UConn opens Big East play with rout

STORRS — The UConn women’s basketball team’s first goal every season is to win the Big East regularseason crown.

On Friday, the No. 3 Huskies began their quest toward earning their 22nd Big East regular-season title by opening conference play with a 98-53 victory over Providence at Gampel Pavilion. The win was UConn’s 32nd straight over the Friars.

The win keeps UConn undefeated (6-0, 1-0) as it travels to Indiana this weekend to face longtime foe No. 7 Notre Dame.

“Aubrey (Griffin) kinda got the ball rolling early in the game and we just kinda played off of that,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It’s a Big East game and we’re 1-0 and a bunch of other teams are 1-0 and some teams are 0-1. So this is the important part of the season and I’m glad we got off to a good start.”

Griffin, a redshirt junior, paced UConn’s rout of Providence (6-3, 0-1) with a season-high 18 (her most points since Jan. 19, 2021, against Butler) and a season-high 10 rebounds. Friday was Griffin’s first double-double since the game against Butler and the fourth of her career. She made her first six shots before missing her first at 3:53 in the third quarter.

“During the offseason I put a lot of work on my shot and just building the confidence to take it and it’s just taken my game to another level,” Griffin said. “It feels great just knowing I am still capable of doing it and it just feels great to be back.”

She was followed by Lou Lopez Sénéchal with 18 points and Azzi Fudd with 16 points. UConn point guard Nika Mühl recorded her fourth-straight game with double-digit assists with 12. She is the only Husky to have at least 10 assists in three straight games.

Aaliyah Edwards finished with her fifth doubledouble (fourth straight) of the year with 10 rebounds and 14 points. Caroline Ducharme also added 10 points off the bench.

The Huskies shot a season-high 61.0 field goal percentage and a 56.5 3point field goal percentage.

“I want us to be more than one-dimensional in terms of relying on one way to get our points,” Auriemma said. “… I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly it happened in the first quarter with Aubrey and Azzi and Lou. So if we can sprinkle in a little of that and still shoot 3s at a high percentage, I think that makes us a little bit harder to play against.”

Griffin sparked UConn’s offense and went on a 6-0 run within the game’s first three minutes to force Providence to burn an early timeout.

She drove into the lane and fought to make herself open during each of UConn’s offensive possessions.

At 7:19 in the first quarter, she caught a pass from Mühl mid-air and brought it down to score an uncontested layup to put UConn up 8-0.

UConn ended the first quarter on a 16-4 run and shot 85.7 % from the floor to lead PC 29-8. The Huskies’ defense held the Friars to a 21.0 field goal percentage. Griffin led all scorers with 10 points.

“You want to get those first five minutes where you feel like you’re on a good pace, you’re on a roll,” Auriemma said. “A lot of people were touching the ball, you’re getting great shots because that will carry over and it did. That’s the kind of team that we have. … We have a pretty good shooting team so if we get pretty good shots, we’re gonna make our share.”

But it wasn’t just Griffin. All seven of UConn’s main rotation players picked up minutes in the first quarter. All nine available players had scored by midway through the fourth quarter.

The Friars had no answer for UConn’s defense. They were smothered in the paint by the 6-foot-3 Edwards and Griffin, and didn’t reach double-digit points until 6:37 in the second quarter.

At halftime, UConn had outscored Providence 26-14 in the paint and 15-0 in fast break points. The Huskies added 14 points off the Friars’ seven turnovers.

The Huskies’ offense was just as powerful, shooting 70 percent on field goals and 66.7 percent on 3-pointers by intermission.

“We were just doing what we do best, just moving the ball, playing with a lot of energy,” Fudd said. “I think that’s the best way and most fun way to play basketball when everyone’s involved and that’s what we did tonight. I think we had a lot of fun doing it.”

Providence got as close as 20 but couldn’t build a run bigger than five straight points as UConn led by as many as 45.

By the final two minutes of the third quarter, Auriemma had pulled four of his five starters. Amari DeBerry had six points, seven rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in 13 minutes.

Freshman point guard Inês Bettencourt drained a 3-pointer at 9:30 in the fourth quarter for her first collegiate points. She finished six points, two rebounds and three assists in 11 minutes.