It is not often that someone outscores Paige Bueckers in a basketball game. Aaliyah Edwards was the lone exception to that trend; she led the No. 2 UConn women’s basketball team in scoring 13 times last year.
No. 1 recruit Sarah Strong swiftly took over the reins from her frontcourt predecessor.
Strong led Connecticut with 17 points, four rebounds and six steals against the Boston University Terriers. Most of those numbers came in the first half, highlighting the Huskies’ 86-32 season-opening triumph over the Terriers at the XL Center.
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“Having her on the court is like having two or three players because she fills so many roles,” head coach Geno Auriemma said about the 6-foot-2 first-year student postgame. “We need her to play like an All-American.”
Although Strong did not collect a double-double in her collegiate debut, fifth-semester redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy did. UConn’s first-ever Egyptian player matched the North Carolina native’s 17 points and complemented it with 11 rebounds. Five of those were on the offensive glass.
“The more she plays, the more comfortable she is going to be,” Auriemma noted about El Alfy. “She had a pretty good pace about her today.”
The effort from two members of the Huskies’ frontcourt should not take away from the beginning of Bueckers’ final season in Storrs. She primarily took over the first quarter, scoring 11 of her 13 points at a 4-5 clip.
As the night wore on, though, the Preseason Big East Player of the Year spent more time commanding the court through the transition game. Bueckers facilitated the floor during her 24 minutes on the court, resulting in five steals and seven assists.
The Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List selection helped take some of the pressure off Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen and sophomore guard KK Arnold’s hands. Chen scored four points on 2-3 shooting in her UConn debut but spent more time finding her open teammates for five assists. Arnold, who sat out Sunday’s exhibition, came off the bench and recorded those exact numbers while taking one less shot attempt.
The six-time Big East Freshman of the Week’s 21 minutes were still nine fewer than sophomore guard Ashlynn Shade, who played a team-high 30. Defensively, Shade remained a menace with six steals and three total rebounds. On offense, meanwhile, the Big East Freshman of the Year collected 10 points on two triples and 4-9 shooting.
Allie Ziebell and Qadence Samuels each also buried two triples of their own. Both guards, who saw most of their action with Bueckers off the floor, combined for 14 points and four defensive rebounds.
Senior guard Alex Giannaros dropped 13 points at a 5-15 clip from the floor, accounting for nearly half of Boston University’s total offensive output. Sophomores Aoibhe Gromley and SiSi Bently supported Giannaros’ production with 13 combined points on five shot attempts apiece. While she only scored one point at the free-throw line, true freshman Allison Schwertner hauled in a career-best nine rebounds.
What the Huskies did defensively, specifically in the transition game, highlighted their performance in Hartford on Thursday evening. Connecticut’s consistent pressure from the five players on the floor yielded 37 points off 33 Terrier turnovers.
17 of those points—including the Huskies’ first 11 of the new season—came in that opening frame.
It took two minutes for Strong to get UConn on the board. The Huskies went on to make 12 of their next 16 shots behind a flurry of layups. Not even two Boston University timeouts could stop the momentum Connecticut gained throughout that opening frame.
Part of that had to do with the Huskies’ defense, which forced 11 turnovers and held the Terriers to just nine shot attempts. UConn, meanwhile, attempted seven three-pointers and made three of them. One of those came from first-year student Morgan Cheli, whose wide-open corner triple concluded a 31-point opening frame.
The Huskies continued taking the ball out of BU’s hands in the second quarter while utilizing their perimeter attack. Three different Huskies buried a triple in that period, most of which came with the two-time Big East Player of the Year off the floor.
Her absence from the court allowed Strong to take over on both ends of the floor. The McDonald’s All-American Game co-MVP capped off the first half of her collegiate debut with a one-handed floater mere moments before the buzzer.
UConn’s offense did not slow down until the Terriers called their third timeout. Boston University countered the Huskies’ half-opening 7-0 run with a 9-0 response over a five-minute window. Samuels ended the Terrier’s longest offensive outburst of the night with a three-pointer near the top of the key.
Bueckers checked out for the final time a minute later, giving Connecticut an opportunity to run their offense without their star guard. While the Maryland native answered that question during the exhibition, El Alfy did so on both sides of the ball in those final 12 minutes.
The Egyptian National Team center scored nine of her 17 points in that span while contesting for every rebound in the paint. Shade, meanwhile, made more of her mark on defense as the Huskies won their 29th-straight season opener.
All 10 players who checked into the game scored at least three points and grabbed a rebound. With what lies ahead, the 40th-year head coach cannot help but feel optimistic.
“We got a lot of great contributions from a lot of people,” Auriemma stated. “That is a great sign. We are going to need it.”
How quickly every healthy individual, including the veterans that return later in the season, becomes comfortable playing with each other is equally as important.
“It has been a focus in practice for us to really come together and play as a team,” Bueckers commented. “Play as a fist, not as individuals.”
UConn remains at home over the weekend but faces a more competitive challenge as the South Florida Bulls roll into town. Tip-off from Gampel Pavilion on Sunday is at 4:30 p.m. EST on SNY.
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