Ten games into the season, UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is still getting used to looking down the bench and seeing eight healthy players waiting to get in the game.
Amid a plague of injuries over the last several seasons, depth was a luxury the Huskies rarely had. Even during last year’s national championship run, Auriemma rarely went more than eight deep into his rotation. But the Huskies have been so dominant this season that at least 12 players have seen the court in every game except for two: the season opener against No. 16 Louisville and the team’s lone single-digit win over No. 6 Michigan.
“Especially the last five years, I’ve forgotten what that was like,” Auriemma said after the Huskies’ 79-51 win over USC on Saturday. “We couldn’t practice hard because you were worried that the next kid was gonna get hurt. We can’t press, you can’t play fast — and I didn’t have to sub, so all the players loved me … Now all of a sudden, we’ve got 15 guys on the team, so you have five guys in the game and you think things are going well and then you look down the bench and there’s five guys all looking over at you.”
UConn’s reserves aren’t just playing garbage time minutes in blowouts, either. The Huskies have five players averaging at least seven points per game behind the superstar duo of Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, and the team is currently 12th nationally in bench scoring. Freshman forward Blanca Quinonez has established herself as the Huskies’ go-to third scorer, but sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckel and junior guard Ashlynn Shade have also taken consistent turns in the role. Sophomore Allie Ziebell was the team’s leading scoring in the Big East opener against Xavier, and junior KK Arnold was the top offensive performer against Loyola Chicago.
“I don’t necessarily worry about who it is that’s going to be that other scorer. Maybe there’s more than one,” Auriemma said. “So I’m pretty comfortable with where we are right now … It comes and goes. A lot of times it’s just being efficient with the opportunities that you get.”
With so much available talent, UConn has been a buzzsaw through most of its undefeated start. The Huskies had just three 100-point games in the entire 2024-25 regular season but have already matched that total less than a third of the way into this year’s slate. In two Big East wins so far, UConn has outscored its opponents a combined 206-74. It can also run full-court pressure for entire games with fresh legs coming in more frequently, establishing the team as a top-10 scoring defense in the country.
“There’s a benefit to it, because we can play a certain way, but it’s a challenge getting all the players the minutes that they want, and that they need,” Auriemma said. “Hopefully we can manage that balance, but I’m out of practice when it comes to subbing. My assistants are really good at going, ‘Get her out, she’s tired.’ I’m like, so what? But now we have options.”
Wednesday night’s matchup against Marquette at PeoplesBank Arena will provide a sort of litmus test as to whether any team in the Big East can even give the Huskies a challenge this year. The Golden Eagles were voted to finish second in the conference behind UConn preseason after returning their entire starting lineup from last season, and the team has already shown it has the ability to hang with higher-level competition. Marquette holds a power conference win over Wisconsin, and it also gave No. 10 Iowa State one of its closest games to date losing 84-73 at the Coconut Hoops tournament on Nov. 28. But the team’s returning core is the same group that UConn routed twice last season, by 35 at home and by 32 on the road, so the Golden Eagles will need to take a significant leap to have a chance at pushing the Huskies.
Marquette is elite from 3-point range, leading the Big East averaging 39.9% from beyond the arc — which also ranks fifth in the country. All five starters are shooting above 35% on at least 1.5 3-point attempt per game, and the team has hit 10-plus threes four times already this season. UConn is also one of the best outside shooting teams in the country, largely thanks to Fudd hitting 53.1% from deep, but the Huskies are mediocre guarding the 3-point line with opponents averaging 29.2% against them.
UConn likely won’t hold Marquette below 40 points like it did DePaul and Xavier, but the Huskies’ defense can still find an advantage by leaning on its usual strengths. The Golden Eagles are turnover-prone at times, giving up an average of 15.4 per game, and UConn forces nearly 24 per game. The Huskies also consistently capitalize on their extra possessions, scoring nearly 38% of their points so far this season off of turnovers.
“It doesn’t matter who it is or what the situation is,” Auriemma said. “All we do is go into every game feeling like, this is what we have to do to try to win tonight … We can win by seven or we can win by 70. The next game takes care of itself. So I just go into every game trying to win that game, and you don’t win national championships in October, in November. You don’t lose them either, so you just play the games and move on.”
How to watch UConn women’s basketball vs. Marquette
Site: PeoplesBank Arena, Hartford
Time/date: 7 p.m., Wednesday
Team records: UConn 10-0, Marquette 7-3
Series record: UConn leads 22-1
Last meeting: 92-51 UConn, March 1 at Gampel Pavilion
Streaming: Peacock
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9