be that light for somebody else and that's a really powerful message and one that I hope stays with them as they move on.”