After sliding past the Marquette Golden Eagles 71-56 on Saturday afternoon, the top-ranked Huskies (27-0, 16-0) are gearing up to take on the No. 2 squad in the Big East conference against the Villanova Wildcats (21-5, 14-3) Wednesday evening.
While UConn took the win on Saturday afternoon, it broke their 21-game-long streak of winning games by over 25 points. The Huskies kicked off the game by struggling to match the fast tempo set by Marquette. However, graduate guard Azzi Fudd helped her program change the tide of the game.
Fudd finished the conference matchup with 25 points, shooting a perfect 50% from the field.
“They came in super aggressive on top of their stuff. I mean, their defense, their offense, their crashing the boards. They had every hustle play, and we needed to wake up,” Fudd said postgame to the broadcasters on FS1.
At halftime, the Huskies led 36-24 and sophomore Sarah Strong took it upon herself to keep that lead, and at one point, scored 17 consecutive points in a row for her squad.
Both Fudd and Strong have been catalysts for the Huskies all season long and have been given their flowers.
Fudd was named the Big East Player of the Week after averaging 22.0 points per game and shooting 66.7% from beyond the arc last week.
Strong and Fudd were also named to the 2026 Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Late-Season team Tuesday evening, averaging 19.2 and 17.8 points per game, respectively.
The Huskies have had seven players win this award 11 times, the most recent being Paige Bueckers in 2021.
As far as their conference bout against Villanova on Wednesday, Connecticut should look out for 5-foot-7 guard Jasmine Bascoe, who has averaged 18.1 points game, sitting at No. 2 below Strong in the Big East for points per game average.
The last time these two foes faced one another was on Jan. 15 of this year, where Connecticut took the win 99-50. In this matchup, the Huskies held Bascoe to just eight points and forced the guard to turn the ball over three times.
The key to staying undefeated in conference play for the Huskies to is to stay persistent on the defensive end by forcing as many turnovers as possible and setting a fast pace upon tipoff.
As far as injuries go for Connecticut, redshirt junior Ice Brady will miss the remainder of the 2025-26 season after undergoing successful surgery on her knee on Monday. Blanca Quiñonez, who has missed some time due to a shoulder injury, will most likely be back on Wednesday, per Daniel Connolly of the UConn blog.
Tip-off between the Wildcats and Huskies is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion in Villanova, Pa. Husky fans can tune in to the game broadcast on Peacock.