Entering Wednesday’s bout in Hartford, the No. 13 UConn women’s basketball team shot better than 50% from the field in six straight games. Despite keeping their streak of scoring 80+ points alive against the Providence Friars, UConn’s stretch of making one out of every two shots they attempted ended.
But even though the Huskies shot 46.8% from the floor, their worst mark in exactly a month, and 7-31 from downtown, it allowed a different aspect of their overall play to thrive. Connecticut’s defense reintroduced itself with an exclamation point, collecting a season-high 20 steals and scoring 33 points off 28 Friars’ turnovers in a decisive 85-41 triumph at the XL Center.
Freshman guard KK Arnold applied significant pressure with eight of the Huskies’ steals alongside her 16 points, speeding across the court like a flash of lightning more than once. The four-time Big East Freshman of the Week broke the scoreless deadlock just eight seconds into the contest and provided one of the early punches from the start.
Senior guard Nika Mühl delivered the other, picking up where she left off with two triples in the first 2:06 and crossing double figures four minutes later. Providence had turned the ball over three times when head coach Erin Batth called her first timeout, but that seemingly benefitted UConn more. The Huskies’ defense continued forcing the Friars into a litany of sloppy mistakes and capitalized on them often. By the end of the first quarter, 16 of Connecticut’s 27 points had come off of 13 Providence turnovers.
As both offenses slowed down in the second, freshman guard Ashlynn Shade lit up the floor with the Huskies’ first eight points in 4.5 minutes. Only redshirt junior Paige Bueckers scored for UConn beyond the reigning Big East Freshman of the Week in a much quieter frame, but even she had her struggles. Head coach Geno Auriemma had a word with Bueckers on the sidelines after she missed a three at the buzzer. It provided a much-needed spark for the redshirt junior.
Bueckers came out blazing in the second half by making her first three shots from the floor, including one from downtown, as the rest of the offense woke up. That included redshirt freshman Ice Brady, who made two buckets and played the role of a physical center when senior forward Aaliyah Edwards entered foul trouble. Once Brady picked up her third foul, however, Edwards returned and rebooted.
Held to two points and two rebounds in the first 20 minutes, the senior forward erupted with several shots in the paint and led a 14-2 run in the final 3:45 of the third quarter. While Edwards did most of the damage and Shade rediscovered her shooting stroke, Arnold put the cherry on top in a frame where the team shot 75% from the field by beating the buzzer.
The senior forward spent the entirety of the final frame on the bench, providing several opportunities for sophomore guard Ines Bettencourt and junior forward Amari DeBerry to get on the board. Bettencourt herself dropped a season-best six points at a 3-5 clip as time continued winding down. DeBerry had four of her own in the paint along with two rebounds. Only freshman guard Qadence Samuels did not get on the scoresheet as Connecticut held their opponent to 55 points or fewer in their third straight game.
Despite getting outrebounded by at least five in their second consecutive contest, the Huskies played highly disciplined basketball with just eight turnovers. Once she scored all 10 of her points in the contest’s first six minutes, Mühl turned her attention toward commanding the floor and consistently feeding her teammates. That resulted in a season-high 13 assists and the senior guard’s first double-double of the year. Wednesday’s contest marked the fifth time Mühl recorded 13+ assists in a game in her career; every other player in UConn history has four combined.
The Huskies nearly had two players finish with a double-double as Bueckers’ efficient second half resulted in a 13-point, nine-rebound outing. Shade and Edwards combined for 29 points on 13 field goals as every starter scored in double figures for the second time in four days. Like they did last week in Omaha, Neb., against the then-No. 21 Creighton Bluejays, Connecticut held Providence to a season-low in points (41) and field goal percentage (26.9%).
Senior guard Brynn Farrell buried half of the Friars’ four triples for 12 points while fellow senior Grace Efosa had eight with six rebounds. Leading rebounder Olivia Olsen, who entered Wednesday’s duel in a three-way tie for the league lead in double-doubles at seven, hauled in a game-best 13 boards. More than half of the team’s points (21, specifically) came from their bench.
Wednesday’s contest was the Huskies’ third of five Big East home games at the XL Center, but it served as an unofficial homecoming for Providence assistant coach Kaili McLaren, who previously coached at UC Santa Barbara for three seasons. During her four years in Storrs, McLaren won two national titles and earned a spot on the Big East All-Freshman Team in 2007.
Earlier in the day, it was announced that graduate forward Aubrey Griffin will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season with a torn ACL. She joins junior guard Azzi Fudd, redshirt freshman Jana El-Alfy and sophomore forward Ayanna Patterson on a list of players who are out for the year. While UConn passed their first two tests without Griffin, Saturday’s foe will be a much different beast.
The Huskies next face an aggressive St. John’s Red Storm program that is off to a 4-1 start in Big East play at UBS Arena. Behind graduate guard Unique Drake and graduate forward Jillian Archer, the Red Storm have already taken down ranked competition such as the then-No. 19 Marquette Golden Eagles in Queens. Tip-off from Elmont, N.Y., is scheduled for 2 p.m. on SNY.