Five games and almost three full weeks into the 2024 calendar year, the No. 9 UConn women’s basketball team has been on the road four times. Their lone home contest on Jan. 10 took place at the XL Center in Hartford. For the first time since Dec. 6, UConn plays on their campus when they host the DePaul Blue Demons on Saturday.
Since they last competed in Storrs, the Huskies have thrived under head coach Geno Auriemma’s new lineup combination featuring three first-year guards with key roles. From the rotation’s debut 44 days ago to now, Connecticut has scored 80+ points in all but one of their 11 games and won by 25+ all but three times.
Redshirt junior Paige Bueckers is at the forefront of the Huskies’ potent offense, which has averaged 88.6 points versus Big East foes. Bueckers’ 21.0 points per night in conference play rank second only to Villanova’s Lucy Olsen, who averages 21.7. On top of her role as an offensive weapon, the redshirt junior has steadily developed the defensive capabilities of a power forward approach because of the team’s injury woes.
To say that the Minnesota native has handled the challenge is an understatement; her 20 blocks and 40 steals are both sixth in the Big East. Despite Bueckers’ intimidating pressure on defense, no individual does a better job of taking the ball away than freshman guard KK Arnold. The four-time Big East Freshman of the Week has harnessed her quickness into a fierce transition game; her 46 steals rank third in the conference.
Arnold’s fast pace of play complements a defense that has not allowed their opponent to score more than 64 points since UConn’s last loss on Dec. 3. Even with graduate forward Aubrey Griffin out for the season after suffering a torn ACL, only one of the Huskies’ opponents either scored more than 55 points or shot better than 40% from the field. Both of those performances occurred in separate games.
Senior forward Aaliyah Edwards has played her part as an All-American force in the paint. In Big East play alone, Edwards has had four games with a double-double and a fifth where she finished one board shy of the mark. 110 out of the senior forward’s 150 rebounds have been on the defensive end, where she has also rejected 14 shots and forced 26 steals. Wednesday marked the first time all year that Edwards did not strip the ball, but when she gets going, the Ontario native can be a problem on the defensive end.
With Griffin out, redshirt freshman Ice Brady has the chance to show the nation what made her the No. 5 recruit in the Class of 2022. Brady showcased her potential with a career-best 17 points against the St. John’s Red Storm last week, but Connecticut needs that performance replicated consistently, especially with several heavyweight battles on the horizon.
It starts with the Huskies’ upcoming opponent. DePaul experienced significant roster turnover during the 2023 offseason. That included the loss of All-American forward Aneesah Morrow, who transferred to the defending national champion LSU Tigers, and All-Big East guard Darrione Rogers, who left for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. All in all, only five players remain from last year’s team.
For the Blue Demons, it has resulted in another up-and-down season. DePaul beat both the Green Bay Phoenix and Loyola-Chicago Ramblers at home but also lost close contests to the then-No. 17 Louisville Cardinals and Miami Hurricanes. Both of the Blue Demons’ Big East victories have come against the Xavier Musketeers, who are currently winless in conference play. The second of those two wins broke a four-game losing streak, but three of those defeats were by single digits.
Graduate guard Anaya Peoples has scored in double figures in each of DePaul’s six conference games thus far. Her 17.6 points per game, a slight drop-off from the 13.5 she averages against Big East foes, ranks fifth in the conference. Beyond being an efficient scorer with a team-leading 129 field goals, Peoples causes headaches for any opposing offense with 50 steals and 17 blocks, the latter of which ranks 10th in the Big East.
Forward Jorie Allen has improved significantly as a graduate student in her fourth season in Chicago. Playing in all 19 games, Allen has gone from averaging 6.8 points and 5.5 boards a night as a senior to 10.7 and 6.5, respectively. The graduate forward’s peak of her Blue Demons career came against the then-No. 21 Creighton Bluejays. Despite DePaul’s seven-point defeat, Allen scored a career-high 22 points and backed it up with 10 rebounds for her third-career double-double. Both veterans will need to bring their A-game against a scorching team like Connecticut.
Sophomore guard Kate Clarke and graduate guard Michelle Sidor stand out amongst the Blue Demons’ eight newcomers. The Michigan transfer has started just seven games but ranks second on the team with 11.1 points a night and has made 38 three-pointers. Sidor, also a former Wolverine, has been a three-point threat of her own. Since getting shutout on Dec. 31, the graduate student has had two 19-point performances, with five triples in both of them and a 13-point game with three assists. Her 47 shots from downtown rank third in the Big East behind Marquette’s Mackenzie Hare and St. John’s Unique Drake.
Graduate guard Katlyn Gilbert, meanwhile, has made a name for herself in almost all facets of play. Beyond her 8.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per contest, the Missouri transfer controls the entire floor with 57 assists and a conference-leading 56 steals. Do not be surprised if Gilbert’s all-around style results in several one-on-one matchups against senior guard Nika Mühl in a defensive-minded Saturday matinée.
Tip-off in the first of four Big East battles at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion this season is slated for 2 p.m. EST on SNY and Fox Sports 97.9 FM.