Juhasz Leads Geno-Less Huskies By Xavier
The Story: Redshirt senior Dorka Juhasz finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds as the No. 5-ranked women’s basketball team cruised to an easy 73-37 victory at Xavier last night without Geno Auriemma on the bench.
CRUISE CONTROL: The outcome was never in doubt for UConn (13-2, 6-0 Big East), which led 19-5 after the first quarter, by 25 points midway through the second quarter and by 31 at halftime.
• Redshirt junior Aubrey Griffin led all scorers with 19 points and went 10-for-11 from the free throw line. She also had nine rebounds and played 33 minutes despite a hard fall in the second quarter while driving in for a layup.
• Juhasz, who played 29 minutes, also had four blocks. It was her second quality showing for the Huskies in nine days after she had 22 points and 18 rebounds at Creighton on Dec. 28.
• Redshirt senior Lou Lopez Senechal again came through for the Huskies with 15 points on 6-for-16 shooting, including a trio of 3-pointers.
EDWARDS INJURED: The Huskies couldn’t escape getting bitten by the injury bug yet again as junior Aaliyah Edwards did not play in the second half for precautionary reasons.
• She twisted her right ankle while diving into the stands for a loose ball in the first quarter — credit where credit is due, but you’re playing Xavier — and Chris Dailey said the team won’t know anything about her status until additional scans are taken today.
• Edwards finished with just four points and five rebounds in 14 minutes.
SLOW START: It was a bit of an odd opening for both teams, which combined to shoot 2-for-19 before the Huskies started to pull away.
• UConn shot 10-for-14 in the second quarter but made just five shots in each of the other three to finish the night shooting 46.3 percent. But it had 21 assists on 25 baskets, even if its 22 turnovers were still unacceptably high.
BENCH MOB: Dailey has shown more of a willingness to turn to the Huskies’ (nearly nonexistent) bench with Geno out as all eight healthy players entered the game in the first half.
• Freshman Ines Bettencourt played 23 minutes and had a season-high seven points, freshman Ayanna Patterson played 19 minutes and sophomore Amari DeBerry played 18 minutes.
WHAT’S UP WITH GENO? The Huskies released a statement yesterday afternoon that Geno would miss his second consecutive game with an illness. Dailey stepped in and improved to 17-0 when replacing him.
• “It’s been an extremely difficult month for me, and I’ve been feeling under the weather and run down,” Auriemma said in the statement. “I thought I was ready to return, but I need a little more time. I’m going to take a step back to focus on my health and will return when I feel ready.”
UP NEXT: The Huskies, back on campus for the first time since last weekend, will host DePaul at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at Gampel Pavilion in a game televised by SNY.
Can Hurley Right the Ship vs. Creighton?
The Story: The No. 4-ranked men’s basketball team will try to avoid its first three-game losing streak since its return to the Big East when it hosts Creighton at Gampel Pavilion tomorrow (noon, Fox).
STUCK IN A RUT: The Huskies are looking for a bit of a refresh after they lost 83-73 at Xavier on New Year’s Eve and then 73-61 at Providence on Wednesday night.
• The last time the Huskies lost three consecutive games was in 2019-20, when an overtime loss to Tulsa at the XL Center on Jan. 26 marked their fourth straight defeat.
GO BIG OR GO HOME: Dan Hurley again experimented with using freshman Donovan Clingan alongside junior Adama Sanogo against the Friars — a rather odd pairing that seems more likely to happen given that Clingan has been one of the Huskies’ most reliable players this season.
• Clingan, a freshman from Bristol and the MVP of the Phil Knight Invitational in November, is averaging 8.9 points and 6.4 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per game this season. He had 12 points and tied a season high with 11 rebounds in 21 minutes against Providence — the greatest workload he’s had all year.
• Before Wednesday, Sanogo and Clingan had only shared the court twice this season. It’s a distinctly old-school lineup given that most of college basketball, and even Hurley, would prefer to have just one big man on the floor at all times. Then again, not every team has a 7-foot-2 freshman.
• Look for the two to share the court again tomorrow against Creighton, which has one of the conference’s best big men in Ryan Kalkbrenner. The 7-foot-1 junior center was the Big East Defensive Player of the Year last season and is averaging a team-high 15.3 points and seven rebounds a game.
WHAT DID HURLEY SAY? “We’ve got to get Donovan’s minutes up some way. We’ve got to tinker a little bit with what we can do offensively versus man [defense] with [Sanogo and Clingan] in there.”
ABOUT CREIGHTON: The Bluejays (9-6, 3-1 Big East) figured to be one of the challengers for the conference title, but their shine was tarnished a bit earlier this season when they stumbled through a six-game losing streak.
• All five of Creighton’s starters are averaging double figures in scoring. Baylor Scheierman, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, was one of the top players in the transfer portal after last season once he chose to leave South Dakota State. He’s averaging 12.4 points and a team-high 9.2 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Trey Alexander is an explosive scoring threat, and classmate Ryan Nembhard, the brother of former Gonzaga standout Andrew Nembhard, has excellent court vision.
Morning Reads
• The No. 9-ranked men’s hockey team will return to Fenway Park for a game tomorrow against struggling Northeastern (The UConn Blog).
• Mumu Bin Wahad, a cornerback from Atlanta who was a freshman at West Virginia this season, is transferring to UConn. (Mumu Bin Wahad on Twitter)
• The Mavericks will have to make a decision by tomorrow on Kemba Walker, whose contract becomes fully guaranteed if he’s still on the roster. Walker signed a $1.3 million contract on Nov. 29 and has played in eight games with one start this season. (Dallas FanNation)
• Rudy Gay has played in 26 of the Jazz’s 40 games this season and is averaging 15.5 minutes. The 36-year-old is still getting playing time because he provides leadership to his young teammates. (Deseret News)
• James Bouknight is starting to look like a draft bust for the Hornets. They have plenty of injuries in the backcourt and he still can’t get on the floor. He’s played just 21 minutes over six games since Dec. 1. (The Athletic)
• The continued growth of Tage Thompson shows that the NHL is often too quick to write off players who don’t produce immediately. (The Athletic)
• Former track and field coach Bill Kelleher died on Monday at 91. Kelleher, who graduated from UConn in 1955, coached the team from 1975-89 and won eight Yankee Conference indoor and outdoor titles, two Big East indoor and outdoor titles and the New England outdoor championship in 1975. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: UConn’s Dorka Juhasz drives to the basket in the exhibition against Kutztown. (Courtesy of UConn athletics)
