How UConn managed during Auriemma’s absence
The UConn women’s basketball team had already boarded the bus on Tuesday when they noticed a familiar face walking toward them.
After spending the last week away from the program to focus on his health, Husky head coach Geno Auriemma rejoined his players and staff by walking onto their bus and traveling with them to New York.
“It was great,” graduate forward Dorka Juhász said. “We just saw him like walking and was like, ‘Oh, Coach!’ Like he’s back. It was just such a good moment. Obviously, we really missed him.”
Auriemma announced on Jan. 5 that he would take time away from the program to focus on his own health and well-being after missing two straight games last week due to not feeling well.
The Hall of Fame coach missed two games also in December with flu-like symptoms following the death of his mother Marsiella on Dec. 8. The process of grieving his mother coincided with the stress he’s likely under from coaching UConn through its second straight season plagued by injuries.
On Wednesday, he returned to the sideline and coached the Huskies to a dominant 82-52 win over St. John’s at UBS Arena.
“It’s good to see him like smiling, laughing,” Juhász said after the game. “I think it was a good little rest for him. I hope you know he rested enough, and he feels great. But I mean for us is just, we’re just happy to have him back.”
While Auriemma was present the whole game on the sideline, associate head coach Chris Dailey conducted in-game and postgame media interviews. After giving an opening statement