UConn routs Xavier as starters get a breather

After losing badly to the best team in the country, UConn women’s basketball needed a breather.

The No. 15 Huskies got that Wednesday in their blowout 86-40 win over Xavier, which has lost 21 of 22 games this season and is winless in the Big East.

And while Paige Bueckers did her thing and sparked UConn early, the game was the perfect opportunity to get the Huskies’ starters some much deserved rest after its loss at South Carolina on Sunday.

“When you’re coming off a tough game like we had on Sunday, you never know what the what the response is going to be,” Geno Auriemma told the media after the game. “Sometimes you’re really aggressive and you want to kind of get that feeling out of your system and sometimes you pouting carries over ...

“We did the things that we wanted to work on and we got a lot of kids in the game that we were hoping that we’d be able to get in the game.”

Bueckers led all players with 20 points (along with seven rebounds and five assists) but played just 26 minutes. Aaliyah Edwards was next with her 12th double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds in 22 minutes.

And Nika Mühl finished with seven points and 11 assists in 23 minutes (her fifth game with double-digit assists this year). Prior to Wednesday, all three seniors averaged 30-plus minutes a game.

UConn’s underclassmen stepped up in their place.

Three first-year players scored in double figures, highlighted by redshirt freshman’s Ice Brady’s first career double-double of 11 points (on 5 of 5 shooting) and a game-high 14 rebounds. Ashlynn Shade followed Edwards with 14 points and Qadence Samuels finished with 10. KK Arnold led with five steals in addition to eight points and five assists.

“You’re just looking for people to do some good things that maybe don’t get a chance to play as many minutes,” Auriemma told SNY after the game. “I thought it was a great game for Ice. I thought she got into the flow of the game. So, some good came out of it. And obviously, it’s a big, huge mismatch with our team and their team, but I thought we did a lot of really good things with that, especially with that second group.”

Bueckers took charge to get things going Wednesday. She was assertive and appropriately selfish, driving to the basket and only kicking it out to a teammate when needed. She set the tone quickly.

“Coach has been on me since I got here,” Bueckers said after the game. “To do that, to start games aggressive and not stop letting the game come to me and take the game at the start. So I’m trying to embrace and really live it.”

The redshirt junior had half of UConn’s first 30 points, including scoring 13 in the first quarter, and played the first 17 minutes before taking a seat on the bench. At halftime, she led all players with 15 points.

“I mean, there’s no mystery that if you’re a pretty good shooter, you should be constantly looking for more opportunities to shoot,” Auriemma told SNY at halftime. “It’s been a little bit of a struggle at times, but we did a pretty good job of getting her open and when she’s aggressive like that, it just draws a lot of defense to her and it opens up things for everybody else.”

Edwards kept up UConn’s momentum with Bueckers on the bench. The senior reached a doubledouble just three minutes into the third quarter and was all-around dominant. She used her length to poke out steals on defense and demand the sole presence under the hoop.

The Huskies (21-5, 13-0 Big East) went on a 32-0 run across both the first and second quarter, keeping Xavier scoreless for a period of about 13 minutes.

Yes, UConn’s defense was assertive and efficient. But the Musketeers’ lack of speed and size had no chance against the Huskies.

The Huskies won the boards with a season-high 56 rebounds to Xavier’s 20. UConn scored 29 points off the Musketeers’ 16 turnovers and held Xavier to a 25 percent clip from the floor. UConn led by as much as 59 in fourth quarter. The Huskies also had 31 assists on 36 made buckets.