WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAME DAY

SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT STATE at NO. 2 UCONN

When: Thursday, 7 p.m. Where: XL Center, Hartford Records: SCSU (2-0, Division-II); UConn (1-0) TV: None Radio: The River 105.9

Get your work in: This will be the second of two exhibition games for the Huskies before they continue regular-season play Saturday (6 p.m.) against Vanderbilt at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Huskies tipped off their year this past Sunday with an 85-53 victory over Ohio State.

While it’s a bit unconventional to be playing exhibitions at this point, Geno Auriemma had his reasons for scheduling this contest. Mainly, he didn’t want the Huskies to have nearly a week off between their first two games.

“We had a big gap between games that we needed to fill,” Auriemma said at AAC Media Day in October.

And so, the Huskies will travel to their home away from home to host Southern Connecticut State. The Owls went 21-10 (14-6 Northeast-10) and made the Division-II NCAA Tournament last season.

This is the first meeting between the schools since 2007, when the Huskies won 119-58.

Next ones up: Auriemma still isn’t sure how much he’ll be able to rely on his bench. While he was quick to compliment forward Kyla Irwin (five points and two rebounds) and guard Mikayla Coombs following the win over Ohio State, it’s clear that the unit as a whole has yet to gain his trust.

“As a group, they’re actually getting better,” Auriemma said. “It may not look it at times, but if we do what we did in the first half and at the beginning of the second half, where we can plug in one at a time and make sure there’s not more than one … I think they can be successful to a certain degree. “Kyla had a really good day. All we need from them is to just come in and give us a minute here, a minute there, two minutes here and two minutes there. If we can do that, then I think they’ll be a huge help.”

If there’s ever an opportunity for Auriemma to use his bench more liberally, in hopes of discovering some answers, it’s in an exhibition game.

KEEP AN EYE ON

Local talent: There are five players from Connecticut on SCSU’s roster: Amanda Pfohl (Trumbull), DeAnna McCarvell (New London), Najae White (Hartford-Capital Prep), Bridget Sharnick (Shelton-St. Joseph) and Allie Smith (Danbury).