The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Siegrist, Villanova are up next for suddenly busy UConn team
UConn women’s basketball will play its fourth game in the eight days on Sunday when it takes part in its biggest Big East test of the season.
Not only is Sunday’s game against Villanova (2 p.m., CBS Sports Network) at the XL Center a rematch of one of the Huskies’ most historic losses last season, but it will also test the Huskies’ frontcourt against one of the nation’s best players: Maddy Siegrist.
The No. 5 Huskies enter Sunday’s matchup on a 12game win streak and remain on top of the Big East standings with an 11-0 conference record. The No. 21 Wildcats are second to UConn in the standings with a 9-1 Big East record.
Last year, the then-No. 8 Huskies were coming off a 19-point win over longtime foe Tennessee when they met Villanova three days later.
Whether it was fatigue from their previous game or the effect of losing Olivia Nelson-Ododa last minute to a groin injury, UConn couldn’t find any rhythm against the Wildcats.
Villanova led the whole game and shot 52% from the floor and 45.5% from the 3-point line.
The Wildcats’ defeat of UConn was their first since 2004 and snapped the Huskies’ 169-game win streak over conference opponents.
While Lior Garzon led Villanova with 19 points, then-junior Siegrist finished with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“I don’t think we did anything to deserve to win that game. They did everything to deserve that game,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the loss. “They played harder than us, they played smart than us, they beat us to every loose ball, they rebounded better than us, they made more shots than us. You don’t win games just because you show up, you know? You have to go out and actually win the game. And today, Villanova came in here and won the game.”
The two teams met again in the Big East Tournament Championship with UConn pulling out the revenge win. While the Huskies again won the conference crown (with a 16-1 conference record), the Wildcats finished right below them in second place at 15-4.
This fall Villanova was picked to finish third in the Big East’s Preseason Coaches’ Poll below both UConn at No. 1 and Creighton at No. 2.
Siegrist, a two-time USBWA All-American, was named the 2022 Big East Player of the Year and was chosen as the preseason Player of the Year for the 2022-23 season.
And the 6-foot-2 senior forward has already had a historic season just three months in.
On Jan. 20, Siegrist became Villanova’s all-time leading scorer with 2,414 points in 103 career games — the most career points of any male or female Villanova basketball player of all time.
“It’s surreal. I never could have dreamed of something like this,” Seigrist told Fox Sports’ Kim Adams after the game. “It’s all credit to my teammates and coaches. I’m just so grateful to play at Villanova.”
Siegrist has scored 20 or more points in every game this season, including scoring 41 against Temple on Nov. 20. She scored 18 of her points in the fourth quarter in the third 40-plus-point game of her career.
The New York native currently leads the nation with 28.5 points per game. She’s been named the Big East Player of the Week a conference record 15 times in her career (former Husky great Rebecca Lobo previously held the record at 12).
“I know Maddy Siegrist is probably conference Player of the Year because that son of a gun is damn good,” Auriemma said last week. “She has a huge impact on Villanova.”
The key of Sunday’s game will be how efficiently Aaliyah Edwards and Dorka Juhász are at containing Siegrist under the basket without getting into foul trouble.
Against Tennessee on Thursday, Edwards finished with 25 points (one shy of her career-high), seven rebounds and four assists. Juhász finished with 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals.
The Huskies will likely have just eight players for the fourth-straight game on Sunday as both Caroline Ducharme (concussion) and Azzi Fudd (knee) remain out.