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UConn women notebook: Huskies fancy Mühl's passing

carl adamec, journal inquirer, manchester, conn.
·5 min read

Nov. 22—Nika Mühl shared the credit for her single-game school record for assists as well as she shared the ball Sunday in the UConn women's basketball team's 91-69 win over North Carolina State at the XL Center.

The junior guard's 15 assists topped the previous mark of 14 set by classmate Paige Bueckers at Butler on Feb. 27, 2021.

"Honestly, I don't know what to say," Mühl said. "I feel it was a nice accomplishment but they always laugh at me for saying the same thing. It's my teammates that made the shots, that ran hard in transition, that set the screens for other people. I feel like it's a team accomplishment, but I feel good about it."

The performance lifted Mühl to the top of the NCAA statistics at 10.3 assists per game. It's the first time in UConn history a player has averaged double-figure assists at any point after the opener. Only two others — Pam Webber, who had 10 assists in a season-opening win over Fairfield in 1992, and Sue Bird, who had 12 assists in a season-opening win over Fairfield in 2001 — have ever averaged double-figure assists at any point. Both fell back to single figures after the second game of the year.

No UConn player has averaged 6.0 assists for a season. The school single-season mark is 5.923 by Bird in 2001-02 closely followed by Crystal Dangerfield (5.921) in 2018-19.

Mühl also led the Big East and ranked in the top 25 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.9) and steals (3.7) entering Monday's play.

"There is something about that kid that's infectious," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Everything she does, she does it with her heart. She doesn't ever back down to anybody. She doesn't know any other way than the way she plays."

She played all but the final 1:04 against the Wolfpack.

"There is so much asked of her right now," Auriemma said. "There's so much pressure on Nika to be almost perfect every night, to handle the ball, to play the other team's best player most of the time, to make sure she gets us in what we need to do, to make sure our transition game is going, to make sure the right people get the ball at the right time, and to stay out of foul trouble, which goes against everything she believes in."

Next for UConn (3-0) is a trip to Portland, Oregon for the Phil Knight Legacy where it faces Duke (5-0) Friday in the first round and either Iowa or Oregon State Sunday.

The Huskies feel good, particularly with Mühl running the show.

"There are good and bad days, but I feel I've gotten better learning from my mistakes," Mühl said. "There is still a long way to go, but I'm still happy where I'm at."

Fudd honored

UConn's Azzi Fudd was named the Big East Player of the Week for the first time in her career Monday. The sophomore guard scored a career-high 32 points against then No. 3 Texas and then matched that total against then-No. 10 North Carolina State.

"She is so efficient in what she does," Auriemma said. "No wasted motions. She missed a layup and a few things so there is a whole other whatever that she hasn't gotten to yet, which is scary. But she is pretty special. There aren't too many players in any league that can take the ball and do what she does with it so fast."

Fudd is averaging 30.0 points on 54.8 percent shooting from the floor and 37.9 percent shooting from 3-point land.

She was selected over some tough competition. Villanova senior Maddy Siegrist averaged 31.5 points and 13.5 rebounds in Big Five wins over Penn and Temple last week. DePaul sophomore Aneesah Morrow averaged 38.5 points and 11.0 rebounds in the Blue Demons' 1-1 week. Both were named to the Big East honor roll.

Xavier guard Fernanda Ovalle was the Freshman of the Week.

Moving on up

UConn checked in at No. 3 in the Associated Press poll released Monday, up two spots from a week ago.

South Carolina (4-0) was the unanimous pick at No. 1 after beating second-ranked Stanford 76-71 in overtime at Maples Pavilion Sunday. The Cardinal (5-1) remained No. 2 with the loss, beating out the Huskies by 11 points for the spot.

Rounding out the top five were Ohio State and Iowa State.

In the Big East, Creighton moved up four spots to No. 16 while Villanova stayed at No. 24. Marquette was second in the also receiving votes category but suffered its first loss to No. 20 UCLA Monday.

Texas dropped 16 spots to No. 19 after consecutive losses to UConn, Marquette, and Louisville. The Longhorns beat Rutgers Monday. N.C. State fell three places to No. 13 following its loss to the Huskies.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.