STORRS — When the UConn women’s basketball team entered the second quarter with a single-point lead against Holy Cross on Tuesday, coach Geno Auriemma wasn’t happy, but he also wasn’t surprised.
The scenario felt familiar, and assistant coach Morgan Valley put her finger on it: Holy Cross had given the Huskies trouble at this same point in the season when Valley was on the roster in 2002. After winning the Wahine Classic in Honolulu, UConn returned to face the Crusaders on the road in Worchester, Mass., and struggled. It trailed Holy Cross into the second half, and Huskies legend Diana Taurasi finished 0-for-5 from 3-point range.
Auriemma remembers briefly kicking players off the team in the heat of the moment after that game, which the Huskies won, 68-46. Though no one got thrown out on Tuesday night, Auriemma joked that he might’ve been better off putting the basketball in the hands of Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley.
“It’s always bad jet lag and everything when you come back, and we came back and played at Holy Cross, and when we came home I think I threw three kids off the team,” Auriemma quipped. “I mean, it was only for a day, but it’s just really, really hard to get back into the rhythm of things. I think my biggest takeaway is that nothing surprised me.”
History repeated itself on Tuesday in the Huskies’ 88-52 victory over Holy Cross, the team’s first game since winning the Baha Mar Women’s Championship in Nassau, Bahamas last week. Superstar Paige Bueckers had her worst offensive performance of the season with 11 points going 4-for-9 from the field, and the Huskies shot a dismal 26.7% in the opening quarter.
Even without the extenuating challenge of returning from the Bahamas, UConn’s underwhelming performance wasn’t entirely shocking. Amid a 7-0 start, from ranked matchups to mid-major blowouts, the Huskies have yet to put together a full four quarters of their best basketball. They were outscored 33-29 in the second half against Oregon State after holding them to just 19 points in the first half, and they gave up 28 points in the third quarter against No. 18 Ole Miss that cut their 19-point halftime lead to as little as four.
Auriemma isn’t majorly concerned by the inconsistencies, though they could pose a problem as the team heads into a grueling stretch of schedule in December. The Huskies have five newcomers in their current 10-player rotation, including three true freshmen, and they will face four top-25 opponents over the next two weeks with three games at neutral or road sites. They begin the gauntlet against No. 22 Louisville at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Saturday (9 p.m., FOX).
“I thought our effort was much better in the second half, and it obviously showed because we got a lot more opportunities,” Auriemma told SNY postgame. “We’re a very immature team, and that’s been the case for most of our games. It’s hard for us to sustain something for four quarters. We’re going to have to be a lot better at that … An effort like this against those teams and we won’t be in the top 25.”
The Huskies trailed for nearly the entire first quarter against Holy Cross on Tuesday before taking a one-point lead at the buzzer, and it took until the third quarter for the team to pull ahead by double digits. But in a game where Bueckers didn’t have her usual impact, it was a positive sign for UConn to see other players step up.
Freshman Sarah Strong quickly became the go-to option and never showed any sign of rookie nerves, finishing with a career-high 22 points plus seven rebounds and two steals on 75% shooting from the field. Strong had 12 points in the second quarter alone after going scoreless in the first, and she also shot a season-best 4-for-5 from 3-point range.
“There’s usually a learning curve (for freshmen), and I’m sure there will be some things that will pop up in the next month,” Auriemma said. “Things happen when you’re a freshman, but Sarah has a really good outlook on the game. She seems to know what we need at what moment. You can see it, and when she gets comfortable, she thinks any shot she takes is going in. It’s very rare.”
Graduate transfer Kaitlyn Chen also had a breakout performance, a testament to the importance of her veteran presence even in her first season with the Huskies. The former Princeton star came to UConn with a reputation as a scorer, and she had her best offensive night of the season with 14 points plus a team-high seven assists. Chen also gave up zero turnovers and went 5-for-9 from the field, tying her career high with three made 3-pointers.
“In order to be a high-level guard in today’s world, you have to be at least a serviceable threat from the 3-point line,” Auriemma said. “I think she’s done that, and today was a huge step forward … She’s in a really good spot, and she’s got great leadership qualities, too. You can tell when she’s on the floor, there’s a lot more communication going on. Some people’s personality just doesn’t lend itself to that, and hers does. She’s a natural-born leader.”
