It’s been more than two years since the UConn women’s basketball team lost a Big East game, but the Huskies seems to have reached another level of dominance this season as they prepare to enter conference play in earnest.
Top-rated UConn is averaging nearly 15 more points per game than the next highest-scoring team in the Big East, and its average margin of victory is more than double any conference opponent. The Huskies also lead the league in rebounds, assists, steals and turnover margin.
In three conference games, the team has recorded its two highest-scoring performances of the season and two of its three largest margins of victory, holding Xavier and DePaul below 40 points and Marquette — the preseason No. 2 team in the Big East — below 60 in a 36-point win.
“I think we have enough guys that have played enough basketball here, and the players that came in are pretty easy to incorporate,” coach Geno Auriemma said during a Zoom press conference on Saturday. “This team, from the summer, they like each other. They like being around each other. They’re a good group. They blend in together really well, and I think that shows on the court.”
The Huskies return from a six-day break Sunday with a road game against Butler in Indianapolis after entering the holidays on an impressive 90-64 win over No. 14 Iowa in the Women’s Champions Classic. With a run of six straight Big East games coming up, Auriemma said there are no major holes he feels like his squad needs to patch before their next test against No. 18 Notre Dame in late January.
“There’s always things that, when you watch film, you just see recurring things, whether it’s a missed assignment on a switch or whether it’s a missed transition defense,” Auriemma said. “There’s always things that you look for, but in terms of big, serious things, nothing’s broken. Throughout the whole season everything’s always being tinkered with, but I think we came out of that (Iowa) game feeling like we played a pretty good basketball game.”
Butler likely won’t provide much challenge, especially because its weaknesses lean into UConn’s strengths. The Bulldogs are last in the conference in turnovers averaging nearly 18 per game, and the Huskies rank 16th in the country forcing 23.6 per game. Butler also allows opponents to shoot above 31% from 3-point range, and UConn averaged 45.4% from beyond the arc over their last five games before the break. Since the Huskies rejoined the Big East in 2020-21, Butler has lost all eight meetings by at least 26 points.
UConn has its deepest bench in years this season, so the reserves can get plenty of quality playing time as the team bulldozes its way through conference play. Freshman Blanca Quinonez is the Huskies’ third-leading scorer averaging 10.3 points off the bench, and nine of the team’s 12 available players are logging at least 10 minutes on the court per game. Auriemma said it can be challenging at this point in the season for those outside the core rotation to make an impact on game day, but the team is in constant competition with itself for those spots.
“The person ahead of you has to not deserve them, otherwise you have two people that are deserving and there’s not enough minutes for two of them,” Auriemma said. “You have to be efficient with the minutes you dod get, and then you start to build trust among your teammates, trust from your coaches that you can handle yourself in situations where the coaches are going to need you.”
The Huskies could add even more weapons in the second half of the season with all three injured players expected to return at some point. Auriemma said Caroline Ducharme is day-to-day after missing the Iowa game with a shoulder injury, but the redshirt senior guard was beginning to find her flow prior to the setback playing 11 minutes and shooting 2-for-3 from the field against Marquette. Redshirt junior Ice Brady hasn’t played since Nov. 9 due to soreness in her right knee, and sophomore guard Morgan Cheli has yet to appear this season after undergoing surgery for an ankle injury in February, but Auriemma has remained optimistic that both will play this year despite a lack of definite timeline.
“The other two guys, (Brady and Cheli), nothing new,” Auriemma said. “I would say out of the two, Morgan’s making some progress, which is a good sign.”
How to watch
Site: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
Time/date: 4 p.m., Sunday
Team records: UConn 12-0, Butler 7-6
Series record: UConn leads 8-0
Last meeting: 86-47 UConn, Feb. 22 in Indianapolis
TV: TNT, truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9