ST. JOHN’S AT NO. 11 UCONN WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY
When: Sunday at 3 p.m.
Where: Gampel Pavilion
Records: UConn (18-4, 10-0 Big East); St. John's (14-9, 8-3)
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: UConn Sports Network, WAVZ-New Haven (1300 AM), WGCH- Greenwich (1490 AM), WATR-Waterbury (1320 AM), WICH-Norwich (1310 AM, 94.5 FM), WILI-Willimantic (1400 AM, 95.3 FM), Fox Sports 97.9 FM Hartford, SiriusXM-983, SXM App 973
KEEP AN EYE ON
A Storm could be brewing: It was less than a month ago, Jan. 13, that the UConn women's basketball team went to UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., and hammered St. John's by 43 points. So history should repeat itself Sunday when the 11th-ranked Huskies host the Red Storm for a Big East contest at Gampel Pavilion, right?
History shows that's not always the case, as UConn learned the hard way a year ago.
Six weeks after rolling to a 30point win over St. John's at UBS Arena, the Red Storm came to the XL Center in Hartford. St. John's led early then bounced back after falling behind by eight in the third quarter to take a 69-64 victory. It was the Red Storm's first win over UConn since they ended the Huskies' NCAA-record 99-game home winning streak at Gampel Pavilion in 2012 and was key to them earning a berth in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
St. John's (14-9, 8-3 Big East) could use some magic again against the Huskies (18-4, 10-0 Big East), who enter with a two-game lead over Creighton and 2.5-game lead over St. John's in the conference regular-season race. The Bluejays are at Butler Sunday.
In the Jan. 13 game, Paige Bueckers led five players in double figures with 22 points as UConn took a 19point halftime lead and never looked back. Ice Brady came off the bench for a season-high 17 points. Meanwhile, Nika Mühl blanketed St. John's leading scorer Unique Drake and limited her to three shots from
the floor and four points.
Drake has averaged 26.0 points per game in the Red Storm's current three-game winning streak and her 36-point performance in a doubleovertime victory at DePaul on Jan. 25 was the best for a St. John's player in 29 years.
Another strong effort by Mühl would help the senior's effort to gain a third straight Big East Defensive Player of the Year honor. The guard from Zagreb, Croatia is also making her way up the Huskies' all-time assist leaders. She took sole possession of seventh place with 10 assists in UConn's 81-60 win at Villanova Wednesday. Her 569 assists trail No. 6 Sue Bird (585) by 16 and she's within 90 of Moriah Jefferson's school record of 659. Mühl is second in the Big East in assists, at 6.182 per game, only 0.018 behind Seton Hall's Amari Wright.
If Mühl continues her current pace she would pass Jefferson in 15 games. UConn has a minimum of 11 games and a maximum of 18 games remaining this season.
Series history: UConn leads the series with St. Johns 48-18 after once trailing 15-1. Forty-eight of Huskies' coach Geno Auriemma's 1,198 career wins have come against the Red Storm. The only schools his teams have beaten more are Seton Hall (55) and Georgetown (51).