The UConn women’s basketball team might feel inevitable in the Big East after finishing undefeated in the conference with a 65-42 win over Providence on Saturday, but this season was a reminder to coach Geno Auriemma of how little is guaranteed.
“It’s a lot harder than it looks. It’s a lot harder than people think, and at Connecticut it’s exceptionally hard because the expectation is that you’re going to win it,” Auriemma said. “Even if you only play four against five, we’re supposed to win the league because you’re Connecticut. I told them in the locker room afterwards, people might not appreciate how incredibly difficult this is, and I do. To be that good and be that consistent … this year more so than other years, it feels really, really gratifying.”
The No. 10 Huskies will enter the Big East tournament next week with a first-round bye and the top overall seed. They face the winner of the opening game between 8-seed Butler and 9-seed Providence at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville on March 9 (noon, FS1). UConn will be heavily favored in any matchup it draws in the Big East, but the tournament is a critical opportunity for the team’s four underclassman contributors to get a lower-pressure taste of the postseason experience before the NCAA Tournament.
“This year has been so unpredictable in that we have no idea who’s going to still be able to play 40 minutes, 35 minutes, so we’re going to take it one game at a time,” Auriemma said. “Some years I would tell you I like our chances and some years I’d tell you we’d have to get really lucky. This year, we would have to get exceptionally lucky to go really deep in the (NCAA) Tournament.”
The Big East will announce its regular-season honors this week before the conference tournament begins, and the undefeated Huskies could come as close to a sweep as they have in years. From freshman starters to senior Player of the Year candidates, here’s who could bring home awards in 2024.
Player of the Year
After the Huskies held Villanova star Lucy Olsen to a season-low six points last Wednesday, it makes the most sense for Big East Player of the Year to go to Paige Bueckers or Aaliyah Edwards, but it’s a tall task choosing just one half of UConn’s dynamic duo.
Bueckers has always been a pillar of the Huskies’ offense, averaging a team-high 20.7 points per game plus 3.7 assists and 4.4 rebounds. She has the second-highest shooting percentage in the nation among guards making 54% from the field and ranks third in the conference making 86% at the free throw line.
The narrative also leans in Bueckers’ favor: The senior returned after more than a year recovering from a torn ACL and remains one of the best players in college basketball, even playing out of position to fill the void left by injuries. She is also one of the conference’s best defenders averaging 1.1 blocks and 2.1 steals per game
Edwards didn’t have the hot start Bueckers did — she had five points in UConn’s November loss to UCLA where Bueckers scored 31 — but she ended the regular season on the best stretch of her career. Edwards logged nine double-doubles over the Huskies’ final 12 games, including a career-high 33 points against St. John’s and a season-best 17 rebounds at DePaul. With Ice Brady contributing just 15 minutes per game, Edwards is often holding down the front court single-handedly and doing so more consistently than ever before. It’s a remarkable arc for the senior, from Most Improved Player in 2023 to arguably UConn’s most irreplaceable piece a year later.
Freshman of the Year
Like Player of the Year, this is a two-person conversation between UConn teammates Ashlynn Shade and KK Arnold. The pair are remarkably similar on paper: Both entered the starting lineup at the same time and are averaging more than 29 minutes per game. Both have won Big East Freshman of the Week five times. Arnold averages 8.9 points and 2.9 rebounds, Shade averages 11.2 points and 3.2 rebounds. Shade has a slight edge shooting 49.3% from the field and 34.1% from 3-point range to Arnold’s 47.2% and 33.8%.
Arnold begins to separate herself somewhat down the stat sheet, particularly in recent weeks. She tied her career-high seven rebounds for the third time this season against Providence on Saturday and is just behind Bueckers in assists with 3.2 per game as the third ball-handling option in the lineup. She has also become a consistent defensive presence and leads UConn in steals averaging 2.4 per game.
Defensive Player of the Year
If either Bueckers or Edwards wins Player of the Year, the other should immediately become part of the conversation for the conference’s defensive award. Bueckers hasn’t been able to hunt steals like she could lined up as a point guard, but the Huskies star figured out how to impact the game just as much from the post. Bueckers is often physically mismatched as a power forward at 6-0, but she still leads UConn averaging at least a block per game. She is also the lone player in the conference to rank top 10 in both block and steals.
Edwards leads the Big East in defensive rebounding averaging 6.8 per game, but she has also become a massive presence on the perimeter for UConn over the last month of the season. She has tied her career high of four steals four times in the last five games and has created at least two turnovers in seven of the last nine. UConn’s scoring defense ranks second in the Big East allowing 57.7 points per game, but that’s with the No. 2 strength of schedule in the nation. Georgetown, which leads the category, is No. 152.
There’s also a case for Nika Muhl to win her third straight DPOY as one of the most effective on-ball guards in the league. She held St. John’s leading scorer Unique Drake to a season-low four points in a 92-49 win on Jan. 13, and she was also key to keeping Olsen to a season low last week. But Muhl had inconsistent nights particularly down the stretch, and it’s hard to argue against some of the tangibles her teammates have provided.
Sixth Player of the Year
UConn could have a sweep this season if not for the Sixth Player of the Year, but this award will almost certainly go elsewhere. The Huskies had several players at the start of the season who could have contended for the honor — Arnold, Shade, Aubrey Griffin — but injuries shortened the bench so much that all of them ended up in the starting lineup. UConn’s top contributor off the bench is Brady averaging 4.1 points and 3.2 rebounds, and Auriemma shows a lack of trust in the redshirt freshmen anytime the Huskies are in a close game.
The top contenders are DePaul sophom*ore Kate Clarke and Georgetown sophom*ore Brianna Scott. Both have started less than a third of their games this season, but Scott has come off the bench in all 26 appearances. The Hoyas junior is averaging 8.8 points, six rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Clarke started DePaul’s last two games but has nine starts in 30 appearances, and she is the statistical frontrunner averaging 9.5 points per game on 45% shooting from the field and 35% from 3-point range. She logged a career-high 32 points against No. 22 Louisville on Nov. 12 and has scored 20-plus points four times this season.
Coach of the Year
The argument for Auriemma goes hand-in-hand with the argument against him: He won the 23rd Big East regular-season title of his career, leading UConn to just the 14th undefeated record in conference history. But doing ‘a lot with a lot’ is the expectation for the Huskies, who have lost their conference regular season just nine times in 39 seasons under Auriemma.
There’s certainly a lot of talent on the roster compared to most teams in the country, but Auriemma has pulled the Huskies through enormous adversity this season. His roster of 14 players is down to nine (eight with Amari DeBerry currently in concussion protocol), and UConn still won 17 of its 18 Big East games by at least 20 points with two true freshmen starting. There’s a reason Auriemma called this season one of his most gratifying after finishing on the win at Providence on Saturday.
