HARTFORD — It may not have been a 40-point blowout like the first meeting, but the UConn women’s basketball team clinched the top seed in the Big East tournament Monday with a 73-53 win over No. 21 Creighton at the XL Center.
With the victory, the No. 15 Huskies secured at least a share of their 11th consecutive Big East regular-season championship pending the outcome of their final three games. It is the 30th regular-season conference title of coach Geno Auriemma’s career and his third in a row since UConn rejoined the Big East in 2020-21. It was also Auriemma’s 1,203rd career victory, surpassing Duke legend Mike Krzyzewski as the second-winningest coach in college basketball history.
“It’s huge just celebrating the mini victories,” Huskies star Paige Bueckers said. “Obviously when you come to Connecticut you’re thinking about national championships. But for us as a team, it’s just mini milestones along the way and continuing to build great habits in practice … I know the goal right in front of us is to win the Big East regular season championship, so that’s what we’re focused on now. And then of course celebrating Coach … it’s like a celebration every day for him.”
UConn (23-5, 15-0 Big East) started strong with five unanswered points from Nika Muhl, and the Huskies outperformed Creighton (21-4, 12-3) in field goal shooting, 3-point shooting, rebounds and assists in the first quarter. However, the game was tied 15-15 at the first buzzer, largely because UConn gave up six turnovers while forcing just one. The Bluejays logged three blocks and a steal in the opening quarter and held Bueckers to a single made field goal.
Bueckers got going in the second quarter, matching Muhl with a team-leading eight points at the half. She also added three rebounds to UConn’s halftime total of 24, and every Huskies starter logged at least three boards in the first two quarters. The team finished with 46 to Creighton’s 38, led by a career-best nine from freshman Ashlynn Shade. Fellow freshman KK Arnold led the Huskies with three steals and added five assists and six rebounds despite a poor shooting performance.
“(The freshmen) have played so many minutes this year, way more than they ever imagined that they were coming in,” Auriemma said. “Normally we can have a rotation that gives them some breathers, but today wasn’t one of those days unfortunately … KK and Ash, given the situation that they were thrown into, they’ve been lifesavers. I don’t know where we would be without them.”
Bueckers led the Huskies with 24 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two steals, shooting 9-18 from the field and 100% at the free throw line. Shade came just one rebound shy of her first career double-double with 15 points, and she added three assists.
Could watch this all day 😍@paigebueckers1 | @UConnWBB
pic.twitter.com/SJn0jcDzIR— BIG EAST WBB (@BIGEASTWBB) February 19, 2024
There were five ties and four lead changes in the first quarter alone, and the Huskies traded runs with the Bluejays in the second quarter to end in another tie, 31-31, at halftime. Creighton trailed by as many as eight before finishing the quarter on eight unanswered points.
But UConn exploded out of halftime, stringing together a 16-0 run early in the third quarter after the Bluejay scored the first five points of the half. Four of the team’s five starters had at least 10 points by the middle of the third, and the Huskies evened the turnover battle by forcing five in the quarter after creating four in the entire first half.
“I thought today was one of our more gratifying wins,” Auriemma said. “That first half was a real slog. It was really, really difficult to get anything out, and it was everybody … You can feel it, just like a cloud hanging over us. So maybe halftime came at the right time … and I think Paige got her second wind and was able to get some space. We changed things up and spread the floor a little bit more.”
UConn’s starting five had a grueling day with only Aaliyah Edwards coming off the floor any time before the fourth quarter — and that seemed to be only because of foul trouble. Ice Brady was the lone bench player to see the floor for more than five minutes, and she finished with a single point, two rebounds, two blocks and four fouls in 13 minutes. Four starters scored in double figures, and Muhl and Bueckers both played 39 minutes. Shade did not come off the court for the full 40.
“We can thank (director of sports performance Andrea) Hudy for that, because we can say we’re used to having seven players in rotation, nine players on the floor, but at the end of the day, you need to have good people in the program that are going to prepare you for stuff like this,” Muhl said. “This is a perfect example with how we did. I feel like we had a long stretch with two games and a couple practices, so being able to grind it out for 40 minutes is a big thing.”
