UNCASVILLE — Geno Auriemma sat at the podium following UConn women’s basketball’s 88-60 win over Syracuse Monday resting his head on one hand and tapping the stat sheet in front of him with the other.
His taps carried through the microphone on the podium and out of the speakers flanking him as a wry smile began creeping across his face.
“I liked some of the things we did,” Auriemma said, peering down at the box score, “and I’m not happy at all with some of the things that happened tonight.”
A lot happened in the Huskies’ preseason opener, including Jovana Popovic, a 5-foot-9 true freshman, getting a start in her first taste of collegiate action and Olivia Vukosa, another newbie, leading the team in rebounds.
Below are five takeaways from the first 40 minutes of the UConn women’s basketball season.
There are four ball handlers on the roster capable of playing 20 minutes a game
Popovic joined senior KK Arnold in the starting lineup and scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in a confident display of offense. Similarly, Arnold scored 11 points on three made field goals, shooting 5-of-7 from the free throw line.
Junior Kayleigh Heckel came off the bench and hit two of UConn’s three 3-pointers, scored 10 points and grabbed three rebounds in 18 minutes. Sophomore Kelis Fisher scored 11 points in 12 minutes and was active from all areas on the floor, adding five from the charity stripe.
Arnold and Heckel — and, to an extent, Fisher — were already expected to contribute major minutes, but the early emergence of Popovic gives UConn four quality ball handlers, all with vastly different skillsets, to space out across 40 minutes each game.
“She’s going to be a big help to us because she’s different than KK,” Auriemma said of Popovic. “She’s different than Kayleigh Heckel, you know? She’s certainly different than Kelis, but then again, everybody else is, too.”
The rotation will be deep at full strength
Assuming enough players are healthy, Auriemma’s rotations usually hover at nine deep, with the starters typically — although not always — averaging over 20 minutes per game.
That’s relatively standard, but Connecticut’s depth, especially in the backcourt, could stretch the rotation 10 or — gasp! — 11 deep in 2026-27.
Granted, Monday’s game was the preseason tip-off, meaning a handful of lineups that were on the court will likely be erased in three weeks, and three Huskies — Blanca Quiñonez, Allie Ziebell and Marine Dursus — were sidelined by injury, but seven of the 10 players who got on the court finished in double figures.
The starting lineup, assuming Quiñonez remains on schedule to play on Nov. 2 against Cornell, seems solidified with Arnold, Ashlynn Shade, Quiñonez, Sarah Strong and Jana El Alfy, meaning Popovic, Heckel, Ziebell, Fisher, Vukosa and Morgan Cheli will all compete for the rest of the minutes off the bench.
Have fun, Coach.
Getting Quiñonez back will remedy the defensive woes
Quiñonez, who’s still recovering from off season surgery to repair a torn labrum, is expected to assume the No. 2 scoring role behind Strong in the starting lineup. The 2025-26 Big East Freshman of the Year averaged 10.7 points in just over 20 minutes per game last season and offered a tremendous offensive boost off the bench, finishing as the team’s third-leading scorer.
But it was often Quiñonez’s defensive spunk — particularly on the ball — that helped her carve out such a large role as a freshman and helped UConn finish No. 1 nationally in defensive efficiency last season.
That edge and awareness were noticeably missing from UConn’s defense at times on Monday, particularly during the second quarter, when Syracuse shot 50% from the field and scored eight points in the paint.
More than anything, getting Quiñonez back as the team’s fiery wing defender to complement Arnold and Heckel up top and Strong and El Alfy down low will do more for Connecticut’s defense, which should again rank near the top of the country.
Don’t read too much into the poor 3-point shooting
UConn shot 3-of-22 from 3 against the Orange, good for a ghastly 13.6% mark overall, and sank only two triples across its final 73 possessions after Sarah Strong nailed a pullup 3 to open the game.
That isn’t particularly efficient, and Syracuse head coach Felisha-Legette Jack even admitted post-game that the Orange backed off the 3-point line in the second half to protect the paint. But remember, UConn didn’t have two of its top 3-point shooters in Ziebell (ankle) and Quiñonez (shoulder) available, and the uber-efficient Strong shot just 5-of-15 from the field after her opening possession make.
Ashlynn Shade, who’s famously caught fire from 3 at Mohegan Sun Arena, attempted only twice from deep while Popovic, who’s shown brilliant flashes from behind the line this off season, shot only one 3-ball.
The silver lining: UConn, after shooting 2-of-15 from deep in the first half, only attempted seven 3’s in the final 20 minutes and poured in a combined 45 points in the paint and off turnovers as it stretched its lead as large as 31 points.
UConn showed it knows how to win, even if it’s ugly at times
UConn won the rebounding battle (42-38), turned the ball over less (11-17), recorded more assists (19-8) and tripled Syracuse’s steals (12-4) while getting just nine points from 3 in a 28-point win.
The Huskies racked up 25 points off turnovers, 56 in the paint and 33 off the bench while — surprisingly — shooting 21-of-24 from the charity stripe.
It wasn’t pretty for most of the first half, but Connecticut found what worked by way of driving to the basket and relentlessly rebounding on the offensive glass to rebuild and eventually double its first-quarter lead of 15 points.