Huskies sink Pirates
Bueckers leads charge with 23 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, in Big East opener
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. — In its first game without injured freshman Azzi Fudd, UConn looked choppy, slow and unorganized to start.
Passes were dropped and shots were air-balled. The Huskies had no answer for Seton Hall’s quick offense. Enter Paige Bueckers. Bueckers (23 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals) once again took control and came to UConn’s rescue Friday night, sparking much needed momentum for the No. 2-ranked Huskies.
UConn (4-1) defeated Seton Hall 74-49 to open Big East play.
Seton Hall (3-3) was without graduate senior Andra Espinoza-Hunter, who began her college career with UConn. The team announced prior to tipoff the guard/forward would serve a suspension for Friday’s game due to a violation of team rules. In her place in the Pirates’ starting lineup was junior Kailah Harris, a former high school teammate of UConn’s Aubrey Griffin.
Takeaways from UConn’s win over Seton Hall:
REPLACING FUDD
In a somewhat unexpected move, UConn coach Geno Auriemma pulled freshman Caroline Ducharme off the bench first to help his backcourt. However, things didn’t go smooth as Ducharme got called for a foul and air-balled a 3pointer minutes after stepping on the court.
Whether it was freshman mistakes or UConn’s inability to match Seton Hall’s pace, the Huskies struggled to build offensive momentum in the opening quarter.
UConn was scoreless for over three and a half minutes while Seton Hall led by as many as six.
About halfway through the first, Auriemma brought in sophomore Nika Muhl for Ducharme.
The 5-10 Croatian’s intense energy was immediately felt and brought a level of familiarity to the lineup of Bueckers, Olivia NelsonOdoda, Christyn Williams and Aaliyah Edwards (which all played various starting rotations with each other last season).
Thanks to nine straight points from Bueckers, UConn ended the first down by one to the Pirates. After a 16-4 run in the second gave UConn control of the lead, it was Muhl’s steal-and-score play that gave the Huskies the halftime advantage of 39-23.
Muhl ended with two points and five rebounds on top of four fouls in 17 minutes. While Auriemma was impressed with her intensity, he stressed the importance of her learning to stay out of foul trouble.
“She looked more like an assassin from Croatia,” Auriemma said. “Her game is to get in the lane and create, play defense. Hit her hand on a couple passes. … But every time you foul, you’re putting yourself and our team in jeopardy. And now you gotta come to the bench and now that’s one less player that we have available. We need Nika’s minutes. We don’t need Paige playing 40 minutes so that would help a big deal.”
A SOMEWHAT IMPROVED FRONTCOURT
After being outrebounded in a loss to South Carolina almost two weeks ago, UConn went into Friday’s matchup needing a major improvement on the boards. The plan was derailed by Seton Hall’s small size. Pirates’ 5-6 point guard Lauren Park-Lane weaved in and out defenders and dished out assist after assist under the height of UConn’s bigs.
In the second quarter of Friday’s matchup, UConn bigs did just that. Sophomore Aaliyah Edwards stood her ground under the basket and fought after offensive rebounds and put-back baskets. Senior Nelson-Ododa used her length to drain smooth jumpers over the heads of the Pirates. And it was Dorka Juhasz’s block on defense that sparked a 14-2 run and turned the pace over into the Huskies’ hands.
“Dorka lived her life today,” Auriemma said. “Today Dorka was exactly what we needed her to be. And again, that needs to be accentuated a little bit going forward but I like where she is right now. She’s bigbody, she can bang around in there. She plays good defense for the most part and she understands the game so it’s a big help.”
At the half, UConn lead the rebound game 25-13 with Juhasz leading with six and Edwards with five. Edwards finished with a season-high seven rebounds and three offensive boards along with 12 points.
“Personally, just going into this game, I just had a new mindset. Offensively, being that impact on the board, going back to my strengths and what I do best in the games. Just really wanted to bring out that energy today,” Edwards said. “We had previous games but this is really when we need to start working and start perfecting our craft individually for me it’s buckling down and just being an impact offensively and defensively.
“The boards really motivate me to be that enforcer, be an impact, whatever my team needs from me.”
Seton Hall came out of the intermission and again outpaced the Huskies. The Pirates quick transition and speed in the key looked to have almost frazzled UConn’s frontcourt. Seton Hall answered every UConn bucket with one of its own. Pirates dove every which way for loose balls and rebounds, while the Huskies couldn’t react fast enough.
While UConn’s bigs may have fixed the rebounding problem, they struggled when it came to keeping up with quick defensive footwork of Seton Hall’s guards.
“We don’t make enough outside shots so everybody is playing us to put it on the floor and get it to the lane,” Auriemma said. “We haven’t been good on offense the entire season yet. Maybe it will come. But right now, not good. Not good at all. I gotta go home and figure that out.”
NOT EVEN A NOSEBLEED CAN STOP BUECKERS
Bueckers’ nine straight points in the first quarter helped sparked UConn’s momentum and gave way to
the Huskies outscoring the Pirates 23-8 in the second quarter. Her jumper at 6:46 in the fourth broke a Seton Hall 7-0 run. Less than a minute later the sophomore drove in the for layup and immediately ran to the opposite side of the court to grab a steal on the edge of the out-of-bounds line.
“I just sorta try to think what I would do and the decision that I would make and the read that I would make and then try to make that same read defensively,” Bueckers said. “It works sometimes. Doesn’t work sometimes but just sorta using that and my offensive IQ to help with my defense.”
After momentarily coming out of the game for a nose bleed (which she returned with a bandage), the 2021 national player of the year continued her dominance. She tackled Seton Hall players to the ground, nose bandage and all, diving after loose balls despite UConn up by 20 and two minutes remaining in the game.
“She was all over the court,” Auriemma said. “She’s smart. She knows where the ball is going all the time. She’s already there. She’s not late . ... ”
The sophomore ended Friday just one rebound and three assists shy of a triple-double.
NEXT: UConn will host its first game at Gampel Pavilion this season, facing No. 24 Notre Dame Sunday at noon. The Huskies will honor their Olympic athletes with an unveiling of a new monument and ceremony at 11 a.m. before the game.