Going into Friday’s game at Xavier, No. 10 UConn was the healthiest its been since Jan. 26, as freshman Caroline Ducharme and senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa finally made their returns after missing the last four and three games, respectively, with injuries. Seemingly on the upward swing away from their season-long bout with injuries, the Huskies made sure to take advantage.
UConn overcame a slow start to pull together a 37-0 run spanning the second and third quarters on its way to demolishing Xavier, 89-35 — its largest margin of victory on the season — in its final regular-season road game of 2021-22.
“I thought we played really, really well the last 30 minutes and we got a great effort from everybody on the bench, they contributed,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said.
The well-rounded performance featured each of the Huskies’ 10 available players scoring at least five points. Off the bench, Ducharme finished the night with 11 points (4-7 shooting, 2-5 from 3), four rebounds and two assists in 14 minutes, while Nelson-Ododa had eight points (2-3 from the field, 4-4 from the line), four rebounds and four assist in 16.
Senior Christyn Williams (13 points, five assists, four steals), freshman Azzi Fudd (11 points), sophomore Aaliyah Edwards (10 points, seven rebounds) and sophomore Piath Gabriel (11 points) all also hit double figures once UConn started to click on offense. In just the second game since Bueckers went down that UConn has had an otherwise fully healthy roster, seven players played between 14 and 34 minutes.
“When you have a lot of players and you want to play a lot of players, that’s all well and good, but that really disrupts the flow of your offense,” Auriemma said. “It’s tough to get any kind of a flow. I thought tonight it may have taken us a little bit of time. But we have a lot of players who can put the ball in the basket a lot of different ways, and I thought they showed that tonight.”
The turning point came in the second quarter, when Auriemma thought the Huskies finally stopped going through the motions on defense, allowing them to dominate offensively. UConn ultimately scored 29 points off 23 Xavier turnovers.
The Huskies (18-5, 12-1 Big East) looked lethargic out of the gate, committing eight turnovers in the first 14 minutes. Xavier’s poor shooting (3 for 17 in the first quarter) prevented the Musketeers from keeping it any closer, but they started to find the back of the net at the beginning of the second to close within six.
“I thought the way we started the game, we expected to just come out here and not have to work at it. It was really disappointing,” Auriemma said. “There was obviously a huge difference in our team from the way we played that first quarter and the way we played the last 30 minutes.”
UConn turned things around in the final six minutes of the second period, using a 21-2 run featuring 19 unanswered points to jump ahead 44-19 at the break. Fudd and Ducharme got the run started with a pair of threes, and then the Huskies used better defense to fuel their offense, scoring 10 points off seven Xavier turnovers and holding the Musketeers scoreless for the final 6:20 of the first half.
“It always starts with [defense],” Auriemma said. “Anytime you cheat on defense, anytime you don’t put any effort into it, it’s going to show in the other end too.”
The onslaught on both ends continued into the third quarter, where UConn scored the first 18 points of the second half and bested Xavier 23-5 in the frame. Mackayla Scarlett converted a pair from the free-throw line at the 2:05 mark to snap the Musketeers’ scoreless streak dating back to the 6:20 mark of the second. Huskies forced six more Xavier turnovers (seven) than shots they allowed from the field (one) in the third.
UConn further put the game away by outscoring the Musketeers (8-17, 3-13) 22-11 in the fourth. In the final three quarters, Auriemma’s squad shot 66% from the field and turned the ball over just eight times.
The Huskies are back in action Sunday at the XL Center versus Georgetown. And Auriemma will be expecting them to come out the same way they finished the game Friday.
“You’ve got to be the same every night from here on in,” Auriemma said. “There’s no ‘we’re building towards something.’ This is it. This is what we were building for, so now it’s here.”
Amari DeBerry, Piath Gabriel see time
Gabriel and freshman Amari DeBerry took the court early in the fourth, the most time they’ve both gotten in awhile. Auriemma said that, individually and together, the pair are working hard and putting in a lot of time before practice.
Gabriel, the first of the two off the bench, had a pretty efficient night (5 for 7) and collected four rebounds in eight minutes, while DeBerry (the No. 15 recruit in her class) went 2-4 from the field and 1-3 from 3, with three assists and a block.
“The thing about Amari is she’s so bad in practice some days but she’s never that bad in games,” Auriemma said. “I think she’s trying to tell me something. ‘Coach if I don’t come to practice, I’ll play really, really well. Stop bugging me in practice.’ I’m not ready to go that route yet”
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com