Feb. 4—STORRS — The way single-game point totals at every level of basketball ping-pong into the 30s now, the 40s, the 50s, UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Sunday that it takes an enormous amount of scoring for anyone to think of you as a “great” player.
Then there’s the career-high 33 points that UConn senior forward Aaliyah Edwards had to lift the 11th-ranked Huskies past St. John’s, 78-63, before a sold-out crowd of 10,299 at Gampel Pavilion.
“I’d like to see how many other big kids around the country have the responsibility that Aaliyah has on our team given who we’re missing,” said Auriemma of Edwards, who is UConn’s only starting post player and who didn’t come off the floor until 55.8 seconds remained Sunday.
“What she’s doing is even more impressive, ’cause if she had three other post players that we rotated in and out and she got to have a breather here and there, but she doesn’t get to do that.
“How you score (the points), when you score them, what you mean to your team … that’s why I think she’s deserving of being an All-American.”
Paige Bueckers added 26 points for UConn (19-4 overall, 11-0 Big East) and Nika Muhl had nine assists.
Edwards added 13 rebounds, which tied a career high, and had four steals, a blocked shot and an assist. She shot 12-for-20, 9-for-12 from the free throw line in what was the first 30-point game in her career. Edwards’ previous career-best game (28 points, 13 rebounds) came on March 18, 2023, against Vermont in the NCAA tournament.
She is currently averaging 17.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, second on the team in scoring behind Bueckers (20.3 ppg).
Against St. John’s (14-10, 8-4), Edwards had 19 points and eight rebounds at halftime as the Huskies took a 42-29 lead.
UConn led 21-20 after a 3-pointer by Jailah Donald of St. John’s, but next up, KK Arnold got the ball inside to Edwards for an easy two and then Muhl sent it inside for another Edwards layup. Bueckers followed with a pair of free throws to make it 27-20.
After one free throw by Unique Drake of St. John’s, UConn finished what turned into a 13-1 run with a layup by Ice Brady from Arnold, a jump shot by Bueckers and the Huskies’ first 3-point field goal of the game courtesy of Ashlynn Shade for a 34-21 lead.
UConn led by as many as 20 points, 57-37, on a drive by Edwards with 2:40 to play in the third quarter.
That was followed by an 8-0 run by St. John’s, however, including a 3-pointer by Drake and a three-point play by Ber’Nyah Mayo (team-high 16 points). Mayo hit a jump shot to beat the buzzer at the end of the third quarter to pull the Red Storm within 60-49 and Drake and Jillian Archer scored the first two baskets of the fourth quarter to carve the St. John’s deficit to seven.
Edwards missed two free throws, but that’s when Bueckers took over, finishing the fourth quarter with 11 points on 3-for-5 shooting, 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
Bueckers unleashed a string of seven straight points for UConn, including a three-point play to push the lead back to 67-53.
“It’s nice to get everybody involved until it’s not,” Auriemma said. “And then you gotta go to, hopefully, players that can handle that moment and certainly Paige and Aaliyah did that.”
“It’s that time of the season we need to lock in and really hone in on what we need to execute, so my team helped me out today,” Edwards said. “I think it was a team effort win because we had to play all 40 minutes.”
UConn will next play Seton Hall at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the XL Center before embarking on a two-game road trip to South Carolina and Xavier.
