New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
No. 5 UConn edges Providence
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — UConn women’s basketball ended its most jammed-packed portion of its schedule Wednesday night, playing its fifth game in 12 days. Yet, it wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t easy.
The No. 5-ranked Huskies edged out a 64-54 win over Providence Wednesday night at Alumni Hall. UConn played all eight available players, yet the toll of playing so many games in so few days with so few players was again on display.
Plays were sloppy, shots were rushed and passes were intercepted without hesitation.
“I’m not surprised that as the games are going on, it’s gotten increasingly more difficult to stay up and to be mentally sharp, you know, offensively to be in a good rhythm ... mentally we’re not all on the same page,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “People are in a different place mentally depending on how they feel and that affects you on the offensive end mostly. And nothing you can do about it. Nothing you can do to change it. It is what it is and you go from there.”
On top of earning their 14th-straight win, the No. 5-ranked Huskies (21-2, 13-0 Big East) can celebrate a likely positive update in Azzi Fudd’s recovery.
While the star sophomore guard remains unavailable, she was walking without crutches on the sideline during Wednesday’s game. Fudd, who re-injured her right knee on Jan. 15, has been on crutches for the past twoand-a-half weeks. The guard missed eight games earlier this season after initially injuring her knee on Dec. 4. She missed an additional six games last month after coming back and playing in one-and-ahalf games.
Auriemma doesn’t have a timeline for either Fudd or Caroline Ducharme’s (concussion) return to the court just yet, but said they’re both progressing well.
“(Fudd’s) been doing exactly what she needs to do. Her rehab is going great. She says she feels great. And, you know, we’ll see what happens in the next week or so. But right now, you know, there’s nothing that you
can point to and say, ‘Here’s the date,’ ” Auriemma said. “And Caroline, to her credit, is working really, really hard and is getting closer . ... We can certainly use one or both of those guys for sure.”
With UConn’s biggest test of the regular season against No. 1 South Carolina just four days away, Auriemma made sure his starters had rest Wednesday against Providence (13-11, 4-9).
After only using one sub for a total of five-anda-half minutes on Sunday against Villanova, all eight available Huskies saw time on the court during the first half against the Friars.
UConn’s bench played a total of 26 minutes, yet they weren’t able to contribute much, finishing with just one point, one assist and two steals.
Power forward Aaliyah Edwards, who will have the biggest defensive assignment on Sunday against South Carolina star forward Aliyah Boston, played nine minutes in the first quarter before sitting out the entire second quarter after getting called for two quick fouls. Edwards is averaging 32.8 minutes per game. On Wednesday, she finished with four points (2 of 7 from the floor) and four rebounds in 26 minutes.
Junior Nika Mühl carried the Huskies through Wednesday’s win. The point guard was the first player in double-figures and made her first five shots. At halftime, she led all players with 11 points and seven assists.
Mühl finished Wednesday with 14 points and nine total assists. After coming into Wednesday’s game with 184 assists in UConn’s first 22 games of the year, the Croatian broke into the program’s all-time single-season top-10 list and is now
ranked No. 8 (behind Moriah Jefferson at No. 7 with 195 from 2013-14).
With Edwards on the bench, Dorka Juhász paced UConn’s frontcourt. The graduate forward recorded her eighth double-double of the year with 19 points, 17 rebounds and four assists. UConn outscored the Friars 22-8 in the paint at halftime.
UConn led by as many as 13 in the first half before the Friars made their move in the third quarter. With a 9-0 run in less than two minutes, Providence cut UConn’s lead from 15 to six.
“I feel like we were out of rhythm,” Mühl said. “I don’t know how to describe I feel like we weren’t as connected as we usually are. And that, you know, we can blame it on the mental part, but there’s no excuse for it. I feel like we just had to step up for each other more, hold each other more accountable. And you know, that starts with me. I have the ball in my hands at the beginning. So I feel like I should have controlled the offense better, you know, made better choices.”
Auriemma called timeout at the 1:23 mark in the third after UConn started the quarter 3 of 9 from the floor.
Mühl sparked the Huskies’ resurgence by opening the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer. Juhász followed with a layup and an and-1 while Providence called a timeout. A stealand-score from Lou Lopez Sénéchal (13 points) about a minute later gave UConn a 17-point lead.
However, exhaustion began to catch up to the Huskies. At 4:32 in the fourth, they suffered a shot clock violation for their 19th turnover of the game. Providence extended its run to 11-2 and got as close as eight, holding UConn scoreless for over three-and-a-half minutes.
“I mean, you can always improve. You can get better at certain things. I don’t know that we can get significantly better,” Auriemma said. “You know, maybe we get better at making better decisions which will give us an opportunity to get more shots . ... But other than that, you know, we can’t practice enough to get better. Can’t spend enough time in practice to get better.”
A layup from Juhász at 2:33 pushed UConn’s lead back to 10 as the Huskies rode out the rest of the game on top.
The Huskies return to Connecticut to host South Carolina on Sunday (noon/ FOX) in their final non-conference game of the season. Sunday’s matchup will be a rematch of the 2022 National Championship game in which the Gamecocks won their second title and UConn suffered its firstever loss in the title game.
“We’re already focusing on that game,” Juhász said. “Definitely we have to learn a lot from this game . ... We’re gonna have three days to get ready physically, mentally, and you know, we’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great crowd. It’s an exciting challenge for us and I think every single one of us is super excited about that.”