Only two coaches had done what Basketball Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma did heading into last night at the XL Center: win 1,200 games in their coaching career.
Auriemma’s milestone victory came by the largest margin at 33 points, but it required the most amount of work.
For an extended period of time, the No. 11 UConn women’s basketball team shot under 35% from the field. They scored 33 points in over 25 minutes of action, and reaching the 60-point mark seemed like a far cry. Once the U-5 media timeout hit in the third quarter, the Huskies were off and running.
UConn got into a groove they never snapped out of until their starters hit the bench. When that happened, the Huskies had dropped 34 points in the final 15 minutes of the game as they outdueled the Seton Hall Pirates, 67-34.
With the win, Auriemma becomes the fastest player to reach 1,200 in his career in college basketball history. Because of how low scoring it was, the 39th-year head coach’s most recent victory reminded him of what needed to be done to win games back in the 1980s.
“Some games, the ball does not find the basket, and you have to find other ways to win,” commented Auriemma after the contest. “You have to do some other things until it turns.”
First-year guard Ashlynn Shade shined as Connecticut’s main source of offense throughout the first half. Held to just one three-pointer in her last three contests, Shade let it fly from downtown for all 12 of her first-half points and most of her 17 on the evening. While the rest of the team’s offensive efficiency varied throughout the first 10 minutes, the five-time Big East Freshman of the Week was consistent.
The Huskies had their struggles for portions of the frame, but Shade made sure that they possessed a double-digit lead after one quarter with each three-pointer she buried. Seton Hall’s offense still struggled through the early portions of the second, but that is where the action came to a crawl.
A stifling defense that forced turnovers or a dominant offense had nothing to do with the slower pace of play. Both teams combined for nine fouls in the period’s first four minutes, with UConn committing five of them before the Pirates were called for one. By halftime, seven different players had at least two fouls.
It almost looked like fatigue had finally caught up to the Huskies when they opened the second half with a 1-6 clip from the field. While they led by as much as 19, the overall atmosphere in Hartford made it feel like Connecticut was playing from behind.
Enter Paige Bueckers.
The redshirt junior guard had two points in the first half, but once her shots started falling, the Huskies turned a corner. Beyond her improved offensive efficiency, Bueckers made sure her teammates got in on the offensive action. The redshirt junior scored or assisted on each of UConn’s last five field shots that they made in the frame. It set the tone for the rest of the evening.
That stretch hit six before Aaliyah Edwards’ floater off a block snapped it. As one might expect, the redshirt junior recorded the swat that set up the eventual bucket. Bueckers took her seat on the bench following Seton Hall’s second timeout; she finished with 13 on the night to go with four rebounds and five assists.
Once she checked out, her absence provided enough of an opening for the senior forward to take control like she had the past two games. Edwards added six more points to her totals in her final four minutes, getting it done defensively to make sure the Pirates could not rally. Sophomore guard Inês Bettencourt and redshirt freshman Ice Brady each scored once the senior forward sat down as the Huskies maintained their undefeated record in Big East play.
Edwards picked up where she left off in the post, but it was not just the scoresheet where she thrived. With almost every miss that Seton Hall had, especially in the first half, Edwards was right there on the glass. The senior forward had nine boards in the first quarter and 13 by the intermission; she picked up her second straight double-double with an efficient second half.
Connecticut strung together their strongest defensive performance of the season, but part of that had to do with the Pirates’ offensive inefficiencies. As a team, Seton Hall shot just 22.2% from the field and 2-23 from beyond the arc while turning the ball over 15 times.
No Pirate crossed double figures on the night but I’yanna Lops came the closest with nine points and a third of the team’s 12 shots. Savannah Catalon finished not far behind with six, while three other Pirates had four apiece with 10 combined rebounds.
Associate head coach Chris Dailey also hit 1,200 career victories with the Huskies’ 20th win of the season. She has been by Auriemma’s side on the sidelines the entire way.
“If she was not a part of this, it probably would not have happened,” said Auriemma.
UConn’s biggest game of the regular season comes on a very big day for sports: Super Bowl Sunday. The Huskies head down to Columbia, South Carolina, for a chance at handing the undefeated No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks their first loss of the season. It is a tall task for a Connecticut team with just nine healthy players to usurp the Gamecocks in their house, but that does not mean it cannot be done.
“It is more about making a statement within ourselves,” explained Edwards. “Whatever the outside noise is, we are going to cancel that out and make sure that we execute the things that we want to get done.”
Tip-off Sunday is slated for 2 p.m. EST on ESPN.