The UConn women’s basketball team had every right to roll over and let their season die this past weekend. By their standards, it was a brutal year for them. Nothing went right. During a time when the competition was greater than it’s ever been in women’s college basketball, they were dealt the roughest hand. Ayanna Patterson: out for the season. Jana El Alfy: out for the season. Azzi Fudd: out for the season. Caroline Ducharme: out for the season. Aubrey Griffin: you guessed it, out for the season. That’s five players who were expected to play a significant role on this year’s team who were sidelined.
Maybe it was some sort of cruel trick. A punishment, perhaps, for all the success that UConn enjoyed in the 20 or so years between 1995 and 2016. People would have understood if the Huskies didn’t get it done this year. Having just seven healthy players is a good excuse to lose one game, much less being stuck at that figure for half the season.
It wasn’t the ideal seven players either. Paige Bueckers, Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl are all going to see their names on the walls of UConn’s facilities some day. But their supporting cast was less proven. Freshman Ashlynn Shade spent the first portion of the season without any guarantee that she’d see minutes this year. She was behind Fudd, who was likely to command a ton of playing time, along with Aubrey Griffin. KK Arnold, a fellow freshman, had some playing time carved out from the get-go, but she wasn’t expected to log 30 minutes per game.
Even less proven were Ice Brady and Qadence Samuels. Brady, a redshirt freshman, was on the fringe of the rotation before El Alfy got injured. She had her struggles throughout the season. Samuels wasn’t expected to get much — if any — playing time this year, but was thrust into some surprisingly big situations.
The Huskies tore through an unusually weak Big East that didn’t see any other teams advance to the second weekend. Finishing off a perfect 21-0 conference slate, they entered the NCAA Tournament as a 3-seed. Hosting the first weekend, UConn took care of business against a surprisingly feisty Jackson State squad and then escaped Syracuse. And it took every one of Bueckers’ 32 points to get there.
On the other side of the bracket, 7-seed Duke upset 2-seed Ohio State, the team that knocked UConn out of last year’s tournament. That upset didn’t win the Huskies’ matchups for them, but it certainly eased things up. It’s always nice when the bracket breaks in your favor.
Connecticut ran out of gas in the fourth quarter against the Blue Devils. Though they boasted a 20-point lead at one point in the game, they had every right to pack it in. Basketball is not easy when you’re running such a short rotation, especially when Edwards was suffering foul trouble. They still made it out alive.
And in the Elite Eight against 1-seed USC, nobody would have faulted them with a loss. They played a USC team that was built on freshman phenom and the nation’s second leader in scoring JuJu Watkins and help from an unproven but veteran supporting cast.
Early on, it looked like the Huskies might have run their course. With the clock ticking on their season, they trailed by nine points just seven minutes in. But Bueckers was relentless. She, with the help of Edwards, scored nine straight to tie things up. They used that momentum to build a six-point lead, but even as that was happening, the Huskies were picking up fouls. If there’s one thing you can’t do when you’re running such a short rotation, it’s fouling. By the time the second frame was halfway through, Mühl had two fouls and Arnold had three. The inevitability of the fatigue and foul trouble felt like it was catching up as the Trojans tied the score heading into halftime.
Again, though, the Huskies surged. Fueled by a halftime breather, Connecticut scored 19 of the half’s first 26 points and suddenly, they led by 12. Watkins led a push back against the drained Huskies, reducing the advantage to just four heading into the final period.
UConn was surely toast as Watkins scored four straight baskets with 4:38 to play, cutting it to just one point. It was a good run, the Huskies tried their best, but they were spent. Then came the senior leadership, using their second, third, fourth or maybe even fifth wind to push their team to the finish line.
A Bueckers jumper here, a deep three there, an Edwards and-one. Blink and you may have missed Connecticut’s 11-0 run that pushed up against the final moment of action. Even as they missed their free throws down the stretch — seven straight, to be exact — the Huskies held on. The stars came through and the unproven help did just what they needed. They were back in the Final Four.
Given the circumstances, this feat is incredible. So many key players in street clothes on the bench. So little to work with. This is an A+ coaching job by Geno Auriemma. To navigate these obstacles and still make it to the Final Four is amazing.
And what a run for Paige Bueckers. She may not have four rings or numerous player of the year honors, but she’s done everything within her power in Storrs, especially this year. She hasn’t seen the bench since the first round and is taking 22 shots per game. Still, she shoots over 50%. She’s been pouring in points, hitting tremendous shots and getting blocks and steals. This has been a historic stretch that fans will remember forever.
However this run finishes, it’s impossible to ignore how incredible this has been. Nothing has been easy, but they still got it done. They’ve been playing with house money for a while and have already checked all their boxes. But who knows? If they keep playing, maybe they’ll hit the jackpot — even if nobody’s expecting them to.