How the Villanova game will help UConn women’s basketball recover.
The task for UConn women’s basketball, which was riding a 13-game winning streak, was to demonstrate that it could compete with and overcome teams ranked in the top 15. It was in dire need of demonstrating that its recent domination extended outside of the Big East.
However, the Huskies were unsuccessful.
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Without their best player and defender playing at their peak, they collapsed. No matter how many injuries have beset UConn’s offense, the team has always taken pride in its defense, which let Hannah Hidalgo, a freshman from Notre Dame, score 34 points.
This regular season, the Huskies have one more opportunity to show that they are capable of competing with the top teams. This will be the largest and most difficult test of the Huskies’ season when they go to Columbia, Missouri, to play No. 1 South Carolina on the road in less than two weeks.
While UConn won’t miraculously solve all of its problems by then, it still has three conference games left to iron out the wrinkles and get ready, beginning on Wednesday at Villanova (6:30 p.m. on SNY).
“The only way that you can prepare to be good in these games is when you’ve been in these situations enough times,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said. “And where we are right now, we’re not there yet.”
Nika Mühl had three fouls before halftime and got her fifth less than a minute into the fourth quarter against the Irish. Paige Bueckers was off her game after getting poked in the eye early and constantly getting suffocated by Notre Dame’s triple-teams on defense.
This meant that four first-year players, including redshirt freshman Ice Brady, who missed the whole previous season due to a knee injury, and senior forward Aaliyah Edwards would have to shoulder the majority of the team’s workload.
It was obvious how inexperienced they were. Instead of depending on others, the offense was stuck attempting to get the ball to Bueckers, and nobody seemed to try to step up defensively to make up for Mühl’s absence.
“We obviously lost and I think we beat ourselves up,” Edwards remarked following the Irish’s 82-67 victory. It was more about them taking advantage of our errors than anything they actually did. as they ought to have. On the defensive end, I believe a major contributing reason to our failure was poor communication. And I believe that we committed the same error throughout possession after possession and were unable to correct it. ….
We didn’t seem to play together all that much. We didn’t really play together on either end of the floor as a team. And I believe it is the reason we have been playing so well these past few games, particularly in the Big East Conference. We had to set up today and we just didn’t.”
The answer to fixing the inexperience and getting everyone on the same page is simple: play more games against good, competitive teams. And with more time and games, Auriemma understands the Huskies will learn how to stay poised when their backs are against the wall.
Wednesday will test UConn on both ends of the court.
Both Villanova (13-7, 6-3) and UConn’s defenses limit their opponents to about an average of 59 points per game. While UConn does score about 16 points more per game, the Wildcats make smart moves with the ball and only average 10.2 turnovers per game (which is second-best in the nation). Villanova also averages more steals and blocks than the Huskies, which means UConn will need to work hard on offense in finding the right play instead of rushing when things get close.
Villanova head coach Denise Dillon, in her fourth year leading the Wildcats, also knows what it takes to hang tight with the Huskies.
UConn has won four out of the teams’ last five meetings. Villanova upset then-No. 8 UConn 72-69 on Feb. 9, 2022, when the Huskies were down to just eight available players, missing Paige Bueckers, Caroline Ducharme, Aubrey Griffin and Olivia Nelson-Ododa.
While the Huskies have won the next four games, including twice in the Big East Tournament championship, they’ve only won by double-figures twice.
Last year, UConn beat Villanova in Pennsylvania 60-51 with both teams ranked inside the top-15.
“People don’t realize how hard it is to play against Villanova,” Auriemma said in March 2022 after defeating the Wildcats in the Big East Tournament Championship. “I’ve known that for 37 years. They’re much harder to play now than when Harry (Perretta, coached Villanova for 42 years) was coaching them.”
This week’s meeting will give UConn the opportunity to see who else steps up defensively besides Mühl. Sure, she’s their best defender but in case she gets into foul trouble, they need others to be able to slow down opponents without her on the floor.
With Bueckers as the go-to target of opposing defenses, Wednesday will also give the Huskies a chance to see who else can get the offense going. Can Edwards direct the flow and facilitate from down low? Or will UConn’s two starting freshmen be able to run the show when needed without the upperclassmen’s on-court presence?
Auriemma has the next two weeks to figure out who he can rely on when his seniors can’t get things going.
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