GREENSBORO, Conn. -- Forget sparkle and spectacle. Forget style and show time. The team that wins tonight's Greensboro Region championship game between top-seeded Connecticut and No. 2-seeded Rutgers, will be the team most willing to roll up its sleeves and do the dirty work.

Connecticut, No. 1-ranked and flying high as it chases its first national championship -- indeed, its first Final Four appearance -- since 2004, understands that the identity of its opponent all but guarantees a taut, less-than-aesthetic contest.

Rutgers, UConn's blood rival in the Big East Conference, will play deliberately on offense and belligerently on defense and will hope to keep the score in the 50s or low 60s. Connecticut is averaging nearly 82 points.

"That's a big part of what makes their defense really good," said Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. "You're not going to get your hands on the ball. You know they're not going to give up 90 because they're not going to give you enough possessions. The danger is, you can get frustrated and antsy. You just have to grind it out and hope that you can force the tempo a little bit."

Rutgers (27-6) already has beaten Connecticut once this season. It erased a nine-point halftime deficit and scored a stunning 73-71 victory on Feb. 5 on its home floor. Connecticut (31-5) won by 20 when the two clubs met in Hartford one month later.

Scarlet Knights coach C. Vivian Stringer said tonight's game will be won -- and lost -- beneath the backboards. Rutgers surrendered 18 offensive rebounds in Sunday's semifinal victory over George Washington. A similar performance tonight, Stringer said, almost certainly will be fatal.

"We've got to go to the boards," Stringer said. "We've got to. It's that simple. We were giving [George Washington] two and three and sometimes four shots" per possession, "which was very disturbing. I don't think I need to tell anyone: If you keep giving up offensive rebounds, sooner or later you're going to pay. Those second and third opportunities for [the Colonials] -- those are conversions for Connecticut."

Rutgers rode an extraordinary effort by sophomore guard Epiphanny Prince to its February upset. Prince stung the Huskies with 33 points, 27 in the second half. Even so, another youngster, UConn freshman guard Maya Moore, seems most likely to occupy the spotlight tonight. Moore, the Big East player of the year, is averaging 22 points against NCAA tournament competition. She hung 25 points on Old Dominion in Sunday's semifinal victory.

Stringer almost certainly will match 6-0 senior Essence Carson, a three-time Big East defensive player of the year, against Moore. Carson said a combative frame of mind will be a key ingredient -- perhaps the key ingredient -- for the Scarlet Knights.

"In the first game [against Connecticut], we came out with fire and energy and really tried to establish the tone from the start," Carson said. "The second game was just the opposite. We thought what we did in the first game would carry over to the second, and we never took it upon ourselves to go out and establish any sort of initiative."

No one denied that Rutgers has become the circle-in-red date on UConn's calendar -- particularly given the demise of Connecticut's regular-season series with Tennessee. The Scarlet Knights have beaten the Huskies at least once in each of the past four seasons.

Said Auriemma: "You enjoy the fact that people take shots at you. That's what it's all about. It's no fun if you're on top and everyone's afraid of you. I don't want it to be like that. I think the more people that take a shot at you, the better you are and the more you improve."