OMAHA, Neb. — For most of the UConn women’s basketball team’s game against Creighton on Sunday, it didn’t feel like the top-ranked Huskies were dominating.
The team had more turnovers in the first half than it had in the entirety of Wednesday’s win over St. John’s, and it finished with 21 to tie the most it has given up this season. The Huskies came one shy of a season high in fouls with 18, sending Creighton to the free throw line 17 times for 14 points. They struggled to find a flow on either end of the court early, and their elite transition game was less effective than usual with just nine points on fast breaks.
But it’s a testament to just how high team has set the bar this season that a 95-54 victory could be considered underwhelming. The win, which improved UConn to 17-0 on the season and 8-0 in Big East play, was the team’s second-largest margin of victory over Creighton in series history. It also held the Bluejays to a season-worst 3-for-25 from 3-point range.
“I think the thing that I’m trying to keep in mind is that this is how the season goes. It doesn’t go on a straight line, straight up,” coach Geno Auriemma said postgame. “There’s going to be good games, there’s going to be great games, there’s going to be mediocre games, average games. You’re going to get a little bit of all that. And playing teams in our league is mentally challenging … because you’re playing against teams that don’t play the traditional lineup. There’s a lot of movement that makes you have decipher things really, really quickly.”
UConn was powered by the fifth double-double of the season from star forward Sarah Strong, who finished with 18 points shooting 70% from the field and 13 rebounds plus six assists and five steals. Three other players scored in double digits, led by 15 points plus four rebounds and three steals from freshman Blanca Quinonez. Azzi Fudd added 14 points on 50% shooting, and Ashlynn Shade tied a season high with four made 3-pointers for 12 points.
Though it never trailed in the opening quarter, UConn came out flat against the Bluejays. The Huskies were struggling to keep up with defensive rotations, and Creighton exploited the sluggishness with assists on each of its first four made field goals all of which came in the paint. UConn’s offensive ball movement was also as sloppy as it has been all season. The team gave up eight turnovers in the first quarter including four over a two and a half minute stretch that allowed the Bluejays to tie the score 10-10 after the first media timeout.
But the Huskies defense eventually began to click after Creighton tied the game when Auriemma went to one of his quickest combinations with Strong and Quinonez on the floor alongside both starting point guard KK Arnold and sophomore Kayleigh Heckel. Heckel was only on the court for a minute before Fudd subbed back in, but it was enough to shift the momentum and put UConn on a 6-0 run that the Bluejays never recovered from.
After its 4-for-6 start, Creighton shot just 1-for-9 through the end of the quarter and went the final two minutes without a field goal. Heckel added an acrobatic layup at the buzzer to push the Huskies to a 21-14 lead.
Arnold set the tone for the second quarter with a steal-and-score in the opening seconds, and while UConn’s offense still hadn’t found its rhythm, the defensive effort neutralized any inefficiencies. The Huskies held the Bluejays scoreless for more than six minutes to begin the quarter and forced 11 turnovers during a 17-0 run that put the game out of reach. Creighton went just 2-for-10 from the field in the second, and despite leading the Big East in made 3-pointers, it was 0-for-12 from the perimeter at halftime.
Bluejays coach Jim Flanery said the Huskies threw a variety of defensive looks at his team, changing up their press searching for the matchup that would be most effective. Once they found it, they hammered it.
“Geno’s a good coach, I don’t know if you guys know,” Flanery joked postgame. “They changed up their press in the second quarter, and we hadn’t worked as much on that … They got into the zone press, and we just got really rattled. They played on the ball, they got into traps quicker, whereas the first quarter it was more of a man-to-man press.”
While Creighton’s shooters were smothered, UConn’s guards began to heat up late in the quarter using an undersized lineup with Strong at center. Fudd began the run sinking her second shot from deep of the game. Heckel then drained a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions, marking her first game with multiple makes from beyond the arc since Nov. 30 against Xavier, and Shade capped the run with her second 3-pointer of the day. By halftime, the Huskies were ahead by 33 with both Fudd and Strong scoring in double digits.
“That’s one of the nice things that we have this year is we’ve got some we got some options on how we want to go,” Auriemma said. “Sometimes our big lineup is good, but sometimes out small lineup is better. Today, in that second quarter, that small lineup was pretty good.”
Strong secured her double-double early in the third quarter, and the Huskies went to their bench for much of the second half. The reserves combined for 38 points, and redshirt senior Caroline Ducharme logged a season-best six points on 3-for-3 shooting plus four rebounds. All 11 UConn players who saw the court scored, and redshirt sophomore Ayanna Patterson made her return to the court after missing the last three games with a concussion.
Creighton was led by freshman Ava Zediker, who finished with 23 points to become just the second player to score more than 20 on the Huskies this season. She put up 20 of her points in the second half, and UConn only outscored the Bluejays by eight points after halftime.
“I think in the first half their press really affected us, and that’s something they didn’t really do a whole lot in that second half,” Zediker said. “It’s a whole lot different from high school. You don’t see that kind of physicality and just the defense that you see (here), and UConn is a very good team, so it’s a cool experience to play against them, but it’s a whole lot different.”