Numbers don’t tell every story of transcendent career
UConn coach Geno Auriemma earned the 1,098th victory of his career Saturday to tie old rival Pat Summitt for second place on the sport’s all-time list.
Geno and Pat, Pat and Geno. They’re right next to each other, for the moment. Auriemma and Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, who has 1,104 victories, will continue on neck-and-neck for however many years, raising the bar higher and higher.
“I would like to think that if you’ve done something for 37 years or whatever it is, that you’re going to have some milestones,”
Auriemma, 66, said after the Huskies defeated Providence 87-50 at Gampel Pavilion, a building for which there wasn’t a blueprint when he was hired in 1985. “And if you’re fortunate enough, you have some pretty important milestones. And if you’re lucky enough to be surrounded by the people I’ve been surrounded
meaningful milestones. And I’m sure someday, I’ll be able to look back on all those and appreciate it when it’s all over.”
That day wasn’t necessarily Saturday. The Huskies came out flat at the beginning of the game and the upperclassmen struggled in particular, giving Auriemma plenty to be frustrated with. So much so that during a timeout in the third quarter with UConn up big, Auriemma gave his clipboard to freshman walk-on Autumn Chassion and didn’t join the team for its huddle.
“I thought [the players] would be interested in listening to somebody that was smarter than them, smarter than me,” he joked afterward. “Because what I was saying wasn’t really registering.”
But it was win No. 1,098 for Auriemma and No. 7 on the season regardless, with the freshmen and sophomores carrying the Huskies in their first game in 11 days.
UConn (7-0, 6-0 Big East) turned the ball over six times in the game’s first five minutes and allowed Providence (5-7, 3-4) to take an early 12-5 lead, the most UConn has trailed this season. With their energy lacking, Auriemma pulled all his starters besides Paige Bueckers within the first five and a half minutes, inserting an underclassmen-dominant group that cleaned things up and got the team going in the right direction.
Coming off the bench for the first time this season with Auriemma giving freshman Aaliyah Edwards her first career start, sophomore Anna Makurat hit back-to-back threes to give UConn its first lead late in the first quarter. Classmate Aubrey Griffin had a massive impact all game long, hounding Providence on defense, looking aggressive around the basket and collecting more offensive rebounds (eight) than all of her teammates combined (seven).
Primarily behind that group of freshmen and sophomores, UConn outscored Providence 14-6 to end the first period and then 27-11 in the second, ultimately going into the half with a 17-point edge.
“We put a group of players out there that picked up the tempo, and that’s what changed the game. It was really that simple,” Auriemma said. “I was really proud of [the sophomores], as well as the guys that came off the bench today. I thought that group had a really good day.”
UConn extended its lead to more than 20 off a 12-0 run in the third quarter, with Evina Westbrook chipping in half those points off some strong takes to the rim. The Huskies would then up their lead into the 30s with another set of 12 unanswered points, including seven from Bueckers, to close the frame.
Bueckers — who was noticeably looking to shoot more as Auriemma has asked her to — hit the 20-point mark late in the third quarter before finishing with 23 points (8-10 shooting, 2-4 on 3s), two points shy of her career high. Griffin had her best game of the season, finishing with season-bests of 18 points and nine rebounds.
“Aubrey played amazing,” Bueckers said. “She had a really good practice the other day. It was just like the game she had today where she was confident making plays on offense and defense. She had a really great game and I’m really happy for her.”
Westbrook (13), Olivia NelsonOdoda (11) and Edwards (10) also notched double figures in scoring.
“In practice, we go through different lineups, we have different situations and we have different people playing with each other at different times,” Bueckers said. “We know that in any game situation, we’re confident with any lineup that we have out there.”
Kyra Spiwak and Alyssa Geary paced Providence with 10 points apiece, while Enfield product Mary Baskerville’s early foul trouble limited her to eight.
Christyn Williams, who was benched for the final 16 minutes of the first half, re-entered the game to start the second half but saw the court for 14 minutes in all. She finished scoreless for only the second time of her career, this time not attempting a single shot. Going up against some of the taller posts in the conference, Nelson-Ododa went 5-for-10 and only played 15 minutes.
“I just think they’ve got to play better,” Auriemma said of the juniors. “Sometimes it’s that simple.”