There’s always pressure to perform in the Basketball Capital of the World – to play up to the standard that the decade’s worth of legends forged before you.
The standard, as Geno Auriemma echoes from the video board before every home game, is simple in philosophy but difficult to replicate.
Play hard, play smart and have fun.
That pressure is felt ten-fold when those legends, whose teams are recognized as some of the most dominant to ever touch the hardwood, are sitting two rows behind your bench analyzing your every move.
But this year’s UConn women’s basketball team (18-0, 9-0) is constructed to bear that pressure. It’s chasing that same level of greatness – an undefeated season capped off by a national title – after all, and Thursday’s 99-50 smashing of Villanova (14-4, 7-2) looked reminiscent of the 2015 and 2016 teams that were honored just before tip-off.
“This team doesn’t have the opportunity to be that team,” Auriemma said when asked to draw comparisons between the 2026 and 2016 squads. “And nor will any other teams who ever play college basketball be like that team. Can they do similar things? Maybe. I would like for this team, whoever they play against, to beat.”
A host of former Huskies from the tail end of Connecticut’s four peat were in attendance for their team’s enshrinement into the Huskies of Honor, including Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck and Katie Lou Samuelson.
It can be surmised that their presence motivated these top-ranked Huskies.
Azzi Fudd peeled off a Sarah Strong down screen and drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to start the night’s scoring. The graduate’s quest for a 50-50-100 season on the wing remained in-tact in the 49-point drubbing of the Wildcats; Fudd posted 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including a pair of made 3-pointers.
Connecticut opened the game on a 17-6 scoring run and led by 18 at the end of the first, holding Villanova to a 3-of-15 mark from the field.
Sarah Strong scored an early eight points and propelled the Huskies on its monster day inside, rolling off screens and catching lobs from cutting guards.
But it was the play of KK Arnold that had Auriemma raving post-game.
“I was asked by the TV people covering the game who I thought our most improved player was up to this point,” Geno Auriemma said. “I would say KK [Arnold]. Her court awareness, confidence in herself and the way she carries herself – she’s an energy giver.”
The junior point guard tied her season-high of 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting, added a pair at the charity stripe and assisted seven teammates in her 22 minutes of game time.
She was also tabbed with guarding Jasmine Bascoe, the Wildcats’ top scorer who, coming into the game, averaged over 17 points and as many field goal attempts per night.
Bascoe exited the game, disgruntled, early in the fourth quarter with eight points on 3-of-13 (.231) shooting – a season low in field goal percentage.
“It gives us a lot of energy and intensity,” Strong said. “When KK locks in on defense, that carries over to our offense.”
Arnold picked up Bascoe at the Wildcats’ baseline and face guarded the sophomore from whistle to whistle – staying so close that she could smell her breath.
“We’ve been working in practice [on our communication] each and every day,” Arnold said. “We spend a majority of our time just communicating… just knowing our hard work is coming to light, that communication piece is going to take us a long way.”
Arnold’s hardy day on the perimeter notwithstanding, the Huskies’ wire-to-wire win over the No. 2 team in the Big East was punctuated by its 58-12 advantage in the paint and 23-2 advantage in transition. Connecticut was also +12 on the glass and forced 26 Wildcat turnovers, a season-high for Denise Dillon’s squad.
“I think it was a pretty complete game by us,” Auriemma added, “both physically and mentally.”
It was hard to poke a hole in the Husky outfit, which led by as many as 49 points, had four players in double figures and held Villanova to under 10 points in two quarters.
Strong’s 24 points, 10 made field goals and nine rebounds led all players, while Blanca Quiñonez’s 13-point, 4-rebound, 2-steal only furthered her case for Big East Freshman of the Year.
“She’s not even halfway to where I hope we can get her,” Auriemma said of Strong. “She’s not even halfway there, not even close.”
But Thursday’s game marked a larger milestone in the Huskies’ chase for a repeat: the halfway point. Less than three months remain for this exact group to play together on the same team.
“This thing doesn’t last forever,” Auriemma said. “You want to savor every moment of it; you want to cherish it all and you want to give it it’s due.”
The Huskies have four days to rest before Notre Dame comes to Storrs for a rematch of last year’s contest in South Bend.
The first quote SHOULD read:
“This team doesn’t have the opportunity to be that team,” Auriemma said when asked to draw comparisons between the 2026 and 2016 squads. “And nor will many other teams who ever play college basketball be like that team. Can they do similar things? Maybe. I would like for this team, whoever they play against, to beat.”
My apologies.