Storrs — Nika Mühl dribbled the ball up the Target Center court as time ran down on the 2022 national championship game. With 7.5 seconds left, the UConn women's basketball team's point guard left the ball on the floor and walked to the bench.

South Carolina's players raced to greet each other to celebrate a 64-49 victory that gave the program its second NCAA title.

"It was just a terrible game we played," Mühl said Friday before practice at the Werth Champions Center. "They punched us first and we did not respond once during that game. They blew us out. That wasn't what we were hoping for. That wasn't what we were working for. The end of the game once I realized the reality I was very frustrated, very disappointed.

“Everything we worked for through the whole season we showed none of it. That hurt the most."

Much less will be on the line Sunday when the fifth-ranked Huskies host No. 1 South Carolina at the XL Center in Hartford (noon, Ch. 61).

There will be no getting even with the Gamecocks with a win Sunday. It will be a chance to see where the Huskies stand a month before the start of the postseason and improve their resume for the NCAA tournament.

Revenge for last April's loss isn't motivation for Sunday. The motivation is to continue their winning ways as UConn (21-2) looks for its 15th victory in a row.

"Losses like that ... Even looking at our last loss against Maryland, that motivates us every day at practice, every game," Mühl said. "We don't want that to happen again. In order for that not to happen again, we work through that last second of practice, pull through, pick up your teammate when you're really, really tired and you feel like you can't go on anymore. It's a good reminder.

"I think about that game a lot, but that's in the past. Now we're looking forward to our next game."

South Carolina (22-0) will start four players who started against the Huskies in Minneapolis as it seeks a nation's best 29th consecutive win. The only UConn starter Sunday that started 10 months ago will be junior forward Aaliyah Edwards.

The XL Center is sold out for the first time since Notre Dame visited Hartford on Dec. 3, 2017. It's the Huskies' 11th and final non-conference game of the season.

"They're the No. 1 team in the country. They're undefeated," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "We've played in a million of these games and they've always been fun to play. They're entertaining and there have been some great performances. I would expect to see the same thing Sunday.

"For a February game the week before the Super Bowl, we're going in there and saying, 'We're playing at home. We're playing in front of 15,000 people.' If we weren't good enough to win I'd make a phone call and say, 'We're not quite ready.' "

South Carolina is led by center and reigning national Player of the Year Aliyah Boston. While Boston's overall numbers are down slightly across the board as a senior, in part because of all the attention she gets from opponents' defense, she's been consistent throughout the season and wherever she's fallen short her teammates have more than picked up her up.

Coach Dawn Staley's team is experienced, deep, and talented. The Gamecocks will start four seniors and a graduate student. When they go to the bench (other than for Boston and for guard Zia Cooke) they lose almost nothing.

"The size they bring, a deep bench as well, we're going to have to compete with that with our limited numbers," Edwards said. "We'll need to find a way to be successful. Limiting their second shot opportunities, controlling the boards on our end, and playing to our transition game.

UConn will have eight players available Sunday.

Last season's starting backcourt in the final against the Gamecocks — Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd — are out with knee injuries. Injuries kept center Dorka Juhász and forward Aubrey Griffin out of the national championship game but they'll be ready to go Sunday. Graduate student Lou Lopez Sénéchal will be facing South Carolina for the first time.

"We've got to do a pretty good job of when to, when not to, mix up some things offensively and defensively," Auriemma said. "They're going to win the rebound battle so we have to make enough shots to offset that. It was a low-scoring game when they came up here two years ago and some have been fast-paced. I don't know if Sunday we can try to be as fast as them the entire game."

After playing five games in 12 days, the Huskies took Thursday off before returning to the practice floor for the first of two days of preparation.

South Carolina is their biggest challenge and the Huskies want to show they're up to it.

"They're a great team. They're long, they're big, definitely more athletic than us," Mühl said. "But what we bring to the table is us being together. Punching first will be huge for us Sunday, then expecting to get punched back and us punching again. Just play freely. It's another game we're trying to win, not be scared, not be nervous.

"We're going to need all eight of us to step up."