A HAPPY RETURN
Huskies race past Seton Hall in first Big East tilt in 13 years
BIG EAST NO. 3 UCONN 92 SETON HALL 65
Paige Bueckers had 5.3 seconds to go the length of the court.
Turns out, she didn’t even need that long.
The UConn freshman took an inbounds pass and raced up the floor in the waning seconds of the third quarter. Time winding down … tick … tick … tick … she didn’t hesitate. She whizzed past one Seton Hall defender using a screen from Aaliyah Edwards, then deked another before banking in a runner with just 0.2 remaining.
“I was just trying to make a play with five seconds left,” explained Bueckers, who was also fouled and made the ensuing free throw. “Yeah.”
Yeah, it was that kind of Tuesday night for Bueckers and thirdranked UConn, one where they returned to the Big East and established their superiority in a 92-65 rout of Seton Hall at Walsh Gymnasium. The Huskies, back in the conference for the first time since 2013, have now won 32 straight and 47 of the last 48 games against the Pirates.
“She plays at a really good tempo,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of Bueckers. “She doesn’t allow herself to be rushed. She knows what she’s doing with the ball, she knows where she’s going with the ball.
“If you’re on her team, all you have to do is run around with your hands up all the time and you’ll probably score double figures. It’s rare that you have a kid that can see that much of the floor.”
Bueckers, the reigning national high school player of the year, finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting, bringing her to 19-of-25 through her first two games. She added five assists and four rebounds. Christyn Williams scored 21 points while fellow junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 16 points and 10 boards. Lauren ParkLane carried Seton Hall (2-2) with 29 points.
UConn turned on another gear in the third quarter, nearly doubling up Seton Hall, 33-17, on the scoreboard. Bueckers and NelsonOdoda spearheaded that surge, combining for 26 points.
The key? Getting stops and feeding Bueckers the ball.
“We wanted to get back into what we were doing the first five minutes of the game, which was getting transition buckets,” Bueckers said. “That starts with me pushing the ball.”
“She’s got a lot to learn, don’t get
me wrong,” Auriemma added, “but there’s something special about her, there’s something unique about her. Anybody that watches her play, it doesn’t take long to figure that out.”
UConn’s other freshmen seem to be pretty good, too. Collectively, they accounted for more than half (48) of the team’s scoring. Edwards, the 6-foot-3 forward from Canada, flirted with a double-double, scoring 17 points and pulling down eight rebounds, while Mir McLean chipped in five points.
The Huskies (2-0) started fast, using a 13-2 run to jump ahead 21-8. Much of that was aided by Williams, who scored 11 points in the first quarter, surpassing her output (10) from the season-opener against UMass Lowell. UConn led 25-15 after one quarter.
Williams said Auriemma got on her during shootaround to be more aggressive.
“That is what got me going,” Williams said. “I never want Coach on me, so I was trying to listen to everything he said and do it.”
Seton Hall chipped away, with a layup by Amari Wright cutting the deficit from 14 to single digits, 38-30, at halftime. The Huskies had 12 turnovers during that stretch and 20 for the game.
The Huskies will return home Thursday to face Creighton (6:30 p.m.).
Notes: Piath Gabriel, one of six freshmen, scored her first point … Walk-on Autumn Chassion made her collegiate debut in the second half … UConn improved to 52-10 all-time against Seton Hall.