It’s easy to get caught off guard by a good three point shooting team that you’ve never played before (at a neutral site) coming off an emotionally taxing win over a top 10 team less than 48 hours before.
One or two mistakes and they catch lightning in a bottle from the perimeter and hang around longer than they’re supposed to. The offense can be sluggish and inconsistent, leading to unforced errors and turnovers.
It’s hard to play that way when Geno Auriemma is your coach, however. He’s been doing this for a little while now (14,800 days, to be exact) and knows a thing or two about running on empty.
“We made some mental mistakes and some physical mistakes.” Auriemma said. “We had to make some adjustments defensively in the day between the two games. And it was good that we played another team that’s averaging nine 3’s a game.”
Was it a coincidence that the defense turned out not to be a problem in top-ranked UConn women’s basketball’s (6-0) 93-41 win over Utah (3-3) on Sunday? No.
In fact, the defense anchored a 15-0 run to put the game out of reach for good early in the third period, forcing turnovers on four consecutive possessions (two of which came in the Utah backcourt).
It also helps when three players combine for 60 points and set career-highs in multiple areas while seldom seeing the floor in the fourth quarter.
Once of them, Azzi Fudd, hit on 9/11 field goals (which included a sterling 4/4 mark from three) to finish with 24 points and the game’s MVP trophy. She also reeled in a career-high eight rebounds (four of which were offensive – also a career-high), dished two assists and added a steal and block to the stat sheet.
“Today was one of the most aggressive halves that I’ve seen her [play],” Auriemma said. “I thought she was really over the top in how much she wanted to get shots off.”
Fudd sliced through the lane to get to her spots along the right elbow in the first half, pulling up on a handful of possessions in the second quarter from inside the paint to knock down uncontested rising jumpers.
“They always have that one player on the floor that can shoot from halfcourt,” Utah head coach Gavin Petersen said referring to Fudd. “You have to know where she is on the floor at all times.”
Fudd was hard to track down, whether she was gliding past everyone in transition or curling off a screen for an open three.
“There were times when she put the ball on the floor [and] she’s thinking ‘maybe I’m going to pass,’” Auriemma said. “I never got that feeling today. She was going to shoot it. And she did rebound it. And her defense was really good.”
The Huskies built an early multiple possession lead, aided in part from a slew of turnovers forced on the defensive end. Serah Williams found Sarah Strong, who curled off a screen along the baseline, for the game’s first points (Strong converted from the charity stripe after she was fouled on her initial shot attempt).
KK Arnold intercepted an inbound pass under the hoop and laid it in for her first points of the afternoon seconds later to put the Huskies up 6-3. From that point on, Connecticut never led by less than five and grew its first half lead as large as 25.
Blanca Quiñonez entered the game mid-way through the first period and tacked on six points in her first 33 seconds of action. Quiñonez parlayed a fast break layup with a free throw and her first of three triples all in between the 5:41 and 5:08 marks of the second quarter.
She was also pestering Ute ball handlers in conjunction with Arnold in a bottlenecking full court press that spanned from the first to fourth quarters.
“Because the way Blanca looks [on the court] and her experience, we forget is her first year playing here,” Auriemma said about her game against Michigan on Friday. “She’s a freshman. She plays in a rush to score, to do something.”
Auriemma referenced an intense film session he had with her on Saturday where he went over the mistakes that she had to correct – the aforementioned rushing being one of them.
“She responded like I thought she would,” he said. “She’s a pro.”
The freshman finished with a career-high 21 points on 8/11 shooting while adding five rebounds and a plus/minus of +40. Quiñonez finished 3/5 from behind the arc, using her explosive first step in contrast with her quick release to put defenders in a bind on the perimeter.
“We all know what she’s capable of,” Fudd said. “Once she starts to understand that and feel that as well, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The uber-consistent Strong was the third double-digit scorer, finishing with 15 points and four rebounds in 20 minutes.
“Good luck,” Petersen said of what it’s like game planning for Strong. “Flip a coin; what do you want to take away? Because she’ll make you wrong however you want to guard her.”
Although those three paced the Huskies with 60 of their 93 points, it was the contributions of Arnold as a defensive pest and Williams on the glass; Kayleigh Heckel in transition and Ashlynn Shade flying through the paint to knock the ball back into a Husky’s hand.
Connecticut finished with 37 points from its bench (16 from non-Quiñonez baskets), 40 points in the paint and 39 points off turnovers – all in 72 possessions, mind you.
The Huskies emptied the bench, having played 12 of the 13 available, by the fourth quarter media timeout — ten of them scored and 11 attempted a shot.
The Huskies are next in action in one week when they open Big East play at Xavier in Cincinnati.