UConn’s Big East quest begins with Georgetown
STORRS — UConn women’s basketball begins the postseason Saturday.
The team’s first steps in reaching a 15th-straight Final Four start at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, where the Huskies face Georgetown in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals (noon, FS1).
But for the first time in a long time, UConn enters March with more questions than answers.
Will the Huskies be able to win the Big East Tournament? Does Azzi Fudd return? If yes, then when? Will UConn be able to get past its mistakes on the court? Can the team manage to remain healthy? Saturday will be the first test. “They understand what’s at stake,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said of his players Friday afternoon inside Werth Champions Center. “You know, right now, there’s two games left in the season maybe? Or there’s nine, and anywhere in between two and nine.”
This is the second-straight year UConn, the Big East Tournament No. 1 seed, will face Georgetown in the tournament’s quarterfinals.
Last year, the Huskies blew past the Hoyas 84-38 thanks to a game-high 16 points from Paige Bueckers off the bench. Fudd contributed 11 points in that game too.
But on Saturday, UConn won’t have Bueckers (out for the year with an ACL injury). And as for Fudd, her return is still up in the air.
Auriemma said Friday that the sophomore has returned to practices but has yet to complete a full workout. On Friday, during the media viewing portion of practice, Fudd appeared solid sprinting, cutting and jumping during drills.
“Every day there’s more that she’s capable of doing and there’s more that she wants to do,” Auriemma said. “… She practiced yesterday, not the whole practice, and didn’t do everything. But she started looking like her old self.”
While Dorka Juhász missed Monday’s regular-season finale with a sprained ankle, Auriemma said he’s planning on having her available for the tournament this weekend. Juhász completed half the team’s practice on Thursday, Auriemma said, and was expected to do more Friday. During the first portion of Friday’s practice, she was seen going back and forth between participating and working out on the stationary bike.
Lou Lopez Sénéchal also spent time on the bike Friday as she continues to balance workload and soreness. Auriemma also said freshman Ayannna Patterson has been dealing with a stomach bug. On Friday, she was seen sitting off to the side of practice wearing a face mask.
“It’s never-ending, man,” Auriemma said.
Just three weeks ago in D.C., Georgetown was able to keep up
with the Huskies and finish within single digits. In fact, the Huskies concluded the regular season with a streak of 10 straight games finishing within single digits of their opponent.
Based on the up-anddown season of injuries, changing lineups and absences, Auriemma said he wasn’t surprised.
“We haven’t played one single Big East game this year with our whole lineup,” he said. “So I’d like to see another team anywhere in the country go through that and not have close games. You got two of the best players in America (Bueckers and Fudd) that haven’t played hardly at all this year. If you can win your league with two all-Americans sitting on a bench that doesn’t say much about your league does it? So you have to lose some games.
“You have to have some close games just to validate the strength of your league. Otherwise, you know, what happens when we get 100% healthy next year? So I’m not surprised. Just sometimes I’m surprised by some of the things that we do.”
If UConn beats No. 9 seed Georgetown, it will advance to Sunday’s semifinals and face either No. 4 St. John’s or No. 5 Marquette. Both upset UConn in the regular season and will be looking to spoil UConn’s chances of winning a third-straight Big East Tournament title.
“I think just in playing a tournament, it’s always super exciting,” Lopez Sénéchal said. “After having this whole season, finally, you know, getting into the tournament is what we all wanted and what we’re looking for. And having my family there and all the fans and all that, it’s just super exciting too. We know it’s going to be a great environment and atmosphere. Just excited to have hopefully three games in a row.”
But the pressure doesn’t faze the Huskies.
They understand only two more games are guaranteed (Saturday and the first round of the NCAA Tournament in a couple weeks). Everything else is win or go home.
And as we know, anything can happen in the postseason — that’s why it’s called ‘Madness’.
“Whatever kind of game it is, you just gotta figure out a way to win it,” Auriemma said. “If it’s a triple-overtime game, you got to figure out a win. If it’s a blowout, then you just are shocked that it’s that easy. But you gotta be ready for just about anything come tournament time.”