NCAA Tournament Second Round: Colorado holds Duke to 10 points in Q4/OT combined, Fudd has breakout game for UConn

The Colorado Buffaloes and UConn Huskies both advanced to the Sweet Sixteen on Monday. Here are our recaps of their second-round games:

No. 6 seed Colorado Buffaloes over No. 3 seed Duke Blue Devils, 61-53 (OT)

Aaronette Vonleh made an incredible layup while falling down after an offensive rebound to extend the Buffaloes’ lead to five at the 1:33 mark of overtime and the Blue Devils were never able to recover.

Colorado overcame 10 steals by Celeste Taylor, who nearly had a quadruple-double with eight points, 10 rebounds and eight assits.

Duke scored first in OT on a Shayeann Day-Wilson free throw, but Frida Formann answered with a short fadeaway that was heavily contested on the left baseline. Vonleh scored the next four points on layups to make it 56-51 Buffaloes and Colorado led by at least four the rest of the way.

Day-Wilson missed a wide-open three that would have given the Blue Devils the lead with five seconds remaining in regulation. A Jaylyn Sherrod layup had tied the game for the Buffaloes with 34 ticks left.

Quay Miller led the Buffaloes in points (17), rebounds (14) and assists (three), while Sherrod finished with 14 points, six boards, three helpers and two steals and Vonleh finished with 12 points and six boards.

Duke received 14 points and two steals from Elizabeth Balogun and 10 points, eight rebounds and two steals from Reigan Richardson.

Colorado put up an impressive 21 points in the first quarter on one of the best defenses in the country to lead by 10 after one. Duke won the second 15-11 and the third 17-7, but its offense failed it when it mattered most, as the Blue Devils scored just 10 points in the fourth and overtime combined.

Duke is third in the nation in defensive rating and 153rd in offensive rating. It averaged 40.7 points over its regular-season finale and two ACC Tournament games before getting its offense going in an 89-49 win over No. 14 seed Iona in the first round of the Big Dance. Against a team as good as Colorado, the offense went back to struggling.

The Buffaloes won the battle on the glass 44-35, points in the paint 34-20 and second-chance points 16-6. Duke won fast-break points 15-2. Both teams committed over 20 turnovers.

This is Colorado’s first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since 2002.

No. 2 seed UConn Huskies over No. 7 seed Baylor Bears, 77-58

Azzi Fudd broke out for 22 points, 11 higher than her previous high since returning on March 4 from her knee injury (this was her fifth game back). The 22 points marked a game high and the Huskies were able to overcome a slow start to blow out the Bears. Baylor led 24-18 after one before UConn won the second 22-11, the third 22-15 and the fourth 15-8.

Aaliyah Edwards added 19 points to the winning cause, while Nika Mühl dished out 10 assists and Aubrey Griffin hauled in 12 rebounds. Dorka Juhász (11 points, seven boards, three assists, three steals) and Caroline Ducharme (10 points, six rebounds, three helpers) were also key.

Baylor was led by four threes apiece from Ja’Mee Asberry and Jaden Owens. Though Owens is a 27.7 percent 3-point shooter with 0.7 makes per game, she was 4-of-6 in this contest.

The Huskies won field goal percentage 51.6 to 34.4, rebounds 42-31, points in the paint 36-12 and second-chance points 13-4. The teams combined to attempt just 17 free throws.