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The University of Connecticut Huskies are (probably) the best basketball team in the nation right now. They're number one in the polls, they're reigning national champions and they have the best young player in the country in Breanna Stewart.
The University of Houston has lost all three four of their conference games, their head coach resigned last month and they were picked to finish last in their conference. Oh, and the Huskies were picked to finish first in that conference.
It wasn't pretty.
I kept double-taking at The American Conference logos painted on the Huskies' floor. There's no way these two teams are in the same conference, I thought. At times it looked like a Division-I school bossing around a Division-II school, just to make sure the D-II school knew what the order of things was around these parts.
The Huskies were up 52-19 at halftime. In what was probably an act of supreme mercy they only outscored the Cougars 38-21 in the second frame, making the victory a tidy 50 points. Stewart scored 24 points in 21 minutes, blocked six shots and grabbed nine rebounds. Stefanie Dolson blocked seven shots of her own and also pulled down nine boards. Dolson should have special interest to WNBA fans as she'll be a first round pick in this year's draft.
Houston took 70 shots and made 15 of them. They made seven of their 21 3-pointers (not horrible!) and only took FOUR free throws during the ENTIRE GAME. That's incredible. How do you not get sent to the line for more than four shots in a game where you jack up 70 tries? Hint: The other team knows you can't shoot so they don't have to foul you.
Marche' Amerson kept up her not-great shooting as she shot 4-19 from the floor to lead the Cougars with 11 points. Demetria Foreman had the worst shooting night, making just one of her 11 shots from the floor. Houston turned the ball over 18 times, had 17 of their shots blocked and generally looked like they knew they were playing the best team in the country. When you play to not get embarrassed you're gonna get embarrassed.
Houston is now halfway through their season and the final 14 games aren't going to be much easier than the first 15. They have to play Connecticut again (at home) and they still have to play Louisville twice. Their next contest comes against the Cincinnati Bearcats at home which will be much better because they will not be playing the Huskies.
