They say that everything is bigger in Texas. That certainly is the case for the No. 11 UConn women’s basketball team following their 1-1 performance in the Cayman Islands Classic, which resulted in them falling out of the Top 10 for the second time in three seasons on Monday. Sitting at 11th in the latest Associated Press poll, the Huskies face their second tough road test in four weeks against the team ranked one spot ahead of them, the No. 10 Texas Longhorns.
Beginning the season as the No. 2 team in the country behind the defending champion LSU Tigers, UConn has once again been stung multiple times by the injury bug. It started when redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy suffered a torn Achilles during the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in July, but since then, three more Huskies have joined the injury report.
The list includes guard Azzi Fudd, who dropped 32 points when Connecticut downed Texas in a top-five duel last year at Gampel Pavilion. Fudd suffered a torn ACL and medial meniscal tear in her right knee during practice on Nov. 14, prematurely ending her junior campaign after just two games. Junior guard Caroline Ducharme missed both of the Huskies’ Cayman Islands Classic contests with neck stiffness while sophomore forward Ayanna Patterson has not played since undergoing offseason knee surgery.
UConn’s “next man up” mentality put the spotlight on Aubrey Griffin, the team’s main X-factor. Although she did not earn a spot on the Cayman Islands Classic All-Tournament Team, the graduate forward dropped 31 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and forced five steals across the two-day gauntlet. Showcasing her talents on both ends of the floor, Griffin leads the team with 6.8 boards a night (3.2 on offense) and seven blocks.
Only redshirt junior guard Paige Bueckers finished with more points than the New York native in the Cayman Islands Classic at 53. Third in the Big East Conference and 28th in the nation at 20.7 points per game, Bueckers has stepped up as a leader in the 28.5 minutes she spends on the court on average. Senior guard Nika Mühl’s 28 assists and 10 offensive rebounds, meanwhile, complicate any defense that focuses their attention toward swiping the rock, especially from the Minnesota native’s hands.
An accidental elbow to the face in the third quarter of Saturday’s win over the Kansas Jayhawks contributed toward it, but senior forward Aaliyah Edwards had a less than ideal time in the Cayman Islands with 14 points on 6-19 shooting and 12 rebounds between both games. For the Huskies to be successful in their second consecutive bout with Big 12 competition, Edwards needs to rediscover the interior aggression and mid-range jumper from her first four games this season.
With all the uncertainty heading into Connecticut’s sixth straight matchup against Power Five opponents, expect one of freshman guard Ashlynn Shade or Big East Freshman of the Week KK Arnold to make their first start on United States soil should Ducharme miss her third consecutive game.
At 8-0, Texas is experiencing their best start to the season since 2015-16, when they did not lose a non-conference contest until the Elite Eight. Seven out of the Longhorns’ eight wins have been by 30+– plus points, albeit while playing mostly Quad Three and Quad Four teams. Texas’ lone victory by less than that mark came in their second game of the year on Nov. 12, when the Liberty Flames were down six at halftime and ultimately lost by 18.
Not even the South Florida Bulls, who are 35th in Warren Nolan’s NET rankings, could muster much versus the Longhorns as they scored in single digits in all but one quarter during a 76-44 loss in the Virgin Islands last Saturday. Junior guard Rori Harmon took home Paradise Jam Reef Tournament MVP honors along the way, guiding a Texas offense averaging 91.8 points. Second on the team with 11.8 points per game, Harmon also thrives as a fluid floor facilitator with a conference-leading 60 assists and an assist/turnover ratio of 7.5.
Dropping buckets versus the Longhorns becomes harder when dealing with their taut defense, especially when they have outrebounded their opponent by 20-plus, four times. Texas collects 45.3 boards a night, with senior forward Taylor Jones being the most prevalent presence on the glass. Jones ranks third in the Big 12 Conference with 60 rebounds, almost half of which came in two different games, partially supporting her team-leading 17.5 points per game at a conference-best 73.2% clip.
The fifth-year senior does not get it all done in the interior by herself, however. Sophomore forward Amina Muhammad has created the most second-chance opportunities for the Longhorns with a Big 12-leading 26 offensive rebounds, complementing her 6.6 boards per contest and 13 steals. Senior forward Khadija Faye (20 offensive rebounds, 12 steals) rounds out a three-person frontcourt that makes it a struggle for the opposition to find any open spot on the court.
Graduate guard Shaylee Gonzales flies under the radar with how intimidating Texas is on the inside. Because of how little attention she may receive in any foe’s schematics, do not be surprised if Gonzales goes off for her sixth double-figure performance in her last seven games. Forward Madison Booker, ESPN’s No. 12 recruit in the 2023 class, also gives other teams fits via her 10.8 PPG and 28 assists.
Heading into the 11th all-time meeting between the two state flagship institutions, the Huskies are 0-2 when Bueckers drops 25-plus points and 4-0 when she scores 24 or less this year. With the multi-faceted style of play the Longhorns facilitate, UConn needs significant contributions from its entire starting five and most of its bench in its first-ever trip to the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.
Tip-off in the Huskies’ 14th appearance in the Jimmy V Women’s Classic commences on Sunday at 3 p.m. EST on ABC.