March 18, 2021 | ESPN.com
JALEN SUGGS PACES in front of the television in his hotel room in Provo, Utah. The minutes are ticking down to tipoff for Gonzaga’s nationally televised men’s basketball game on Feb. 8 against BYU, but in Storrs, Connecticut, the seconds are ticking down on his friend Paige Bueckers.
Suggs is wearing out the hotel room carpet. He’d started streaming the UConn game on his iPad, but the Gonzaga freshman needs to really see this one. He needs to move. “I had to stand up and watch it,” Suggs says.
The UConn women, ranked No. 2, trail No. 1 South Carolina by one point with less than a minute to go in overtime. It’s the biggest game of Bueckers’ electric freshman season. Her shoes squeak against the Gampel Pavilion hardwood as she comes off a screen. The Huskies’ guard has scored eight straight UConn points, and everyone — Suggs included — knows the ball is headed back her way.
Katie Barnes 