On the rebound
Huskies rusty, but beat Creighton after 3-week shutdown
STORRS — A loud cheer rang through Gampel Pavilion as Nika Mühl was introduced to the crowd and checked into Sunday’s game. It was the sophomore’s first game back since Dec. 5 after recovering from a foot injury.
Not more than 30 seconds later, the Croatian was called for a personal foul — something all too familiar to the physical 5-foot-10 guard. Mühl was called for two more fouls before the end of the first half.
It’s been three weeks since the No. 11-ranked Huskies last played a game. They came into Sunday’s matchup with Creighton with eight players dressed down and available, yet only seven really healthy enough to play.
There were bright spots in UConn’s 63-55 win over the Bluejays, like freshman Caroline Ducharme leading with 17 points, but there were also moments when it was clear the Huskies still had things to improve upon (UConn finished with 16 turnovers including eight traveling calls). It was also the first time in the past two seasons UConn beat a Big East team by less than 10 points.
“We have to just get better at sustaining things,” UConn coach
NO. 11 UCONN 63
CREIGHTON 55
Geno Auriemma said. “This is gonna be what it looks like. This is gonna be what it is for a while. I’m hoping that our defense stays exactly the way that it is and that we can keep playing great defense. And little by little, I hope the offense gets a little more consistent.”
Despite warming up with the team, Amari DeBerry did not play due to recovering from COVID-19 and other unspecified issues. Auriemma said he expects DeBerry and Azzi Fudd (foot injury) to return to the lineup within the week, but Piath Gabriel will need a little bit longer. Meanwhile, he doesn’t see junior Aubrey Griffin playing this year. Auriemma said Griffin will be undergoing back surgery to fix a disc injury Monday.
Takeaways from UConn’s win over Creighton:
GETTING BACK TO WORK
After 20 days without facing an opponent outside of themselves and practice players, UConn (7-3, 2-0 Big East) showed some rust with nine turnovers in the first half, including five traveling calls. The Huskies’ sloppy play continued throughout as they finished with 16 turnovers, including eight for traveling.
“First time in 27 years we lost our ability to coach to not travel, that’s the only way I can explain it,” Auriemma said. “Unless these guys
are just in a hurry or something. I can’t explain it. I wish I could explain it. Obviously we’re not getting our point across in practice enough, so we gotta do a better job of that in practice. Not just with the travel calls, but with some of the self-inflicted stuff that we do. It’s been happening over and over again.”
The Huskies held Creighton to its lowest point total all season. UConn’s defense was aggressive and often smothered the Bluejays, as seen in Ducharme’s three major blocks and a gamehigh three steals from Aaliyah Edwards. However, it took time for the Huskies to get their feet out from under them. During the first half, the Huskies’ missed defensive reads resulted in open Creighton shots. The Bluejays (10-4, 5-1) got as close as four to UConn twice in the first half.
“I thought defensively we pretty much got done everything that we wanted to get done. They’re not an easy team to play against. They’re not an easy team to defend,” Auriemma said. “The minute you stop, they get a layup or they get an open 3. I thought defensively, considering we haven’t played and didn’t have anybody at practice to actually go five-on-five and play full court, I thought that was a huge positive today.”
Other positives came in the form of scoring production from Ducharme, Edwards and graduate senior Dorka Juhász. The three combined for 28 of UConn’s 36 first-half points.
Ducharme picked up where she left off before the holiday break and was UConn’s most productive player Sunday, finishing with a game-high 17 points along with five rebounds, two steals, two assists and three blocks. .
THE RETURN OF MÜHL
The Croatian jumped back into her first game since Dec. 5 in true Nika Mühl fashion: getting called for a personal foul less than 30 seconds after checking in.
Mühl was called for her second personal nine seconds into the second quarter, and her third came in the final minute of the half after 10 total minutes of playing.
Her fourth personal came a little over two minutes into the fourth quarter. She was immediately subbed out before playing the game’s final three minutes. She finished with two points, two rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes.
“It’s hard when you miss that much time and you haven’t practiced much,” Auriemma said. “She’s looked a lot better in practice than she looked today playing. She just has to understand that she’s not right all the time and that the refs are allowed to call fouls once in a while, that’s it’s not always their fault when you foul. That causes her to not have a rhythm in the game because she can’t be in the games long or for long stretches like she wants to be.”
While Mühl’s time on the court will likely increase with each upcoming game as she improves healthwise, her foul trouble is not great for an already shorthanded UConn team. Her aggressiveness helps booster UConn’s physical presence on both ends of the court; however, with her sitting in foul trouble, the team was left with just six players to rotate through.
A MORE NORMAL GAME FROM EDWARDS
After struggling earlier this season and losing her starting spot the last three games, Edwards had her best performance.
Two minutes into the second quarter the sophomore intercepted a Creighton pass at half court and ran down for the successful layup. Her third straight field goal a few minutes later gave UConn its first double-digit lead (27-17).
“I think the excitement of just coming back to actually playing, when we’ve been off for about like 20 days or so, really drove me,” Edwards said. “Just going back to the things I do best, going back to my strengths and relying on my teammates to help me be successful . ... Realizing that I had a lot of mixed matches with Creighton being a pretty guard-dominant team so just using my strength down there.”
Edwards ended with a season-high three steals and 12 points to go with three rebounds, one assist and one block in 22 minutes.
THE CHEST BUMP
In the final minutes of the first half, Ducharme drove into the lane and made a layup in between Creighton defenders. She then sprinted down on defense and put up a block against Creighton under its own basket. Ducharme was rewarded by an immediate chest bump from Mühl.
“She has so much enthusiasm. She has so much energy, and I think the team really feeds off of it,” Ducharme said.
UP NEXT: The Huskies are scheduled to face Butler in Indianapolis on Wednesday at 7 p.m. However, the Bulldogs’ program has canceled its past four games due to its own COVID shutdown. UConn’s next home game is scheduled for Saturday against Xavier at noon at the XL Center.