As described by Cooklist, a turnover is a baked good that includes a puff pastry that envelops some type of filling, usually fruit, inside. A common breakfast item in the United States, it’s made in various forms and has numerous names worldwide. On Saturday, the DePaul women’s basketball team did their best job emulating a bakery with the number of turnovers they produced. The Blue Demons visited the No. 9 UConn Huskies and gave the ball away 27 times, with 18 coming in the opening half of action.
“Some of those [turnovers] we helped, some of those we did on our own,” UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma said. “We struggled in the Seton Hall game. That was a goal of ours–to get more easy opportunities. DePaul is hard to defend, but we put pressure on them.”
Their inability to keep the ball killed their chance to even come close. Connecticut dominated their once-rivals 88-51, in a matchup that once would have featured the two best in the Big East.
Besides the turnover deficit, it was also amazing how disciplined the Huskies were. They committed 10 fewer fouls than their visitors and shot 15 more from the charity stripe. UConn also made the most of their chances there, hitting on 96%.
Even with their strong shooting from the line, they didn’t connect as well from downtown as they often do. They made up for it inside, with 48 points in the paint and 58% efficiency from inside the arc. The level of resistance was low, but for such a depleted frontcourt, dominating in such a way has to be refreshing.
The headliner was Paige Bueckers, who again poured in a sensational performance. The star played 24 minutes and made the most of each one with 20 points, five boards, five assists and four steals. It’s hard to stuff the stat sheet better than that in such limited playing time. Bueckers continues her streak of excellence, with this performance coming off a 32-point outing against Seton Hall. She must continue to be automatic down the stretch as the Huskies’ go-to scoring option.
“There’s a huge impact she has on the game,” Auriemma noted of Bueckers. “For her, her impact is in so many different ways. The way she plays the game, the way she’s grown as a defensive player. She has a knack for where she’s supposed to be. She could get 35 every night if she wanted to, but she’s as happy watching her teammates score. There’s no part of the game that takes her by surprise.”
As Bueckers has thrived in the scoring department, there seems to be an increasing balance between her and Nika Mühl. The former has been focusing more on putting the ball in the hoop, while the latter has rediscovered her passing touch. Mühl dished out seven assists, and the team does better when she’s swinging the ball around. When she gets three or fewer dimes, Connecticut is 3-2. When she has four or more, UConn is 12-1.
Aaliyah Edwards did pretty well herself, notching 18 points and four boards. These numbers are already impressive, but they become more so when considering she scored 16 in the first half. Even more? She shot 10 free throws and went a perfect 10/10. She didn’t grab many rebounds as the team didn’t crash the glass particularly hard, but they evidently didn’t need to with such a large lead.
“I think UConn has her playing to her strengths,” DePaul coach Bruno said of Edwards. “She’s an All-American, and we don’t have a lot of size. Not a good matchup for us.”
Another Husky who put together a strong afternoon was Ashlynn Shade. Though she took nine more shots than anyone else on the team, she did post 21 points. A freshman who stepped up in a big way this year, Shade needs to keep her jumper on point into the upcoming tougher stretch of games.
“We’ve gotten accustomed to spurts where she does what she does,” Auriemma noted of Shade. “That’s who she is. We recruited a kid who’s a scorer. If you’d have told me she was going to get 19 shots, I’d ask what everyone else is going to do. She wasn’t efficient, but I like the fact that she’s aggressive.”
The Huskies were rough to start. After they led 8-3, DePaul took an 11-10 advantage. It culminated in a mishap on an inbound pass, a play that demonstrated how fast-asleep UConn was. Suffice to say, that sequence was like coffee.
Over the 5:50 that closed out the quarter, the Huskies scored and forced turnovers at an elite level. Their defense created a 20-3 run that effectively put the game to sleep. It didn’t help DePaul’s comeback efforts that they couldn’t stop turning it over. A charge here, a shot clock violation there, they couldn’t escape.
That ultimately led to an even weaker second quarter where they managed seven points, a figure Bueckers bested on her own. At halftime, the Blue Demons were down 28 to the tune of 18 turnovers and eight field goals. Not a formula to pick up a top-10 victory on the road. Even with a half to play, DePaul was toast, losing by 37.
UConn should face more of a challenge next time, playing against No. 22 Marquette in Milwaukee, WI, this Tuesday.