During their most recent trip to South Bend, Indiana, the No. 2 UConn women’s basketball team suffered a defensive lapse. Connecticut allowed the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish to score 79 points, shoot 55.6% from downtown and grab 38 total rebounds. All of those were season-worsts for the Huskies.
Facing a current Big East Conference foe in the Georgetown Hoyas in Hartford, UConn heightened their intensity and stiffened their defense.
The Huskies collected 15 steals, converted 22 Georgetown turnovers into 30 points, grabbed 42 boards and swatted six shots. Although Connecticut had just a four-point lead after 10 minutes, their stout defense helped take down the Hoyas 79-44 at the XL Center.
Despite having the league’s top offense, head coach Geno Auriemma believes that competing at an elite level requires more than one style of play.
“We have a way to put lineups on the floor that gives the other team something different,” Auriemma said to the press afterward. “Every game calls for something different. You have to have the ability if you want to be a really good team to accommodate what that game needs.”
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Former No. 1 recruits Sarah Strong and Paige Bueckers nearly outscored Georgetown by themselves Sunday afternoon. Strong controlled both ends of the floor in her first Big East game while having the composure of a poker player. The 6-foot-2 forward notched her second-career double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, swatted two shots and dished out five dimes.
Only Bueckers had more points and buckets. The Minnesota native again spearheaded the Huskies’ offense, dropping 24 points on 11-16 shooting. Defense is where the two-time Big East Player of the Year really shined, however. Bueckers twice intercepted passes directly in front of her and doubled her season total in blocks.
First-year student Morgan Cheli supported the two-time WBCA All-American guard on that end of the court. Beyond shooting a perfect 2-2 from the field, Cheli collected three steals and grabbed five rebounds in 18 minutes. Auriemma rewarded the San Jose native’s defensive intensity by putting her on the court to start the second half. It could be a sign of things to come.
“She is an energy player; she gets herself involved in a lot of things,” Auriemma told SNY postgame. “You want somebody coming off the bench that impacts the game with their energy, with their hustle. She brings all that.”
Bueckers felt the same way.
“Tonight, she really showcased how well she knows the game,” the 2021 National Player of the Year noted. “Morgan [Cheli] is just really great at adapting to whatever role and whatever position she has to play out on the floor.”
Sophomore guard Ashlynn Shade applied her own defensive pressure in her second straight start. The Indiana native’s scrappiness yielded two steals and two rebounds, which complemented her nine points. No other player had more than six points, though each one of them scored at least once and played at least eight minutes.
UConn’s defense, specifically that from Kaitlyn Chen and KK Arnold (seven assists, three steals combined), held leading scorer Kelsey Ransom in check. Ransom grabbed seven rebounds and had three assists but dropped just seven points on 2-9 shooting before suffering an apparent hip injury.
Senior center Ariel Jenkins and first-year guard Jaeda Wilson carried most of the offensive workload instead. Jenkins finished one board shy of a double-double and had a team-high 12 points despite shooting 3-7 from the floor. Wilson made more baskets than any Hoya at four and scored a career-best 10 points.
Half of her field goals and points came in the contest’s first three minutes and put Georgetown up by one. The 5-foot-8 guard’s early contributions on offense highlighted a much different start than last March’s Big East championship game. Whereas that contest started with an 11-0 Huskies’ run, this one involved intense defense from both Big East charter schools.
It was not until Cheli sunk a wide-open three-pointer in the opening frame’s final minute that Connecticut started pulling away. The Huskies made each of their first four shot attempts, including a scoop-and-score from the 6-foot-2 guard, in the second quarter. Not even a Hoyas timeout slowed the UConn locomotive down; they made 10 of their 12 shot attempts in the period’s first seven minutes.
As the Huskies caught fire on offense, their defense tightened up tremendously. Connecticut collected eight steals and turned six Georgetown giveaways into 12 of their 23 points in the period. Even though the Huskies did not score in the first half’s final 2:48, the Hoyas could only muster two points at the charity stripe.
Ransom broke Georgetown’s four-minute field goal drought with a jumper on the first possession of the second half. The Hoyas pulled within 20 points on a triple and a free throw, though that was as close as they got. A plethora of cuts to the basket paired with their consistent defensive intensity helped UConn counter with a 13-0 run.
Yet as time expired in the third quarter, the physicality temporarily rose. The Huskies committed three fouls in four seconds on the same end of the floor. It only translated into two of Georgetown’s 10 points in the period. That grittiness under the basket did not carry over into the final frame, however. Each team scored 15 points but committed seven combined fouls as Connecticut secured their 12th-straight 1-0 start in conference play.
The Huskies have no time to rest as they face the No. 18 Iowa State Cyclones at Mohegan Sun Arena Tuesday night. Iowa State’s success primarily involves sophomore center Audi Crooks, and at 6-foot-3, slowing her down will involve a Herculean effort.
“It is not one person that is guarding her; it is all five people on the court and whoever steps in off the bench,” Bueckers explained. “It is definitely a team game plan more than ‘who is the one person that is stopping her.’”
Tip-off in the Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase is at 8:30 p.m. on FS1.
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