UConn-Providence women's game time, site moved

Jan. 28—The UConn women's basketball team's game with Providence Sunday has a new time and venue.

The schools and the Big East announced Thursday that the conference matchup between the New England rivals originally scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m. at the Dunkin' Donuts Center will be played Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at Alumni Hall on the Friars' campus.

Winter weather is expected to impact the Providence area on Saturday.

The game will be televised by SNY.

Providence's game with Creighton today in Omaha was moved from 7:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. so the Friars could fly home before the storm hits.

There was also a change on the men's side as Providence's home game with Marquette scheduled for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. will now be played at the Dunkin' Donuts Center Sunday at 12:30 p.m.

According to a release from Providence, all tickets to the originally scheduled women's game at the Dunkin' Donuts Center will be automatically voided and fans will be refunded in full. Additionally, fans who purchased tickets for the original time and venue, will be given first right to purchase new tickets for the matchup at Alumni Hall.

UConn (12-4, 7-0 Big East) is coming off Wednesday's 80-78 win over DePaul at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

Planting seeds

Every time Bridgeport has hosted an NCAA tournament regional or subregional, UConn has played there.

That may not be the case in March.

The NCAA had its first top-16 reveal Thursday and has the Huskies as the overall No. 11 seed and the No. 3 seed in the Spokane (Washington) Regional.

UConn was placed in Spokane with No. 1 regional seed Stanford, No. 2 Texas, and No. 4 Georgia.

According to an Associated Press story, NCAA women's basketball committee chairperson Nina King said that a big reason why the Huskies would be shipped west is that the committee wanted to make sure the bracket was balanced and that teams from the same conference were separated.

"We weren't going to move teams from those lines just to put UConn in Bridgeport for geography purposes," King told the AP. "At this point they are a three-seed. Maybe they play their way up to 1-2 line."

South Carolina (Greensboro, North Carolina), North Carolina State (Bridgeport), and Tennessee (Wichita, Kansas) were the regional No. 1 seeds with the Gamecocks the overall No. 1 seed.

The reveal stays with the S curve for the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds while there is movement with the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds. Using the S curve, the only Sweet 16 inter-conference matchup would feature an all-Big 12 affair between Iowa State and Texas.

The other regional seeds are:

Bridgeport: (1) North Carolina State; (2) Indiana; (3) LSU; (4) Baylor.

Greensboro: (1) South Carolina; (2) Arizona; (3) Michigan; (4) Kansas State.

Wichita: (1) Tennessee; (2) Louisville; (3) Iowa State; (4). Oregon.

The 68-team NCAA tournament field will be announced on March 13 with the top-four regional seeds hosting first- and second-round games.

The Bridgeport Regional semifinal and final are scheduled for March 26 and 28 at Webster Bank Arena.

The 2022 Women's Final Four will be played April 1 and 3 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

McLean eligible

Virginia announced the addition of former UConn player Mir McLean and said that the 5-foot-11 forward has been granted a waiver by the NCAA and is immediately eligible to play. She will be in uniform for Thursday's game against Virginia Tech.

"We are so excited about the addition of Mir McLean!" Virginia coach Tina Thompson said in a statement. "Mir brings high energy and excitement to our group. She is tenuous and hardworking. She is the kind of player that other top-tier players want to play with. We are very much looking forward to her impact."

McLean played her freshman season with the Huskies and appeared in three games for UConn this season before transferring to Virginia.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.