UConn vs. USC Women: Picks, Predictions and Odds

The No. 1 seed USC Trojans play the second-seeded UConn Huskies in a regional final this Monday at 9 PM ET in Spokane, Washington.

This is both a regional final rematch from a year ago, an 80-73 win by UConn, and a rematch from a game just before Christmas this season in Hartford, a 72-70 Trojans win.

There will be one major difference from those two games: The absence of JuJu Watkins. USC’s two-time All-American and the Big Ten Player of the Year suffered a torn right ACL early in the Trojans’ round of 32 victory over Mississippi State.

USC is 31-3 overall and 10-2 against ranked teams. Coach Lindsay Gottlieb has taken USC to the tournament three straight years, but the Trojans have not reached the last four since 1986.

Their quest to end that streak again runs through UConn, which has won 13 straight and is 34-3 overall. The Huskies have gone 8-3 against ranked teams this season.

Coach Geno Auriemma has led UConn to 11 national titles, but none since 2016. The Huskies have reached the last four in 15 of the last 16 tournaments.

When the brackets were announced, a Bueckers-Watkins regional final had everyone on the edge of their seats. Watkins had 29 points and 10 rebounds in last year’s region final loss to UConn, while Bueckers responded with 28 points and 10 rebounds. In USC’s win over the Huskies in December, Watkins had a game-high 25 points while Bueckers had 22.

So, with Watkins out for the season, does USC have enough to hang with and beat UConn? See below for our expert predictions.

UConn vs. USC Women betting picks and predictions

UConn -14.0 (-110)

Any way you slice it, there’s just no way to fill the shoes of Watkins, who was fourth in the nation in scoring, averaging 23.9 points.

Coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s USC squad, led by two freshmen, rallied and knocked off Kansas State in the round of 16 by a 67-61 score. Kennedy Smith, averaging 9.6 points, scored a team-high 19, and Avery Howell, averaging 7.4 points and 2.9 rebounds, had 18 and eight on Saturday. Rayah Marshall had 10 points and nine rebounds in the win.

The Trojans were able to sneak past a strong Kansas State team without Watkins, but UConn has won 24 of their 25 games since that December loss to USC. Included in that stretch is an 87-58 rout over defending champion South Carolina in Columbia last month, ending the Gamecocks' 71-game home court win streak.

Beating the Huskies with Watkins was going to be a dicey objective. Doing so without her may not be mission impossible, but it’s not far off.

Paige Bueckers, both a three-time Big East Player of the Year and three-time first-team All-American, scored a career-high 40 points in UConn’s come-from-behind 82-59 victory over Oklahoma in a regional semifinal. Bueckers scored 29 of the Huskies’ 32 first-half points as they trailed by four at the break before pulling away in the third and fourth quarters. Bueckers has scored 74 points in the team’s last two games.

Ashlynn Shade scored 12 points and Sarah Strong, the Big East Freshman of the Year and second-team All-American, had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Strong is averaging a double-double in the tournament for Connecticut and will be a handful inside for USC’s post players.

Second-team All-American Kiki Iriafen (18.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg) has been excellent for the Trojans all season, and the freshmen and Marshall have stepped up, but it’s just hard to see the Trojans keeping pace with the streaking Huskies.

Our experts expect a stout effort from USC, but ultimately expect UConn to cover the 14.0-point spread as favorites.

Over 140.5 Total Points (-110)

There’s no way USC will be able to contain Bueckers and Strong, so they will need to turn into this track meet and hope to keep up with the scoring pace.

The Huskies are averaging 92 points a game in the tournament, defeating their three opponents by an average of 42 points.

USC expects to hang much closer, and our experts are expecting a higher scoring contest as a result. Look for these two teams to combine for Over 140.5 points tomorrow night.

Read more College Basketball betting picks and predictions on site.

UConn vs. USC Women odds

UConn	-1300 ML
USC	+800 ML
Spread	UConn -14.0
Total Points	O/U 140.5

Read UConn vs. USC Women: How to watch, TV channel, streaming, start time, predicted lineups and stats on site.

Read the latest women's tournament news on site.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.