UConn postpones Sunday’s game against DePaul
On Thursday night, UConn associate head coach Chris Dailey explained how the Huskies have learned to deal with the program’s rash of injuries this season.
“Whatever we have and whoever we have, we have enough,” Dailey said after a win over Xavier.
Less than 24 hours later, UConn announced that the team no longer had enough to compette. The program announced Friday night that Sunday’s scheduled game against DePaul was postponed since the Huskies are currently under the Big East conference minimum of seven available scholarship student-athletes.
There was not an immediate date provided for the rescheduling of DePaul’s trip to Storrs. The teams are already scheduled to meet in Chicago on Feb. 25.
“The wellbeing of our players is first and foremost,” Dailey said. “We look forward to rescheduling the game with DePaul.”
UConn said both junior Aaliyah Edwards and freshman Ayanna Patterson were injured in UConn’s game at Xavier on Thursday. The program did not release specifics on Patterson’s injuries, but Edwards did not play in the second half after injuring her right foot.
That leaves UConn with six healthy players.
“At UConn, the health and wellbeing of our student-athletes will always be our top priority,” director of athletics David Benedict said in a release. “Our women’s basketball program has unfortunately been affected by an unprecedented number of injuries this season. While it’s unfortunate that we need to postpone Sunday’s game, it’s the right call to protect the safety of our student-athletes. We will work with the Big East and DePaul on options to reschedule the game.”
The Huskies had eight available players this week in their wins at both Butler (Jan. 3) and Xavier (Jan. 5) due to the absences of Caroline Ducharme (concussion) and Azzi Fudd (knee).
Ducharme suffered a concussion in practice on Monday and did not travel with the team to the Midwest. She’ll continue to be unavailable until she clears concussion protocol tests.
Fudd has missed the last eight games due to a right knee injury she suffered at Notre Dame on Dec. 4. The star sophomore was initially given a three to six-week recovery timeline and returned to basketball activities on Dec. 30 (two days before the five-week mark). Despite still not being ready to play in a game, Fudd has participated in pregame warmups dressed down in uniform for the past three games as part of her rehab process.
UConn lost Edwards for the entire second half of its game at Xavier. Edwards appeared to have injured her right foot falling onto empty chairs along the sideline while she chased down a loose ball. From the game’s TV broadcast, she was seen on the bench still in uniform during the third and fourth quarters.
The Huskies are only playing with 10 players this year after losing both Paige Bueckers (ACL) and Ice Brady (dislocated patella) to season-ending injuries during the preseason. Due to multiple injuries and illnesses, the team has twice had to play with just seven available players already this season. UConn was without Fudd, Dorka Juhász (thumb) and Nika Mühl (concussion) in its Dec. 11 loss at Maryland. A little more than two weeks later, the team again only had seven at Creighton on Dec. 28 as it was without Fudd, Aubrey Griffin (COVID-19) and Amari DeBerry (travel delay due to weather).
The Huskies are also currently without head coach Geno Auriemma as he sat out both of this week’s games due to feeling unwell. On Thursday morning, the program announced he would rejoin the team at a later date. The Hall of Fame coach has sat out four total games this season due to not feeling well following the death of his mother on Dec. 8.
“It’s been an extremely difficult month for me, and I’ve been feeling under the weather and run down,” Auriemma said in a statement. “I thought I was ready to return, but I need a little more time. I’m going to take a step back to focus on my health and will return when I feel ready.”
UConn’s next game on the schedule is a road game at St. John’s at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York on Jan. 11 at 8 p.m.