When they battled the No. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia, South Carolina on Sunday, the No. 15 UConn women’s basketball team saw more things go wrong than go right. For every point redshirt junior Paige Bueckers scored or rebound senior forward Aaliyah Edwards grabbed, the Huskies had multiple missed layups.
Playing the Xavier Musketeers, the lone Big East team without a conference win, UConn got the get-right game they desperately needed.
Down 6-4 after three minutes, the Huskies erupted for a 32-0 run between the first and second quarters. It was the highlight of Connecticut’s all-around performance in an 86-40 victory over the Musketeers. Punched in the mouth on Sunday, the Huskies retaliated with a powerful knockout blow.
“When you are coming off a tough game like that on Sunday, you never know what the response is going to be. Sometimes you are really aggressive, and you want to get that feeling out of your system. Sometimes you are pouting, and it carries over,” head coach Geno Auriemma said after the contest. “I thought we did the things that we wanted to work on, and we got a lot of kids in the game that we were hoping that we would be able to be in the game.”
The key ingredient to UConn’s success came on the boards. The Huskies grabbed a season-high 56 rebounds, 18 on the offensive glass, and bested Xavier in that regard by 36. Five players finished with 5+ boards; the two players who recorded double figures in that category each had a double-double.
Despite the high numbers, Connecticut collected just nine rebounds in the first quarter. As the offense — mostly Bueckers — started clicking, the Huskies’ presence on the glass gradually increased. The redshirt junior scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in that frame, taking shots without hesitation and landing them all but twice. When halftime hit, Bueckers outscored the entire Musketeers roster 15-13.
Edwards also outscored Xavier by herself through 20 minutes with 14 points, additionally flirting with a first-half double-double by snatching nine rebounds. In the first 20 minutes of their last two conference battles, UConn surrendered just 25 points on seven field goals. Beyond forcing several misses from the Musketeers’ injury-ridden lineup, the Huskies remained pesky in the transition game.
Connecticut’s dangerous defense twice kept Xavier off the board for over six minutes. During the Huskies’ 32-0 run, the Musketeers had 20 possessions between buckets; they recorded eight turnovers and attempted 12 shots without an offensive rebound.
Neither team could buy a bucket in the first three minutes of the second half. Once first-year guard Ashlynn Shade banked a floater, however, UConn put their foot back on the gas. The Huskies’ three-point shooting took a massive step forward as the half progressed, and the rest of the offense naturally followed suit.
From that deuce until first-year guard KK Arnold checked out of the game, Connecticut made 12 of their 14 shot attempts. The Huskies made just one in the last 4:25 as Xavier went on their best offensive and ended the contest on a 14-2 run. By then, the Huskies had snagged their 13th Big East win and Auriemma’s 1,201st.
Although her offensive efficiency declined in the third, Bueckers still finished at a 9-14 clip and found other ways to be impactful with seven rebounds and five assists. Edwards, meanwhile, racked up her sixth double-double in her last seven games and further strengthened her All-American resume.
“We try to get them going early,” explained Auriemma about their production. “They pretty much responded [in] every game this season. If we are going to win the Big East Championship, then it is going to be because of those two.”
Beyond the boards and their 52% clip from the field, UConn had a day in the transition game. The Huskies had 12 assists in their loss to South Carolina; they nearly tripled that number with 31. Senior guard Nika Mühl stayed out of foul trouble for her first double-digit assist performance in two weeks. Her 11 dimes put her at 597 in her career, two shy of Crystal Dangerfield for fifth in program history. Connecticut also had 13 steals, with Arnold accounting for five of them to go with her eight points.
Other than Shade, no starter played for more than 30 minutes. That provided the chance for UConn’s starters to get some much-needed rest.
It also gave the Huskies’ bench some extremely valuable time on the court.
Redshirt freshman Ice Brady benefited the most from the increased opportunities. Brady broke out when she dropped 17 points against the St. John’s Red Storm last month. This time around, the redshirt freshman collected her first-career double-double with 11 points at a perfect 5-5 clip and 14 rebounds in 24 minutes.
First-year guard Qadence Samuels also nearly collected her first-career double-double in 23 minutes. Samuels shot often, resulting in a 4-12 clip with two three-pointers and 10 points. In addition to letting it fly and wreaking havoc in transition and from the floor, the one-time Big East Freshman of the Week was scattered everywhere on the glass with eight rebounds.
Two Musketeers, Bridgeport native Aizhanique Mayo and first-year guard Daniela Lopez, scored in double figures on eight combined buckets. Mayo was the team’s primary three-point threat with half of Xavier’s eight threes. Lopez, meanwhile, captured four boards and dished out three assists on top of shooting 3-11 from the floor. Bronx native and leading scorer Mackayla Scarlett was the only other Musketeer with more than five points.
UConn’s second two-game homestand of the month starts tomorrow with senior night against a tougher opponent in the Georgetown Hoyas (16-9, 6-8 Big East). Four of the team’s 14 players will be recognized at Gampel Pavilion after the game, a break from previous years where it occurred beforehand. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. on SNY.