What we learned from UConn women’s basketball 115-42 exhibition game victory over Kutztown
The 2022-23 UConn women’s basketball team took the court for the first time on Sunday, defeating Division II Kutztown 115-42 in an exhibition game at XL Center.
The Huskies impressed on offense, shooting 56.8% from the floor and 48.3% from long range. Azzi Fudd led the way with 29 points and nine 3-pointers. Lou Lopez Sénéchal and Dorka Juhász were close behind her with 22 and 20 points, respectively.
UConn outscored its opponent 61-18 in the second half to coast to the 73-point win. Geno Auriemma’s squad scored 46 points off turnovers and had a 50-10 edge in the paint while holding its opponent to 28.6% shooting from the field.
The Huskies are back in action on Thursday. The season opener against Northeastern tips off at 7 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion and will be broadcasted on SNY.
Here is what stood out from the UConn’s first live action of 2022-23:
Starting lineup, minutes distribution and health updates
The Huskies went with a starting five of Nika Mühl, Fudd, Lopez Sénéchal, Aaliyah Edwards and Juhász.
Caroline Ducharme, who started 11 games last season, was unavailable for the contest. Auriemma said earlier in the week that the sophomore guard was a “maybe” for the exhibition contest due to neck stiffness.
“We don’t have a real game till the 10th, so she’s still got a couple of days to get over it,” Auriemma said Friday.
Joining Ducharme on the bench were Paige Bueckers (torn ACL) and Ice Brady (torn patella), who have both been ruled out for the season. In other health news, Aaliyah Edwards was wearing a face mask, as expected. She will be masked up for the foreseeable future after breaking her nose in practice a few weeks ago following a collision with Mühl.
Auriemma went with a seven-player rotation in the first half, at the end of which the Huskies held a 54-24 lead.
After sitting out the entire 2021-22 season due to injury, Aubrey Griffin entered the game for Edwards as the first player off the bench with 3:52 left in the first quarter. Ayanna Patterson was the second substitution with just under a minute left in the opening frame. Griffin played just under 23 minutes and Patterson played 21, notching a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists. Amari DeBerry entered the game at the start of the fourth quarter and Inês Bettencourt subbed in a few minutes later.
Lou Lopez Sénéchal impresses in debut
Lou Lopez Sénéchal had quite the performance in her debut for the Huskies. She finished with 22 points on 9 of 16 shooting, along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
The Fairfield transfer scored the first points of the afternoon for the Huskies and refused to slow down from there.
With under two minutes left in the first quarter, she drained a 3-pointer off an assist from Juhász. She then grabbed a rebound on the defensive end of the floor and scored another trey on the next possession, extending a 15-0 UConn run earning loud cheers from the XL Center crowd. She went on to score 18 points in the first half to lead all players.
Lopez Sénéchal appeared to cramp up a few minutes into the fourth quarter. She was stretched out by a trainer and then went to the bench on her own accord, albeit limping a bit. Already having played 31 minutes, she then sat on the bench for the rest of the afternoon, stretching out her left leg from time to time.
What we learned about the guards
Azzi Fudd and Nika Mühl are being asked to take on much bigger roles this season to make up for the loss of Bueckers.
They both took turns handling the ball for Huskies throughout Sunday afternoon, combining for 16 assists to five turnovers.
In addition to her team-high 29 points, Fudd had five assists. Mühl did a little bit of everything for UConn, finishing with seven points, 11 assists, eight rebounds, five steals and two blocks.
Fudd had a slow first half, recording just six points. But she went off in the third quarter, draining four triples and showing exactly why the Huskies will look to her as their go-to scoring option this season.
