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Georgetown has experience facing the most intimidating team in women's college basketball, playing in the same conference as No. 1 Connecticut.
Now the fifth-seeded Hoyas have to deal with the sport's most intimidating player when they face Brittney Griner and fourth-seeded Baylor in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night.
The Hoyas held their own for a bit against Connecticut last month, leading the game for almost 10 minutes in the first half before losing 82-62. Georgetown actually had a 15-9 lead at one point, the largest any team has held against the Huskies.
But Tina Charles was too much, scoring 33 points on 14-of-16 shooting and grabbing 15 rebounds. The Hoyas (26-6) hope that experience will help prepare them for Griner and the Bears (24-9).
``It definitely helps,'' guard Monica McNutt said. ``Tina Charles is no secret at all. She gave us the business. UConn is a very good team, she's a very great inside presence. She's a senior, Brittney Griner is only a freshman. She still has quite a bit to go, not that she hasn't accomplished a lot already. We know we have to deal with her but we're fully capable of doing that. We're pretty confident.''
As talented as UConn is with its 73 straight wins, frequent blowouts and megastars like Maya Moore and Charles, Griner presents a completely different challenge if the Hoyas want to advance in the Memphis Regional.
Standing 6-foot-8 with an 88-inch wing span, Griner is averaging 6.0 blocks per game, altering many others and even more often forcing opponents to stay out of the lane entirely.
That was the case in Baylor's first-round game, when Fresno State shot more 3-pointers (34) than shots inside the arc (27) and took only 13 shots inside the lane. The Bears won 69-55, even though Griner blocked only two shots, tying her third fewest of the year
Georgetown doesn't rely nearly as much on the 3-point shot, making only 6.4 per game. The Hoyas were able to get inside fairly easily against undersized Marist in 62-42 first-round win, but know the task will be much tougher against Griner and the Bears.
The Hoyas have had only 98 shots blocked all season, while Griner has 185 of her own.
``I think we have to stick to our game plan,'' coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. ``I told our post players this morning that we have to continue to attack the basket. She's 6-8. She's going to block baskets. If I had a 6-8 kid who didn't block shots, I think I probably wouldn't have her on the team. We can't let what she does affect the way we play.''
Griner presents almost as many problems on the offensive end, where she frequently draws double and triple teams in the post. She made just 6 of 16 shots against Fresno State, but her presence opened up opportunities for her teammates.
Georgetown's philosophy to guard Griner will be to use a pressing defense to help keep the ball out of the post. The led the nation in turnover margin this season and ranked third with 13.4 steals per game. They want to force Baylor to take as much time as possible to get up court so they have as little time as possible to run the post offense.
``There is only so much you can do with Griner,' Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. ``No one is going to invent something new we haven't seen. With Georgetown, we are going to face a team that changes defenses a lot. They will trap, they will play three-quarter press, they will play half-court zone. They are very active defensively. They are not a big team, but they are very athletic.''
Griner has not quite been her usual self the last two games in her return from a two-game suspension for punching an opponent. She was admittedly a bit timid at the start of her first game back in the Big 12 conference quarterfinals and said she had a few jitters for her first NCAA tournament game.
But the Bears have gotten a boost offensively from the return of guard Melissa Jones, who missed 11 games with a stress reaction in her right leg before returning for a quarterfinal loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament.
After playing 17 minutes in her first game, Jones played 36 on Saturday against Fresno State, scoring 11 points and adding nine rebounds and five assists.
``It's been a long time since I've been out there,'' she said. ``It seems like forever, so just to be able to be back with my teammates and be back and feel a part of this team physically out on the court I think is a great feeling.''
