Although Geno Auriemma is not one to make excuses, his team has not played at its best for the past four years. In honor of UConn’s Big East Tournament victory, the program’s 23rd overall, confetti dropped from the rafters at Mohegan Sun Arena for the fifth year in a row.
“They’re playing as well as anyone in America right now,” FOX Sports commentator Kim Adams remarked during the show about the Huskies, who are rated third. “They have all the pieces to win it all.”
With a two-hour clinic that ended in a 70-50 victory against a Creighton team that was guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament and had a 26-6 record going into the game, the Huskies’ brilliance was clearly on show Monday night.
Heading into Monday night’s conference title game, Jim Flanery, whose Creighton team had previously lost to UConn twice this season by a total score of 30 points, stated that his team’s margin for error was “slim to none,” and that “we’d have to be perfect.”
The team’s defense, which has been excellent over the last month and is currently its greatest strength, was largely responsible for Connecticut’s 11-0 victory just four minutes into the match. The Huskies have the highest scoring margin in the country at +29 and are ranked fourth in the league, giving up only 51.9 points per game. In their quarterfinal and semifinal wins, UConn restricted Villanova and St. John’s to just two points in a quarter.
But in the championship, UConn made 8 of 15 3-point attempts in the first half and led 40–22 at the half, demonstrating what was lacking in the quarterfinal and semifinal stages. In their last two Big Ten Tournament games, the Huskies had shot slightly more than 26% from beyond the arc.
The main narrative surrounding this UConn squad and all of women’s college basketball, however, is rather obvious: Bueckers Mania.
The Huskies’ senior standout, Paige Bueckers, achieved a milestone on Monday night by becoming the first player to win the Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player award three times. However, Bueckers is still after that elusive first national title. In three Big East Tournament wins, Bueckers scored 65 points on 55% shooting, pulled down 14 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, blocked five shots, and stole four rebounds.
“There are two ways that a senior can go,” Auriemma stated. “They may either enjoy the moment, make the most of it, and have the last word, or they might be anxious or panicked about what’s going to happen next. That’s who she is at the moment, but let’s hope it continues in the latter direction.”
