After the No. 1 UConn women’s basketball team beat the Georgetown Hoyas Thursday night, Georgetown head coach Darnell Haney had some thoughts postgame about the Huskies’ squad.
“…since I’ve been here, this is the best team they’ve had,” Haney said, per Emily Adams of the Hartford Courant.
To be a great team, it takes many different variables.
Yes, you want to dominate the game whenever you enter the court.
However, it takes a great team to rally back should they struggle at any point during the games they play.
For UConn, this seemed to be the case on Saturday afternoon before they took the win over Seton Hall 92-52.
The game was originally scheduled for Sunday but was rescheduled to Saturday due to the impending winter storm. Connecticut had to travel overnight by bus from the nation’s capital to New Jersey to accommodate the new change in their schedule.
Things kicked off in South Orange, N.J., with the Huskies trailing for the first time in five games.
Despite the absence of the Pirates’ integral guard, Jada Eads, due to an ACL tear, Seton Hall had the Huskies’ number in the beginning moments of the first frame.
Connecticut trailed as much as 6-0, with senior forward Mariana Valenzula cashing in the first six points of the game for Seton Hall.
From there, senior Azzi Fudd scored nine points straight in efforts to cut their deficit and gain a steady lead.
It wasn’t until the latter half of the first quarter that the Huskies started to turn the game around, despite a lackluster performance on the defensive end.
“I think we got caught in a couple situations where, I think for the first time in, maybe four or five games, I thought our sequencing, our communication on the defensive end wasn’t 100%. And they took advantage of it, each time we made a mistake in that first quarter.,” head coach Geno Auriemma said to the media postgame.
Freshman Blanca Quiñonez was the anchor for UConn in turning the game around in Connecticut’s favor. The Ecuador native finished the game with 16 points and five rebounds.
“Having someone like her [Quiñonez] on the floor who can score at any time and makes great passes as well, it makes it so hard on the defense … and really opens it up for everyone else,” Fudd said to the media postgame when asked about Quiñonez.
Quiñonez, Strong and Fudd worked to stay consistent on the offensive end in the second quarter, and at the end of the first half, the Huskies led 50-28.
Even coming out in the second half with a 22-point lead, the Huskies did not take their foot off the gas. With a comfortable lead, the Huskies utilized it as an opportunity to showcase their depth up and down their bench.
One of these players off the bench included Allie Ziebell, who racked up her fourth double-digit point (11) performance this season.
“I feel like I’m not really necessarily worried about scoring, honestly. I feel like the shots will come just when you’re open or not. Sometimes, it’s your night, sometimes it’s not,” Ziebell said to the media postgame. “I feel like there’s other ways I can try to get better and impact in defense or rebounding, assists, anywhere like that. That’s more my focus.”
After the squad rallied back, UConn capitalized in the second half, taking advantage of Seton Hall and forcing the Pirates to turn the ball over.
Out of the 27 turnovers the Pirates attained, the Huskies contributed 37 points off those turnovers to their final score.
“That’s a big part of what we’ve been able to do this year; put pressure on the other team, force them to play a little bit quicker than they want to play,” Auriemma said postgame when asked about the points the bench racked up and the points his program scored off turnovers, “We’re fortunate we’ve got some quickness and we’ve got some length, and our style of play causes problems for people.”
After faring this weekend’s nor’easter, the Huskies will return to Storrs, Conn. Wednesday evening for a date with the Xavier Musketeers. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. from Gampel Pavilion and will be streamed on Peacock.