Highs, lows and best moments of the 2020-21 UConn women’s basketball season

The 2020-21 UConn women’s basketball season may have ended in disappointment with the Huskies’ 69-59 Final Four loss to Arizona, but it was a memorable one nonetheless full of plenty the team can be proud of. We take a trip down memory lane back through the highs, lows, silver linings and best off-court moments of the season, while looking ahead at what’s to come for the Huskies.

Highs

Return back to Big East: The Huskies returned home and breezed through Big East play with only one game decided by fewer than 20 points (10 vs. Marquette). They later played their best basketball throughout the Big East Tournament at Mohegan Sun, winning each game by at least 34 points. UConn still hasn’t lost a conference game since March 2013, and isn’t looking like it will anytime soon.

Geno passes Pat: Geno Auriemma passed Pat Summitt’s legendary 1,098 career win mark with the Huskies’ Jan. 19 victory over Butler (103-35). Auriemma is now the second winningest coach in the sport’s history with 1,119 career wins, six shy of Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer’s 1,125.

Big regular season wins: The Huskies’ typically robust nonconference schedule took a hit due to COVID-19, but they were still able to fit in some thrilling games. UConn passed its first big test of the season, coming away with a 67-61 win over Tennessee that was sealed with a Paige Bueckers 3-point dagger after spraining an ankle. A few weeks later, Bueckers scored 31 points, including the final four in regulation and all of UConn’s nine in overtime, to lift the Huskies over then-No. 1 South Carolina, 63-59.

Baylor thriller: In a matchup that felt like it could’ve (or should’ve) been slated in the Final Four, the Huskies scored 19 unanswered points to battle back from down 10 in the third quarter. Their run put them ahead for good, and they’d ultimately escape with a 69-67 win to advance to the program’s 13th straight Final Four and 21st overall. The game had plenty of drama, too: DiDi Richards’ game-changing injury, Christyn Williams’ missed free throws and the controversial no-call on the final play of the game.

Lows

COVID-19 disruptions: The Huskies’ season start was delayed by two weeks after a member of the program tested positive for COVID-19, prompting a shutdown of basketball activities that wiped off nonconference games against Quinnipiac, Mississippi State and Louisville. Kim Mulkey’s COVID-19 case in January would later lead to the cancellation of the Baylor game, and due to other COVID-19 disruptions throughout the Big East the Huskies played one game across the first three weeks of January. They went nearly the rest of the season without any issues until Auriemma contracted the virus right before the NCAA Tournament, missing his team’s first two rounds. Shea Ralph also left the San Antonio bubble after a family member tested positive for the virus. Auriemma praised his team for its resilience through such a bizarre, disruption-filled season.

Anna Makurat’s injury: Makurat appeared in nine games before missing the rest of the regular season with a stress fracture in her right leg. Though she’d return for the conference tournament, the injury prevented the sophomore guard from picking up where she left off at the end of her freshman season.

Arkansas loss: Chelsea Dungee dropped 37 points against the Huskies in a 90-87 win for No. 19 Arkansas. The players later said that they were so embarrassed by how they played defensively that it was the kick in the butt they needed to hold each other accountable and turn things around on that side of the floor. Their defense would be night-and-day better the rest of the way.

Arizona upset: UConn’s first double-digit NCAA Tournament loss since 2007. The Wildcats’ suffocating defense rocked UConn back on its heels from the jump, and the Huskies would never fully recover. UConn fell by 10 and was went home from the Final Four empty-handed for the fourth-straight tournament.

The silver linings

Freshmen dazzled: Bueckers was exquisite, as evidenced by her sweeping all the major player of the year awards. But Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Muhl emerged as crucial pieces, too. Can you imagine how good Edwards will be as a senior? Muhl when she becomes more disciplined? Scary.

Saylor Poffenbarger joins the team: Poffenbarger didn’t see a ton of time, but she got a full semester to get acclimated to Storrs and to the program, which should only benefit her down the line.

The emergence of Christyn Williams: Williams’ development as an all-around player over the final two months of the season, particularly in the Big East and NCAA tournaments, was a huge step in the right direction after two seasons of up-and-down confidence issues. It should ideally give her some nice momentum heading into her senior year.

Evina Westbrook returning: UConn’s most important leadership and glue piece and its do-it-all player on the court, Westbrook announced Sunday she’ll be forgo the WNBA draft and return to Storrs for her redshirt senior season — a huge plus for a championship-minded Huskies.

The work ahead

Freshmen growth: No doubt the youngsters, even Bueckers, have a lot to learn. After the Arizona loss, Auriemma harped on the maturity this group will need to develop if it wants to win a national title in 2022.

Sophomores finding their place: Makurat and Aubrey Griffin disappeared at times this season. Makurat’s injury was clearly partly to blame in keeping her from progressing more as a sophomore. Edwards saw more playing time over Griffin, who started five games before Muhl earned that fifth starting spot for the rest of the season. Though some standout recruits are coming in, both players have much they can still contribute to this team.

Seniors step up: Will Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Westbrook take the step up that’s expected of them as seniors? This team can’t be all Bueckers, and these rising seniors need to be a big part of the solution toward avoiding a one-woman show.

Rotation questions: With Westbrook’s return, UConn has 14 scholarship players set to return next season. The 2021 recruiting class stands out for its versatility, though a Bueckers-Fudd 1-2 backcourt punch sounds unstoppable. He typically doesn’t use a super robust rotation, but Auriemma will have plenty of pieces to tinker with and will have his hands full with 10 freshmen and sophomores to deal with.

Best off-court moments

Auriemma’s hair: After UConn’s Jan. 9 win over Providence, Bueckers interrupted Auriemma’s Zoom post-game press conference to ask him what hair products he used in his hair. “When you get hair as nice as mine, then you can have my products,” Auriemma said. He then quipped that his hair was a little drier than usual and he wanted to use some of Bueckers’ sweat to help, but “you don’t exert yourself defensively.”

Westbrook’s big win: Playing against her former school, Westbrook hit back-to-back 3s against Tennessee to break a tie and kick off a 9-0 fourth-quarter run for UConn, a huge momentum shift that’d help it win the game.

Afterward UConn posted a picture of the team embracing Westbrook, the self-proclaimed “team mom,” in the locker room, reflecting how much she means to the team.

Geno Auriemma, practice player? Auriemma tried to keep things light and fun in practice one day by dressing up as a practice player and trying to take on Griffin one-on-on. He later (jokingly) credited his team’s great performance at St. John’s that week to the influence of the team’s new addition.

‘That’s my slime:’ Trying to remain hip and in the know with his seven freshmen, Auriemma called Muhl his “slime” (a slang word for friend) in a post-game press conference after UConn’s late February win over Creighton. He assured reporters he had no idea what the word means.

Butt tap: No highlight of Bueckers’ freshman season was as important as when she tapped Auriemma on the butt after a big 3 from Makurat at the end of UConn’s Sweet 16 game against Iowa. Auriemma later revealed that it was part of an inside joke after he had to be convinced to put Makurat in. The sophomore’s 2-for-2 clip from beyond the arc was a perfect opportunity for Bueckers to rub it in that he was wrong.

Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com.