UConn vs. Notre Dame: TV Schedule, Live Stream for 2015 Women's Championship
Ask yourself: Where have I seen a version of this headline before?
The UConn Huskies will take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the 2015 NCAA women's championship, another chapter in a string of encounters between these two elite college basketball squads. It's a repeat of the 2014 championship game—UConn won handily 79-58—and the fifth straight year in which these two squads have met in the semifinals or later. The Huskies are in fact going for a three-peat, as they defeated Louisville to win the title in 2013.
UConn has been an unrelenting, merciless juggernaut on its run to this year's championship game. The Huskies defeated Maryland 81-58 in the Final Four, just another day at the office for head coach Geno Auriemma and his squad.
Notre Dame is in the final after pulling out a thrilling 66-65 win over South Carolina in the other national semifinal.
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These two programs know each other well, and it should be a hotly contested game at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday.
Let's take a look at the television and live stream info for the contest.
Championship Game Info
Date: Tuesday, April 7
Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Time (ET): 8:30 p.m.
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
This is putting it rather mildly, but UConn has had quite the tournament run this year.
| March 21 | St. Francis Brooklyn | W 89-33 | Morgan Tuck, 26 pts. |
| March 23 | Rutgers | W, 91-55 | Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, 23 pts. |
| March 28 | Texas | W, 105-54 | Breanna Stewart, 31 pts. |
| March 30 | Dayton | W, 91-70 | Mosqueda-Lewis, 27 pts. |
| April 5 | Maryland | W, 81-58 | Stewart, 25 pts. |
It's a string of results that should have the Fighting Irish wondering just how in the world they will contend with this squad. Few answers can be found from the last time these two teams met, when UConn crushed Notre Dame 76-58 on Dec. 6.
Notre Dame has some excellent players and a top-notch coach in Muffet McGraw, as well as the distinction of being a No. 1 seed this year, like UConn. Of course, being a No. 1 seed with UConn this year is to realize that seed has already sprouted into a mighty, seemingly impossible team to fell without a lightning strike.
The Huskies have a pick-your-poison lineup that Notre Dame has perhaps the best chance of any team in the nation at keeping up with, so long as you ignore just how much of an outlier UConn is.
Here are some surprising numbers, via Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch:
"Historically, UConn and Notre Dame always rank in the Top 5 in scoring offense, but UConn separated itself from the rest of the country this year. The Huskies average a nation-best 89.9 points; Notre Dame is fifth at 80.6. If you want a sense of each team’s efficiency, UConn leads the nation in field goal percentage at 54.3 percent while Notre Dame is second but well back at 49.6. Defensively, the Irish have the tougher task on Tuesday: UConn can score from all five positions on the floor, with all five starters averaging double figures.
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Whether it's Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis draining triple after triple like it's scripted, Morgan Tuck driving through the lane or Breanna Stewart coming through in the clutch, UConn has the talent to beat up teams in a number of ways.
The Fighting Irish will be facing an uphill climb no doubt, but at least they've shown grit and mettle along the way. Their win over South Carolina came down to the last second, and the team is 4-0 in games decided by seven or fewer points.
McGraw was also missing one of her best players in freshman Brianna Turner when Notre Dame lost to UConn back in December. She's hoping Turner can be a difference-maker on Tuesday.
“She’s our leading rebounder and one of our top three scorers,” McGraw said, via Doug Feinberg of The Associated Press, via the The Seattle Times. “So I think she makes a difference in our team at the defensive end, with her rebounding, her presence of shot blocking and the way she can run the floor.”
Turner will provide a nice defensive test for UConn, but there is still the matter of making shots count on the offensive end of the floor. Notre Dame star Jewell Loyd will be a key player to watch in this one, as she has struggled to find her shot in recent games.
| Round of 32 | DePaul | 3-15 | 0-3 | 4-4 | 10 |
| Sweet 16 | Stanford | 7-21 | 0-2 | 7-7 | 21 |
| Elite Eight | Baylor | 5-18 | 0-1 | 3-7 | 13 |
| Final Four | South Carolina | 9-24 | 1-1 | 3-3 | 22 |
Lindsay Allen has been a revelation and done a magnificent job of picking up the slack in these late-tournament games, but Notre Dame will need to be firing on all cylinders and working at peak offensive efficiency to win this one. The Irish can afford very few wasted possessions against the Huskies' dominant offense.
Notre Dame has been national runner-up three times since 2011, and a loss on Tuesday would put them at a Buffalo Bills-esque level of championship futility. McGraw has just one championship to her credit (2001) and is taking on a coach in Auriemma who is 9-0 in national title games.
UConn will certainly look to push the pace in this one and simply drown out Notre Dame's own considerable production, but anything can happen on championship night, and the Fighting Irish have the talent to take advantage.
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