UNCASVILLE – For the last 11 months, the top-ranked and undefeated UConn women’s basketball team has looked more like a boulder rolling downhill than a group of collegiate athletes.
It’s squished everybody in its repeat-seeking path, flattening its previous 33 opponents by an average of 38 points per game and cruising to a sterling, never-before-seen 20-0 record in Big East play.
The momentum it amassed from its 31-0 regular season has carried into postseason play as well: after exploding Georgetown and Creighton by a combined 96 points in the quarter and semi-final rounds of the Big East Tournament, No. 1 UConn (34-0) steamrolled Villanova (25-7) 90-51 to capture its 13th consecutive conference title and sixth straight since rejoining the Big East ahead of the 2020-21 season.
“It’s definitely not easy,” Azzi Fudd said when asked how the top-ranked Huskies make wining look so simple. “It’s coming every single day to practice not knowing what the coaches are going to throw at us, not knowing what the practice players are going to throw at us.”
It was the Huskies’ 50th straight win – all of which, for the most part, have come in dominant fashion. Unbeaten. Undaunted. Unopposed. Queens of the Big East yet again.
And it started exactly like the previous 49. Sarah Strong grabbed a rebound on the opening possession, hit a transition 3-pointer on the second and picked up, along with KK Arnold, Villanova’s inbound at the baseline right after.
Arnold picked Jasmine Bascoe’s pocket on the second Wildcat possession and ran it to the rim for another basket. Strong hit a long jumper from the top of the key on the next. Fudd rebounded her own miss and hit from midrange after that. Serah Williams rolled in a look from Strong seconds later.
It was too much for second place and NCAA Tournament-bound Villanova to handle. The Huskies’ vaunted full-court press and debilitatingly quick pace of play worked in conjunction to give Connecticut a 17-5 lead with three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
And after Blanca Quiñonez came off the bench and added seven points in less than five minutes, that lead had ballooned to 20 by the second quarter media timeout.
Much of the Wildcats’ first-half exhaustion can be credited to Arnold, who slashed through lanes in transition for open looks at the net and smothered Bascoe, an All-Big East selection, with shrink-wrapped on-ball defense from baseline to baseline.
“I would say her confidence in both of the games,” Strong said of what helped Arnold perform so well in the Big East Tournament. “KK’s been doing really well in practice, and I’m happy to see that she’s been able to carry that through the tournament and realize that nobody can guard her.”
Arnold finished with in double-figures for the third straight game, capping arguably her best 48 hours in a Connecticut uniform with an all-tournament nod. The junior point guard also dished a game-high seven assists and grabbed three steals in 19 minutes.
“I think she’s grown more in the last four months than she had in the previous two years combined,” Geno Auriemma said of Arnold. “KK wasn’t doing this in November. She wasn’t doing all this with this kind of confidence in December.”
Fudd continued the defensive onslaught sparked by Arnold, walling up and stripping Kennedy Henry at halfcourt (Villanova’s 12th turnover of the first half) for an easy lay-in at the rim in the final seconds of the second period. The Huskies took a 49-23 lead into the half, spurred on by a 20-of-34 (58.8%) mark from the field and a 28-4 advantage in the paint.
Strong started the second half with a jumper that was supplemented by two Fudd 3-pointers and an Arnold lay-in within the next 90 seconds. UConn stretched and pried its lead to as large as 31 by the end of the third and began emptying its bench before the end of the period.
Fudd and Strong, who played their last game together at Mohegan Sun Arena, combined for 37 points on 15 made field goals, spearheading UConn’s seventh consecutive and 29th overall 80-point game of the season. Fudd also picked three Wildcat pockets while Strong notched eight rebounds.
Strong was awarded Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player after the game for her averages of 17 points, seven rebounds and five steals in three games.
Fudd, meanwhile, celebrated her final career Big East game with 19 points on eight field goals, also qualifying for the All-Big East Tournament Team.
“She doesn’t say much,” Auriemma said of Fudd. “She doesn’t. She never has. But her being around and what she says – it matters. The impact has been maybe more on the court for the first time, this year. There’s an assertiveness of, ‘I’m at that age now, and there’s no one around that I need to defer to.’ I think that’s been the biggest impact that she’s had on these kids.”
The two superstars watched from the bench in the fourth quarter as Allie Ziebell and Kayleigh Heckel carved Villanova’s demoralized defense apart. Seven Huskies scored at least six points in the 39-drubbing, contributing to UConn’s 33 bench points.
Connecticut finished with 18 points off 15 Wildcat turnovers and led for over 39 minutes in the championship game bludgeoning.
The Huskies will now wait until Sunday for the March Madness Selection Show to see who they’ll play in their presumed first and second round games in Storrs.