UConn women’s basketball throttles Butler, 92-47, for largest victory margin of season

This season may be unlike any the Huskies have experienced in some time, but Wednesday’s Big East battle at Butler was a good ‘ole UConn women’s basketball thrashing.

The No. 10 Huskies shook off Sunday’s shaky return from their extended COVID-19 layoff by demolishing one-win Butler 92-47 in Indianapolis, their second of four games in nine days. The 45-point margin of victory was UConn’s largest so far in 2021-22 by 15 points.

Although clearly against an inferior opponent, UConn controlled the game on both ends in ways it hadn’t much this season, in part a result of how coach Geno Auriemma challenged his team since the Creighton game: He told his seniors after Sunday, “We need more from you guys. You need to perform better.” And he asked the entire team to play with a passion and energy that, given the state of the world with the COVID-19 pandemic, is difficult for anyone of any age or profession to carry these days.

The players went two-for-two in those areas Wednesday.

UConn channeled its energy into suffocating defense: The Huskies (8-3, 3-0 Big East) forced 27 turnovers which they turned into 43 points. They also scored 24 fast-break points to Butler’s zero.

“[The majority of the game], the game was played the way we want it to play, regardless of who the opponent was,” Auriemma said. “That’s the way we used to play basketball here at Connecticut. And that hasn’t happened in a while.”

That tone was in part set by sophomore Nika Mühl, who was all over the place defensively and started her first game of the season in place of Evina Westbrook. The redshirt senior came off the bench for the first time in her UConn career.

Auriemma said that he wanted to start Mühl, who is still on a minutes restriction, so that UConn didn’t need to wait to take advantage of her impact while her playing time is limited. He added that he’s been concerned with the lack of productivity from his reserves, but that Westbrook can now bring that by coming in off the bench.

Westbrook responded well to that new role, and her fellow seniors rose to the occasion as well: Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams led the Huskies with 19 points each, a season-high for the former and the most since the Minnesota game for the latter.

Williams had a confidence-instilling game, not just with her scoring but more so her impact in other areas. She had a career-high seven steals, along with four assists and seven rebounds and just one turnover.

“Coach has been on me about impacting the game in more ways than one, specifically defense and getting more steals. He challenged me to get two a game, so I kind of took that to heart,” Williams said. “People look at me as a scorer and that’s how I look at myself, but there’s other things that I can do on the floor as well. So I just been trying to do that.”

Nelson-Ododa hit a slew of outside jumpers, including her first 3 of the season, and made eight of her 10 shots. Westbrook finished with 13 points and went 3-7 on 3s.

“Hopefully this is the beginning of a beautiful thing,” Auriemma said.

Freshman Caroline Ducharme scored at least 14 points for the fifth time in six games, finishing with 18. Mühl didn’t attempt a shot, but collected three rebounds, dished out five assists, came away with one steal and picked up just one foul in 17 minutes. Auriemma said he saw a “180 difference when she’s on the floor.”

Sophomore Aaliyah Edwards was the final Husky in double figures with 12 points, while freshman Amari DeBerry played a season-high 17 minutes and sophomore Piath Gabriel scored her first points of the season.

UConn scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back, leading 25-9 after the first period — at which point Ducharme had nearly singlehandedly outscored the Bulldogs with eight points of her own — and later 48-19 at the half.

Five players had at last seven points apiece by halftime, but the Huskies’ smothering defense stood out most. Butler (1-12, 0-4) had nearly as many turnovers (15) as points (19) at the break, which UConn turned into 25 points.

“Defensively, you have to up the tempo, and it starts the way you pick up, the way you pressure the ball, the way you get in the passing lanes,” Auriemma said. “We spent some time in practice figuring, we’ve got more bodies now, so let’s throw them out there and let’s use them. The defense, the pressure that we put on the other team, if we can continue to do that, then we can continue to play quicker like we played today.”

It was more of the same from in the final 20 minutes, with UConn outscoring Butler 29-12 in the third period.

Next up for the Huskies is a Saturday afternoon matchup versus Xavier at the XL Center.

Aubrey Griffin update

UConn announced prior to the game that junior Aubrey Griffin will miss the rest of the season after undergoing back surgery on Monday, which coach Geno Auriemma had suggested might be the case last week. Griffin never played this season, at first dealing with a high-ankle sprain in the preseason that kept her out early before a disk issue in her back ultimately precluded her return.

Her expected recovery time is four months, the school said.

Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com