Sweet Caroline (ba,ba,ba) The Huskies Win Again

UConn's Christyn Williams goes up for a floater shot during today's game against Creighton. Credit: David Bulter II, USA TODAY.

After a three-week playing drought due to Covid, the UConn Huskies took the Gample court with persistence. The Huskies outscored the Creighton Blue Jays for the bulk of today’s Big East matchup. Freshman Caroline Ducharme once again proved to be UConn’s next star player with an impressive game. Ducharme led in scoring for both teams with 17 points.

The Huskies played today in their second conference game this season after playing Seton Hall on December 3rd. The bench was full of extra bodies that day for Coach Geno Auriemma to play. Today, Auriemma only had eight players suited up. Sophomore Nika Mühl returned to gameplay after missing their last games due to an ongoing foot injury. Mühl was a dynamic, hot-handed player in the Huskies' last game against Creighton.

A star was born during UConn’s last game against Louisville. Caroline Ducharme has been the awe-inspiring piece to Auriemma’s puzzle. She scored 24 points against the Cardinals, her career-high. Today, Ducharme played an outstanding conference match. She scored 17, added 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 2 assists. When asked about Caroline Ducharme’s defensive effort today, Geno was quite impressed.

Carolina Ducharme (33) hits a three-pointer in UConn's game versus Louisville in December. Credit: Stephen Slade, UConn Athletics.

“Yeah she [Ducharme] was really good today defensively in a lot of different ways,” said Auriemma. “She’s gotten a lot better at it and she’s worked really at it. I think that’s going to keep getting better, hopefully, you know as the season goes on and her career goes on. The biggest area for her Ducharme is not getting lost on whether it’s what switches are going on or what cuts are happening or over-whelming at times.”

Senior Christyn Williams showed up for today’s game. She has been at every game this season but her performance today was one of the better ones. Williams was second in scoring with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and added 1 steal. This game showed that the Huskies have been working harder on a team dynamic and collaboration. Williams and Ducharme worked seamlessly together on passes off of steals.

“She’s [Ducharme] such a competitor,” said Auriemma. She competes and wants to be really, really good. So whatever she sets her mind to it’s going to get done. That I have no doubt about that.”

Aaliyah Edwards (3) leaps for a layup over her Creighton defender. Credit: Jessica Hill, Associated Press.

Sophomore Aaliyah Edwards played her best game all season. Coming off the bench, Edwards grabbed 3 rebounds, 3 steals, and scored 12 points. Watching Edwards today compared to other games this season has proved she is on the same caliber as last season. Auriemma mentioned in his post-game conference that Creighton is not an easy team to defend.

“Yeah I thought defensively we pretty much got done with everything we wanted to get done,” said Auriemma. "They’re [Creighton] not an easy team to play against, defend. You got to work really, really hard and the minute you stop, they get a layup or an open three. I thought defensively considering we haven’t played and we didn’t have anybody to practice, go five on five or play full court, I thought that was a huge positive today.”

Seniors Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Dorka Juhász each dished out some impactful assists towards the Huskies’ win. Juhász scored 10 points while ONO added 7. Evina Westbrook seemed to have a rough day with 4 shots today, scoring only 2 points off free throws. The Huskies have had their lowest-winning scores in quite a few seasons, maybe a decade, winning only 63-58 today.

Nika Mühl made her first appearance since the Notre Dame game on December 5th. She has been battling an ongoing foot issue. Unfortunately, Mühl could not provide the offensive Geno was looking for. She did play with the same passion and spark as she typically does.

Nika Mühl goes for a pass around Creighton's Lauren Jenson (21). Credit: Jessica Hill, Associated Press.

"You know it’s hard when you miss that much time,” said Auriemma. “You haven’t practiced much but she looked a lot better in practice than she did playing today. She just has to understand that she’s not right all the time and that the refs are allowed to call fouls once in a while. That if is not always their fault when you foul, and that causes her to not have a rhythm in the game. She can’t be in the game as long as she wants to be right now.”

Mühl is the first of four Huskies with injuries to return at this point in the season. Freshman Azzi Fudd will return to practice this coming week after dealing with her own foot, ankle issues. Sophomore Paige Bueckers is recovering from knee surgery from her non-contact injury and could play again in mid-February. Sadly, junior Aubrey Griffin may not play this season with a spinal-disk injury. She may need surgery, that has not been announced by UConn.

“All in all,” said Auriemma referring to Mühl’s return. “I’m just glad that we got her the minutes that we got for her and hopefully we can get a few more out of her this coming week.”

The Huskies ended the Creighton Blue Jay’s 5-0 run in Big East Conference play. Since this was the Huskies' second conference game, they are behind on making up postponed games for the past two weeks. If the Butler Bulldogs are clear from Covid protocols the Huskies travel to Indianapolis, Indiana on Wednesday. Butler is currently 1-11 this season, and 0-3 in conference play.

Later this month, UConn plays Oregon and South Carolina outside of conference play,