By the end of the day, we’ll have our women’s NCAA Tournament second-round matchups. Saturday’s first-round action started with Iowa asserting itself with an easy victory against Murray State and UConn blowing away Arkansas State.

Results

MatchupRegionalTime (ET)TVNo. 6 West Virginia vs. No. 11 Columbia

No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast

No. 1 USC vs. No. 16 UNC Greensboro

No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 South Dakota State

No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 13 Norfolk State

No. 3 North Carolina vs. No. 14 Oregon State

No. 7 Michigan State vs. No. 10 Harvard

No. 8 California vs. No. 9 Mississippi State

No. 8 Illinois vs. No. 9 Creighton

No. 6 Florida State vs. No. 11 George Mason

No. 1 Texas vs. No. 16 William & Mary

No. 3 LSU vs. No. 14 San Diego State

Follow our The Athletic experts’ analysis and updates from Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament:

No. 2 UConn 103, No. 15 Arkansas State 34

Fudd, Strong help UConn look like title teams of old

Fifteenth-seeded Arkansas State scored the first basket of its first-round game against No. 2 UConn. For 12 seconds, the Red Wolves held the lead. Then, UConn did what UConn does. The Huskies blitzed Arkansas State, scoring 22 consecutive points — with 11 of those coming from Azzi Fudd and 11 from Sarah Strong. UConn’s lead only grew from there.

The Huskies’ 50-point halftime cushion sent viewers back to the program’s record book. While impressive, UConn’s 66 first-half points were still well off from its NCAA-record 94-point first half against Saint Francis in 2018. Still, the opening 20 minutes on Saturday were reminiscent of UConn teams of old.

Fudd and Strong were instrumental in the Huskies’ first half. Fudd scored 21 points, one shy of her NCAA Tournament career-high, in 18 minutes. Strong had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the first half.

Strong finished UConn’s 103-34 win with 20 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and five blocks, becoming the first player in the last 25 years with a 20-10-5-5 performance. Fudd added 27 points, seven assists and six steals. It’s hard to read too much into the blowout victory, but how both perform throughout the tournament will likely be the difference in whether UConn wins its first national title since 2016.

The 69-point win tied for the seventh-widest margin of victory in the NCAA Tournament (a list in which UConn owns four of the top-seven all-time blowouts).

RankMargin of victoryWinnerLoserYear

A second-round matchup with either Oklahoma State or South Dakota State awaits. Each will be a tougher test than the Red Wolves. But UConn made a strong first impression — that they can dominate like Huskies teams of the past.

— Ben Pickman

No. 6 Iowa 92, No. 11 Murray State 57

Iowa makes it look easy against Murray State

No Caitlin Clark, no problem for the No. 6 Hawkeyes, who in their first NCAA Tournament game since their superstar left for the WNBA made it look easy against No. 11 Murray State.

The Hawkeyes dismantled the Racers 92-57 in the first game of the day Saturday, with the 92 points marking their highest scoring output since they hung 94 on Toledo in November.

Five players scored in double figures, with freshman center Ava Heiden leading the way with 15 points while adding seven rebounds in 17 minutes of play. Fellow rookie Taylor Stremlow had a career-high 10 points.

The Hawkeyes shot 56 percent from the field and 47 percent from beyond the arc, while outrebounding the Racers 44-32. With 41 bench points and 62 points in the paint, the Hawkeyes leaned into their size and depth to dominate from start to finish in one of the more efficient performances we’ve seen so far.

— Grace Raynor

(Photo of Sarah Strong: Joe Buglewicz / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)