UConn’s Griffin provided spark in win against Baylor

STORRS — UConn women’s basketball’s Aubrey Griffin walked toward the bench to check out with just under a minute left in the third quarter when the soldout crowd at Gampel Pavilion erupted.

“Aub-rey! Aub-rey! Aub-rey!” yelled the 4,000-plus students in the student section across the court.

Each and every UConn player on the bench stood up and hugged Griffin individually as she walked down the bench. Even coach Geno Auriemma gave her a hug and a huge grin.

“It was a surreal moment, just being out there, and being able to impact the game like that, and I’m glad that I was able to help my teammates,” Griffin said.

The redshirt junior scored just 4 points in Monday’s NCAA Tournament secondround win over Baylor, but she contributed so much more than what could ever be recorded on a stat sheet.

She was UConn’s energy. Its spark at both ends of the floor. She was everywhere all at once. And she did it all while wearing a protective wrap on her back on the bench and sneaking in time on the stationary bike in the team’s tunnel every rest she got.

As Auriemma puts it, Griffin grew up Monday. She led like an upperclassman should. She believed in herself for the first time in a long time and put the team on her back.

After missing all of last season due to back surgery, Griffin showed she’s finally herself.

“I think today, the biggest lesson today (for Griffin) was, ‘I don’t need to be anything more than what I was tonight. I don’t have to go out there and score every time I touch the ball, try to prove that I’m good enough,’ “Aureimma said. “There were a bunch of rebounds she got today where in the past she would’ve turned around and forced something up there to try to prove a point, and she kicked them out a bunch of times. She’s just growing as a player and a person, and it’s — if anybody has ever had back issues … it’s not easy being in her situation. She’s growing up. She’s growing up right in front of our eyes.”

Griffin received a discectomy in January

Christian Abraham/Hearst Connecticut Media UConn’s Nika Muhl and Aubrey Griffin celebrate the win over Baylor in Round Two of NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship action in Storrs, on Monday.