The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies cap off unbeaten Big East schedule
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — UConn women’s basketball has finished Big East play undefeated for the first time in three years.
And while the Huskies did so by routing Providence on the road Saturday night, their performance in the conference is almost more impressive when you look at all the team has had to overcome in the last few months.
Five players, including Azzi Fudd, are out with season-ending injuries. Two freshmen are starting and Aaliyah Edwards is the team’s only true experienced big in the lineup.
UConn’s 65-42 win over the Frairs makes the 2023-24 Huskies the 14th team in Big East history to win the regular season undefeated. UConn has done so 11 times and has 18 total undefeated conference regular season titles, including seven in the American Athletic Conference.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks,” Geno Auriemma said. “It’s a lot harder than people think. And at Connecticut, it’s exceptionally hard because the expectation is that you’re going to win. You’re the preseason favorite to win the league. Yeah, but we’re missing half our team. Well, even if you only played four against five, you’re supposed to win the league because you’re Connecticut.
“I told them in the locker afterwards, some people might not appreciate how incredibly difficult this is. I do, and everybody in our locker room does. To be that good and to be that consistent (at) home or away. This year, maybe more so than other years, it feels really really gratifying. I’m really grateful for that.”
The No. 10 Huskies begin the postseason next weekend as the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena. Providence will face Butler in the No. 8-9 seed first-round game on Friday with the winner playing UConn (26-5, 18-0 Big East) in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The week off between games comes at the right time for UConn after playing with just eight available players against the Friars. Junior forward Amari DeBerry did not make the trip to Rhode Island because she was in concussion protocol back on campus. Auriemma said DeBerry got hit in the head going up for a rebound in practice last week and is “day-to-day” due to the severity of concussion protocols.
Rest will be the main priority next week, especially for UConn’s senior class which has carried the team throughout yet
another turbulent season.
Paige Bueckers led the Huskies Saturday with 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting. Aaliyah Edwards followed with 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and one block.
Nika Mühl finished with eight points and seven assists. The Croatian is now tied with Renee Montgomery for No. 4 alltime on UConn’s career assist list with 632. Jennifer Rizzotti is No. 3 with 637 and Diana Taurasi is No. 2 on the list with 648.
“We talked about that in a locker room afterwards, how incredibly happy I am, proud I am, especially of Nika, Paige and Aaliyah,” Auriemma said. “The pressure on the three of them to have to be good every day, to have to be perfect every day, to score for us, to stay out of foul trouble, to play a ton of minutes with the understanding that if they don’t do that our chances of winning are less or even none.”
The Frairs (12-19, 6-12 Big East) couldn’t find a way around UConn’s defense two months ago in Hartford. And on Saturday, even with the Huskies down a player, Providence still couldn’t develop any sort of offensive flow in the regular-season finale.
UConn smothered Providence. Edwards used her 6-foot-3 frame to block shots and her quickness to intercept passes and take them down for layups at the other end. She tied her career high of four steals less than 15 minutes into Saturday’s game.
The Frairs went scoreless for nearly six minutes in the first quarter and again went nearly six minutes without a field goal in the second. At halftime, Providence was 5 of 26 from the floor.
The Huskies’ pressure on defense flustered the Friars into turnovers. Providence gave up 19 points on 18 total turnovers. While UConn shot 43% on the night, it limited the Friars to a 26 field goal percentage.
KK Arnold was UConn’s best defensive weapon in the second half while the three seniors spent time on the bench resting. Arnold impacted the game everywhere she went. She out-sprinted the Friars chasing down loose balls, jumped up high for rebounds and fought after steals. The freshman finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“At times, I will say before I was less aggressive and just standing there looking at the ball, but now (I’m) helping out Aaliyah and helping out our team, because she can’t rebound all game,” Arnold said. “So when she has us around to rebound early and outlet the ball, it gives her an opportunity to run the floor and give her easy layups.”
UConn broke open the game midway through the second quarter thanks to a 10-0 run, including three straight buckets from Bueckers. The Huskies outscored the Frairs 16-3 in the frame.
With the postseason officially a week away, Auriemma gave his seniors rest in the second half.
Auriemma emptied his bench by checking in Inés Bettencourt for Bueckers halfway through the third quarter. Ice Brady checked in for Edwards with three minutes remaining in the third and neither Bueckers nor Edwards went back in the rest of the game.
Edwards and Bueckers played just 22 minutes each. Brady contributed four points, six rebounds and one steal in 20 minutes off the bench followed by Qadence Samuels with three points, four rebounds and one steal in 17 minutes. Bettencourt played 15 minutes, her third-most minutes in a game this year.
Auriemma wasn’t too impressed with his second unit, though, as they allowed Providence to win the fourth quarter 17-8. Getting them to find better flow will also be a priority this upcoming week.
“I was hoping that we would get more players used to playing a lot more minutes just in case, you know, you have to have them,” he said. “So I’m happy they got a lot of minutes. They also got to see what those other guys go through every day and every game.”