VILLANOVA, PA 1/5/2025 –
The seventh-ranked University of Connecticut Huskies visited the Finneran Pavilion. It brought a lot of excitement and a sold out crowd. It also brought out a good version of UConn who defeated the Villanova Wildcats 83 – 52 in a Big East game.
The Huskies were dominant on both ends of the floor. On offense UConn could get the basket for close looks. The open looks resulted in a field goal percentage of just under 60% (35 of 59) and an edge of 48 – 8 in points in the paint. The inside was anchored by center Sarah Strong who scored a game-high 21 points making 9 of 12 from the floor and 2 of 3 from outside the arc. It was more than Strong. UConn has three-point shooters. It forced the defense to guard against that. And also opened drives to the baskets and good cuts. The Huskies excelled in that phase of the game by making 27 of 39 shots from inside the arc. Nine of the 11 players who saw action scored.
“We have a lot more three-point shooters, so I think the decision was either to make it more difficult for us to get off as many threes as we wanted to, so that left a bunch of openings in the lane,” said UConn Coach Geno Auriemma. “We took advantage of some of those, whether it was just cutting to the basket, and throwing the ball, or just attacking off the dribble.”
“I thought defensively we did a great job of keeping the ball out of the lane.”
Their defense was a factor in throttling the Villanova offense who made 20 of 60 field goal attempts and 9 of 26 three-point attempts. Pressure caused the Wildcats to lose their focus as it sped up the game, and allowed 10 steals by Connecticut.
“Their pressure,” Villanova Coach Denise Dillon said about what caused the low shooting percentage. “I thought we did a good job of breaking the press. But once we got the ball into the half court, being out of sorts, not setting up some of our action with screens, just the timing of it. The disruption definitely makes for an unsettled offense.”
Wildcats guard Jasmine Bascoe led the team with 12 points making 4 of 17 shots and 2 of 5 three-pointers. The saw the pace as having a factor.
“I still feel that we were a bit sped up,” Bascoe said about the pace. “In the half court we are used to playing more controlled where today we were a little more frantic.”
Scary Moment
With 1:17 seconds to play in the third quarter Bascoe and Paige Bueckers got tangled up in a loose ball situation. During the play Bueckers suffered an injury to her left knee which silenced the arena. She left for the locker room, but came back to the bench with an ice bag on the knee, and applause.
“It’s not the worst thing we could imagine,” Auriemma said. “That’s great news considering how awkward it was, you know.”
What the Numbers Say
Bueckers scored 15 points and handed out a game-high 9 assists, a season-high. Guard Kiki Arnold also scored 15 points hitting 6 of 7 field goal attempts. As a team UConn recorded 30 assists on their 35 field goals, their most this season. Guard Kaitlyn Chen did not score, but helped on 7 baskets.
“I don’t want us to stand around waiting for the next three-point shot to go up,” Auriemma said. “We have to be more of an attack and get the ball to the basket team. And we moved the ball well enough to do that. I like it when we’re playing inside out like that.”
Denae Carter led Nova in rebounds getting 7 boards and was the only other player to score in double-figures scoring 10 points.
Up Next
Villanova (7 – 8, 1 – 2) goes on the road and plays Georgetown in the middle of the week. Later during the week they travel to Marquette.
UConn (13 – 2, 4 – 0) hosts Xavier on Wednesday. Bueckers has 1,982 career points, close to the 2,000 points plateau.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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