‘It’s felt like forever’
No. 3 UConn returns to Gampel for first time since Nov. 11, routs Cincinnati
Storrs — UConn still has a few active winning streaks.
Katie Lou Samuelson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds on Wednesday night as the No. 3 Huskies routed Cincinnati 82-38 to remain unbeaten in league play since the formation of the American Athletic Conference.
Freshman Christyn Williams scored 15 of her 19 points in the first half and Crystal Dangerfield added 11 points and 10 assists.
Napheesa Collier scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Huskies (13-1, 2-0 American), who spent a month on the road before being able to notch their 83rd straight home win.
"You can tell we love playing here," Samuelson said. "It's felt like forever since we actually got a home game."
Antoinette Miller scored 16 points for Cincinnati (9-6, 1-1), which lost for the first time in five games. Iimar'i Thomas, who had scored at least 20 points in each of her previous four games, was held to just nine.
"We struggled some from the beginning," said first-year coach Michelle Clark-Heard. "I felt like we came back and tried to regroup but they are such a great team."
The Huskies jumped on the Bearcats early. A 3-pointer from Williams less than five minutes into the game capped a 17-0 start for the Huskies. The freshman had 10 points in the quarter and hit six of her first seven shots from the floor.
"I was just comfortable tonight," Williams said. "I was just going with the flow of the game and Crystal did a great job getting the ball up in transition early on."
Dangerfield's 3-pointer from the left wing gave the Huskies their first 30-point lead at 39-9 and they were up 49-19 at halftime.
UConn improves to 103-0 against the rest of the American Athletic Conference since its formation in 2013, including 88-0 in the regular season.
The Huskies also have won 83 straight home games. They haven't lost at Gampel Pavilion in six years, since falling 73-72 to Notre Dame on Jan. 5, 2013.
Defense
The Huskies held Cincinnati to just 15 baskets on 51 shots (29.4 percent), forced 20 turnovers and won the rebounding battle 43-30.
"We were more aggressive defensively tonight than we have been in a while," said coach Geno Auriemma. "And because the ball went in the basket, it allowed us to set up some things we wanted to work on. I thought we did a lot of good things tonight and our defense started it all."
Big picture
Cincinnati: The Bearcats have never beaten UConn, falling to 0-20 against the Huskies since 2006.
UConn: The Huskies last played a home game on Dec. 8, a 99-61 win over Seton Hall at the XL Center in Hartford. UConn had not played on campus since their Nov. 11 opener, an 85-53 win over Ohio State.