On Saturday, the UConn women’s basketball team had two big events. The first one, known around the country, was the 3-seeded Huskies’ game against 14-seed Jackson State. The other? That was legendary head coach Geno Auriemma’s birthday. As their coach turned 70, his Huskies made him proud with an 86-64 victory.
Playing at home for the first two contests, Connecticut had a solid game against a relentless Tigers squad. They shot 38% from beyond the arc and 50% from the field and did well in the rebounding battle. Seventy-four of the team’s 86 points came from their top three scorers, all of whom had exceptional afternoons.
At the top of that list was Paige Bueckers, who has been on a tear lately. The recently tabbed first-team All-America selection proved the voters right, notching an incredible line. She scored 28 points, had 11 rebounds, seven assists and three steals, clearly making her best player on the floor. With the Huskies’ rotation so short, Bueckers has been incredible—and needs to continue to be.
“I pulled [Bueckers] aside yesterday, and we talked a little bit,” Auriemma recalled. “I said, ‘What do you think I’m going to talk to you about?’ She said, ‘I have to take over the tournament. That I have to do what I did in the Big East Tournament and I have to make sure that I’m everything that my team needs me to be.’ So she kind of said it for me, you know, and that’s when I knew that it means a lot to her.”
Arguably just as impressive was Aaliyah Edwards, who may have felt slighted that she didn’t join Bueckers on an All-America team. In her second to last career game at Gampel Pavilion, the senior was electric and efficient, dropping a 20-10 line on 13 shots. She also thrived on the defensive end, tallying a few blocks.
While Bueckers is critical for UConn, Edwards is just as important. Their depth at the forward position is very light, and the Canadian has done extremely well to minimize the negatives of having so few options there. Jackson State isn’t the most difficult assignment, but as the challenges get steeper, she will need to continue to play at this tremendous level.
It’s easy to overlook Ashlynn Shade’s outstanding afternoon with how well Bueckers and Edwards played, but the freshman had a career night against the Tigers. She poured in a personal-best 26 points on 5/11 shooting from downtown. Shade failed to surpass 10 points in her last five tries, but this would be a great time to catch fire, as she did Saturday.
“It was definitely really exciting,” Shade noted of her first NCAA tournament appearance. “I had a lot of nerves and this anxious feeling before the game, when I went to bed and when I woke up. But to step out on the court and going through the starting lineup, to hear how loud our crowd was, I just felt like it was a dream. It was such a surreal moment to be out there. It was just really exciting.”
Auriemma was complimentary of his freshman’s game, especially in the context of how mentally challenging college basketball can be.
“Her confidence is back,” Auriemma said. “She lost it for a while, but it’s come back. I’ve always said when you’re a really good player and you’re a really good shooter, I have to be more like Paige [Bueckers]. You have to be slightly delusional and think you’ll never miss a shot, and if you do miss it, it’s the gods conspiring against you. It’s not your fault, and you should never get down on it, and maybe some of that is wearing off on Ash, but she certainly didn’t play like a freshman today. And she actually played better today than she has at any practice this week leading up to the game. So, figure that one out.”
It took the Huskies a moment to get going, but once they did, there was no looking back. After a minute and a half, Jackson State led 4-2, and then came Bueckers. The standout guard scored eight points in the first quarter, playing a huge role in the Huskies’ 17-0 run. Edwards was also a key contributor to the stretch with a few buckets, though she had trouble with JSU’s early physicality.
The Tigers managed four points towards the end of the opening frame, but Shade’s late three mostly negated the progress. Jackson State used a quick six straight to cut their deficit to a dozen, but the Huskies were unfazed. Bueckers hit a pair of shots, Edwards knocked down her chances from the charity stripe, and all of a sudden, UConn’s advantage neared 20 points.
Even as the Huskies rode a great offensive half with a handful of threes, JSU’s offense prevented the lead from growing. A triple from Ti’lan Boler at the horn made it just a 21-point game, not very surmountable, but also not embarrassing.
Shade had an explosive third quarter that saw her pour in 14 points, though the Tigers did well to keep pace. Throughout the matchup, UConn’s offense was firing on all cylinders, but their defense was less reliable. Especially in the third quarter, when the Tigers scored 22 points, they weren’t going away.
Ultimately, Mühl drilled a three at the third period’s buzzer that took all the air out of JSU, pushing the advantage past 20. Connecticut used this momentum to keep their lead and emerge with a 22-point victory.
It’s also notable that Mühl fell one assist short of tying the all-time record at UConn, dishing out seven assists. She will most likely steal the title on Monday in the round of 32, needing one to tie and two to pass.
That contest will be against Syracuse and will tip off at 6 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion. On the line is a bid to the Sweet 16, which will be in Portland, OR.