LouConn Dominates at Tennessee
The Story: Lou Lopez Senechal scored a season-high 26 points and the No. 5-ranked women’s basketball team never trailed in an 84-67 dismantling of Tennessee last night in front of 13,805, the largest crowd for a Lady Vols game at Thompson-Boling Arena since 2015.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: A remarkably physical game may have been the kindling the teams needed to restart their rivalry, which has consistently gone the Huskies’ way since the teams started playing again before the 2019-20 season.
• At the heart of the matter was the officials’ lack of consistency when it came to calling fouls — especially charges. The highlight was an awkward dustup between Aaliyah Edwards, who finished with 25 points and seven rebounds and Tennessee’s Rickea Jackson under the Lady Vols’ basket in the third quarter that led to intentional fouls being called on both players.
• The Huskies were called for one foul and did not have a turnover in the first quarter, then were called for eight fouls and had seven turnovers in the second quarter.
• Geno Auriemma was incensed at the officiating in the second quarter and his halftime interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe was something else. Rowe noted that Tennessee went to the free throw line more frequently and scored more second-chance points and asked Geno how he’d address it. “How do I address it?” he said. “How do I address it? You don’t address it! This is what you get when you come down here. The game was called one way and that changed. Nothing else changed. We didn’t change. Nothing else changed.”
WHAT ELSE DID GENO SAY? “When that happens, there’s nothing I can do about it,” he told Rowe after the game. “I admire these kids and I’m so proud of them. We came out and we ran them that first quarter and we got tired. … We started to wear down and we started to make mental mistakes and then they just came after us hard on the boards and things got out of hand. Then we came out and we became more of the aggressor and that changed the game.”
UP BIG EARLY: The Huskies (19-2, 11-0 Big East) cruised to a 33-17 lead after the first quarter after making 13 of their final 15 shots. It was their most points in a quarter this season and it allowed them to weather the Lady Vols’ second-quarter surge and take a 40-36 lead into halftime.
Nika Muhl, who finished with seven points and 14 assists while playing all 40 minutes, had seven assists in the first quarter. The Huskies got on a roll and just couldn’t miss. When Dorka Juhasz knocked down a 3 late in the period, they had made 10 of their last 11 shots and were clearly feeling it.
• UConn was up 33-17 at one point, but didn’t score over the last 3:45 of the second quarter as Tennessee (16-7, 8-0 SEC) cut into that 16-point lead.
BATTLE OF THE BOARDS: UConn’s biggest weakness came on the glass as Tennessee had a 41-30 edge in rebounding and relentlessly attacked the offensive glass.
• Tennessee shot 26-for-66 (39.4 percent) and turned its 23 offensive rebounds into 20 points. It had more offensive rebounds than UConn’s 21 defensive rebounds and the Huskies, with just nine, were comparatively paltry on the offensive glass.
• UConn succeeded because it shot 33-for-60 (55 percent), including 8-for-14 (57.1 percent) from 3-point range and made 10 of 12 free throws and had 17 fast-break points. Coincidentally, both teams were credited with 38 points in the paint.
CREDIT WHERE IT’S DUE: We didn’t know what kind of role Lopez Senechal was going to play entering the season, even with Paige Bueckers out for the year. It’s one thing to be the MAAC Player of the Year while at Fairfield and it’s another to write her name into UConn lore with her performance at Tennessee.
• Lopez Senechal picked up two early fouls and still managed to play 37 minutes. She shot 11-for-16, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range, and was able to get open in a variety of ways, either through running in transition or using her teammates’ screens to spring free.
UP NEXT: The Huskies don’t get much time to recover before they host Villanova at the XL Center on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Can Hawkins Save UConn?
The Story: The No. 19-ranked men’s basketball team is in a tailspin, but it may have found something in the play of Jordan Hawkins, who continued his torrid play as of late in Wednesday’s loss to Xavier.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Hawkins’ performance has fallen under the radar as UConn has lost six of eight games, but he has come out of an early stretch of passive play to look like Ray Allen.
• In fact, since Allen visited UConn on Jan. 14 and spoke with Hawkins, the sophomore guard has averaged 23 points per game, shot 42 percent from 3-point range and made 96 percent of his free throws.
• Hawkins nearly led UConn back from 17 down against Xavier by scoring 28 points on 16 shots.
• The Huskies’ offensive scheme was more about attacking from the perimeter than post-up play, as Tristen Newton added 23 points for his best performance since he had a triple-double in December.
SHOULD THE HUSKIES CHANGE PHILOSOPHY? Let’s talk offense. UConn scored 55 points in the second half and nearly came back against Xavier. What was most notable about the effort is that it came with limited production from Adama Sanogo.
• Sanogo, a terrific one-on-one player inside, still struggles to handle double teams. Hurley eschewed that philosophy and went with Hawkins and Newton attacking.
SOUL SEARCHING: For UConn (16-6, 5-6 Big East), winning the regular-season title isn’t going to happen. Xavier is 9-1 and beat UConn twice and it’s hard to see the Huskies getting back into the regular-season title mix.
• That said, seeding for the Big East and NCAA tournaments are at stake and if the Huskies can get on a run in the next three weeks, we aren’t going to remember this swoon as much.
Morning Reads
• The football team has added a running back as Jalen Mitchell, who led Louisville in rushing in 2021 but never got back on track this past season following an injury, is transferring to UConn. (Hartford Courant)
• It also apparently has a new wide receivers coach as legend Kashif Moore, who held that role at Albany last season, is going to join Jim Mora’s staff. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
• The tournament once called Connecticut Ice will pit the No. 12 men’s hockey team against Yale this afternoon in Hamden, with host Quinnipiac and Sacred Heart set to meet in the other “semifinal.” (Hearst Connecticut Media)
• The No. 14-ranked women’s hockey team will head to Maine for a game tonight before returning home to face New Hampshire on Sunday. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: Lou Lopez Senechal dribbles the ball in the Huskies’ game against Texas. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
