During the No. 6 UConn women’s basketball team’s latest two-game road trip, Paige Bueckers scored eight total points in the first half. The two-time Big East Player of the Year picked up that many points against the DePaul Blue Demons Wednesday evening.
Back at the XL Center in Connecticut’s capital, however, Bueckers looked completely different.
The Minnesota native, minus the usual braids in her hair, played assertive basketball right from the opening tip. Bueckers constantly disrupted the Butler Bulldogs defense and drove to the basket. The two-time Big East Player of the Year had 16 points at halftime; she ultimately finished with 18 on 7-14 shooting.
Bueckers was not alone on offense, though. Six separate Huskies crossed double figures in a balanced 101-59 beatdown of the Bulldogs Sunday afternoon. Potent as their offense was, head coach Geno Auriemma believes when players pick up that 10th point is critical this late in the season.
“If you are able to get multiple [people] in double figures, and you are able to do that in the first half, that is fantastic,” Auriemma said postgame. “We have to make sure that we are able to distribute the ball enough, and people have to be productive. That is when we are at our best.”
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Not even 6-foot-3 forward Sydney Jaynes could stop UConn from running their offense effectively in the paint. The Huskies cut to the rim very often, which consistently left them all alone right under the basket. First-year student Sarah Strong contributed significantly there, ultimately recording 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks. Redshirt Jana El Alfy, meanwhile, also flirted with a double-double with 10 second-half points and five boards.
Sophomore guard KK Arnold further sparked Connecticut’s interior play with her blazing speed. Arnold turned most of her game-high four steals into fast-break opportunities, something that helped her shoot a perfect 6-6 for 12 points.
Four separate Husky guards provided their own punch from downtown. Graduate guard Azzi Fudd built off last Wednesday’s outing with 13 points, three three-pointers and three assists. Sophomore guard Ashlynn Shade also dropped 13 while grabbing four rebounds. Allie Ziebell and Kaitlyn Chen rounded out the attack with six points on two triples apiece.
UConn was as well-balanced on offense (they shot 64.5% from the field) as they were on defense. The Huskies turned 22 giveaways into 34 points, recorded 12 steals and swatted nine shots. For Bueckers, the way Connecticut plays defense could serve as the catalyst for what they do as a team.
“It is extremely fun. Everybody gets touches; everybody is running,” Bueckers stated. “Playing at that pace it leads to everyone succeeding.”
Butler, despite their turnovers, only lost by 42 because of their effectiveness from long range. The Bulldogs shot 12-27 from downtown and scored more points on threes (36) than they did on twos (23).
Nearly half of them—five exactly—came from Kilyn McGuff, who picked up her 1,000th career point in the process. McGuff, Butler’s leading scorer and rebounder, stepped up again with 17 points and seven boards in 33 minutes.
Sophomore guard Riley Makalusky provided another bright spot for the Bulldogs. Coming off the bench for the eighth time this season, Makalusky shot an effective 4-6 from the field for 10 points. Jaynes stepped in as Butler’s third-leading scorer at nine points, but she did not grab a single rebound.
The Huskies scored 10 points, all of them coming inside the arc, before the Bulldogs landed a two-pointer. Butler had attempted just one shot when head coach Austin Parkinson called timeout less than two minutes into the game. While the Bulldogs’ offense woke up after that stoppage, Connecticut’s defense did not relent.
Butler committed seven turnovers across an eight-minute span; four of them came on Huskies steals, with Arnold accounting for three of them. UConn’s consistent cuts to the basket further complicated the Bulldogs’ ability to slow them down.
Strong’s only three-pointer gave the Huskies a 17-point lead after the first quarter. Connecticut led by that much four minutes into the second; another minute passed before the home side really broke away.
The 5-foot-9 guard and the 6-foot-2 forward landed layups on consecutive possessions that forced Butler’s second timeout. Karsyn Norman ended a 10-0 Huskies run, but that was when Shade quickly became more involved. The reigning Big East Freshman of the Year found Aubrey Griffin alone under the basket and ended the first half with back-to-back triples. Both of those buckets helped Shade cross double figures and gave UConn a 33-point halftime advantage.
The Huskies turned to their post defense early in the third quarter. Connecticut had more blocks in the first four minutes (four) than they had in the entire first half (three). El Alfy had half of them, with both coming after she scored on back-to-back possessions.
Fudd also had a stretch where she made consecutive shots, but that third quarter more than belonged to Arnold. The Wisconsin native dropped six points, all on layups, in a 2.5-minute window late in the period. Nearly every time Arnold had the ball in her hands in that stretch, she did not hesitate to drive directly to the basket.
That was not the Huskies’ only damaging blow in an otherwise slow second half. The Egyptian native crossed double figures and Qadence Samuels struck in the final frame as UConn matched their season high in points.
The Huskies’ stretch of 11 straight Big East battles has concluded. With it comes a time for reflection, especially with tougher challenges ahead.
“I would like to think that we have things trending in the right direction, but there is still a lot between now and March 2 when the regular season ends,” the 40th-year head coach explained. “Thursday is another opportunity for us to see what we have got.”
Connecticut faces their first pivotal road test of February four days from now when they take on the No. 18 Tennessee Volunteers. Tip-off from Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville is at 6:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.
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