UConn women’s basketball looks to turn newfound spark into long-term success

There was something about how the No. 10 UConn women’s basketball team played its last two games that just felt different. It didn’t matter the competition, although to be clear, the Huskies were no doubt facing inferior opponents in Butler and Xavier.

Unlike how it played earlier in the season — even with reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers on the floor — UConn dictated how the game would be played from the get-go. That started primarily on the defensive end, but the Huskies went about their business with an intention, energy and urgency that coach Geno Auriemma had so desperately wanted to see with big nonconference games looming the next few weeks.

So what’s made the difference for the Huskies, and what more is Auriemma looking for from his squad?

There are obvious changes to point to: The Huskies just played three games in seven days, and after Monday will have played four in nine. UConn‘s scheduling has been a bit wonky at times this season — no stretch was tougher than when the team had just one game against Louisville during exam week, then had four canceled contests due to COVID-19 issues after the holidays.

Getting into a game flow has helped players like Caroline Ducharme, the Huskies’ surprising freshman, find a rhythm and grow game to game. More broadly, it’s allowed players to solidify their roles for a squad missing its floor captain and incorporating multiple new faces.

“I think just being in the flow of having games has really helped us,” Ducharme said Saturday. “We went for a stretch where we didn’t play for a while. So we had a lot of time in practice, a lot of time to fine-tune things and look at specifics on the offensive end and defensive end. So just being able to actually have games and being able to see it I think has really helped us.”

It’s also no coincidence that the Huskies’ heightened intensity has coincided with the return of Nika Mühl, and specifically her insertion into the starting lineup.

Mühl’s edge, toughness and physicality now set the tone on defense from the start of the game. Auriemma said that with Mühl back and other players getting healthier, the Huskies can extend their defense and apply more three-quarter or full-court pressure. Her facilitating also has been a strong point, especially in transition, and she boasts five assists each of the last two games.

Even with Ducharme’s stellar play and Mühl doing her thing, those two can’t do it alone. After the Creighton game, Auriemma sat down with his seniors and told them the team needed them to do more. They have answered the call.

Christyn Williams has gotten involved with defense, rebounding and assists, which in turn has helped her become a better scorer. Olivia Nelson-Ododa has dominated the paint when asked, while also showcasing what makes her such a critical defensive piece. Especially in the Butler game, Evina Westbrook showed the new dimension she can bring this team by coming off the bench.

“I think it’s needed,” Nelson-Ododa said of Auriemma’s challenge. “I think presented with a challenge like that, it forces us to really step up and evaluate what we’ve been doing. He’s always been pushing us. He always will push us, and so we really accept that challenge.”

There’s no doubt that, with or without Bueckers, the Huskies will need their seniors to bring it for them to achieve their long-term goals.

“I think we were just faced with adversity and struggling to really face that head on,” Nelson-Ododa said. “I think now that we accepted this is the way things are, we’ve been able to do well since then, especially that stretch in December.”

Arguably the biggest change has been in how the Huskies are going about their business.

Auriemma has mentioned multiple times this season how he sees teams nationwide going through the motions and playing without passion — a product of living through such exhausting times with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

At times, it seemed like his team was under that same spell, and he didn’t know how to get them out. More recently, though, there’s been a shift in tone: that he won’t let his kids become one of those teams.

”We’ve tried really hard the last two weeks to be different than that,” Auriemma said. “And I’m really proud of them. They’re responding. It makes all this stuff bearable.”

”He’s definitely made that a very big point of emphasis with how he sees players kind of playing with a dead face,” Nelson-Ododa said. “For us, we don’t want to look like that. We don’t want to play like that. This isn’t how UConn players have played in the past. So just kind of bringing the energy from the jump … that’s been a big point of how we need to play the rest of season.”

Two games in January hardly have any bearing on how things will unfold in March and April. But the progress is there; now it’s just a matter of building upon that growth.

Auriemma said he recently showed his team two charts: one where the graph line skyrockets before precipitously plummeting downward, over and over; the other where there’s an overall steady incline, and when there are dips, they are small and quick, easy to recover from.

The former, he said, reflects this UConn team, both collectively and often as individuals, most of the season. One step forward could be followed by two steps back. The highs are high, but the lows? Way too low to be successful when it counts.

The latter, then, is where he wants his team to be: not just trending in the right direction, but resilient in the face of adversity.

Monday’s battle at Oregon is sure to provide plenty of that.

”If they’re 100% on Monday, it’s going to be really a tough assignment for us. Heck, if they’re 80% Monday it’s going be tough,” Auriemma said. “But it’s supposed to be. … I think [a game like that] toughens you up a little bit. And I think Monday will do that for us.

“We win, that’s great, obviously. Huge confidence boost for our guys if we win. We don’t win, it’ll be like that South Carolina game. It depends how we don’t win. So we’ll know more Monday night than we do now.”

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