STORRS — Michigan wasn’t the highest-ranked opponent on the UConn women’s basketball team’s schedule during the preseason, but after seeing them deliver Notre Dame a 49-point rout last week, coach Geno Auriemma realized the Wolverines were likely the best team his Huskies would see before March.
On Friday, No. 1 UConn will play its first top-10 matchup of the season against No. 6 Michigan in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Huskies already hold a ranked win from their season opener against No. 21 Louisville, but the Wolverines provide a far bigger challenge for the reigning national champions and a way to measure their early progress.
“I think it’s great that we have a game like that early this season,” Auriemma said after practice Thursday. “You try to get as many of these as you can before Big East Conference season starts — and even during for us — so it’ll be a good test for our young guys and for our other guys too. There’s a reason they are where they are. They’re a really, really good team.”
UConn (4-0) has never faced Michigan (4-0) before, but there are plenty of familiar faces on head coach Kim Barnes Arico’s staff. Barnes Arico went head to head with Auriemma dozens of times while leading St. John’s from 2002-12, and her squad dealt the Huskies one of their biggest upsets in program history when it ended UConn’s 99-game home winning streak with a 57-56 victory at Gampel Pavilion in February 2012.
Almost the entire Michigan staff also came through the Big East. Assistant Melanie Moore was head coach at Xavier from 2019-23, while assistant Justine Raterman was on staff at Marquette from 2019-24 and assistant Jordann Reese is in her first year with the Wolverines after spending the last five seasons at Creighton. Assistant coach and general manager Natalie Achonwa played in the Big East at Notre Dame from 2010-14 during the height of the historic rivalry and had a 7-5 record against UConn during her college career.
“It’s a different kind of roster than (Barnes Arico) had at St John’s, but I think since she’s been in Michigan, she’s had teams that were pretty balanced,” Auriemma said. “They’re not way towards one person or two people. They’re pretty well-balanced, they do a good job playing together, and they move without the ball pretty well. I see a lot of similarities between how we play and how they play.”
The Wolverines have five different players averaging at least 10 points through their first four games, anchored by a core of sophomores standouts. Olivia Olson, who was the No. 20 prospect in the Class of 2024, is the team’s leader with 17.8 points per game on top of four rebounds and 2.2 steals, while former No. 4 recruit Syla Swords is the rebounding leader with 5.2 per game plus 12.2 points. Mila Holloway leads in assists with six and steals with 3.5 on top of 14.2 points.
“It seems to me because of all the playing time they got last year, I think they’re maybe a little further ahead than you would think,” Auriemma said. “That group (of sophomores) has gotten a lot of playing time. They all handle the ball well. They all shoot it pretty well. They’re good defensive players for the most part. They have great chemistry together, that’s the biggest thing I can say.”
Friday’s game will be a battle of strength on strength. Much like UConn, a high-speed offense and stifling defense are hallmarks of Michigan’s style. The Wolverines rank seventh in the country in turnover margin, averaging nearly 30 per game with 15.2 steals. The Huskies have leaned on their defensive intensity to help generate offense early in the season, ranking just above Michigan with 15.5 steals and 23.75 forced turnovers per game.
“You’ve got to be ready to play fast, but also to our tempo and don’t let them speed us up,” Huskies guard Azzi Fudd said. “We love to play in transition and so do they, and we also take pride in our defense and getting up pressing, making it difficult for teams, kind of getting in their face and making things hard.
“We watched film and there were definitely some similarities between watching us and seeing them on film, so it should be fun.”
With Michigan’s loaded backcourt, UConn’s best chance to find an advantage may be with its bigs. Freshman forward Blanca Quinonez had a breakout performance in a 100-68 win over Ohio State on Sunday with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting plus four rebounds and two steals. Star sophomore Sarah Strong also had a career outing against the Buckeyes logging 29 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and three blocks.
The Huskies have the option to deploy a supersized lineup with 6-foot-4 center Serah Williams on the floor alongside Strong and Quinonez, and if the Wisconsin transfer can make an impact offensively, there’s little any team can do to match that trio.
“It just continues to open the floor up, like I have space and (I’m) just learning how to give them space as well,” Williams said. “I duck in a lot more, and they like to drive as well, so I’m learning how to play off of them. As the other team too, it’s probably hard to find three people that big to match up against all three of us, so once of us is going to have an advantage.”
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How to watch
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
Time/date: 8 p.m., Friday
Team records: UConn 4-0, Michigan 4-0
Series record: First meeting
TV: FOX
Streaming: FOX Sports app
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9