UConn women's notebook: Mühl gets assist to break Bird's record

Feb. 28—STORRS — Nika Mühl was a week shy of her first birthday when Sue Bird completed her playing career with the UConn women's basketball team. In leading the Huskies to a perfect 39-0 record and the 2002 national championship during her Player of the Year senior season, Bird recorded a school record 231 assists.

UConn has had some great guards since including Nancy Lieberman Award winners Diana Taurasi, Renee Montgomery, Moriah Jefferson, and Paige Bueckers, but Bird's single-season mark held firm. That is until Monday when Mühl — who will likely be the last to wear the uniform No. 10 Bird made famous here as it will be retired once the recently retired five-time Olympic gold medalist is inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame — put her name in the record book.

Needing three assists to pass Bird, Mühl had assists attached to the Huskies' first three baskets and six out of seven. She finished with seven assists to raise her season total to 236 as No. 9 UConn topped Xavier 60-51 at Gampel Pavilion to clinch the Big East regular-season title outright.

"It's what she deserved," UConn wing Lou Lopez Sénéchal said. "She's been doing it all year, and to be able to achieve it the last game of the regular season is what we were all expecting for her. She has been anything but selfish and she always wants to share the ball and she always looks for others in the offense and in transition.

"We are all happy for her. We obviously knew it was going to happen and we were confident it would happen. It's a great boost for her confidence for the rest of the year."

The record-tying assist came on a backdoor pass to Lopez Sénéchal with 3:19 gone. The record-breaker gave two possessions later and following Mühl's only turnover of the night as a pass led to a 3-pointer by Caroline Ducharme.

Mühl set the new standard on the same day she was named as one of five finalists for the Lieberman Award, which honors the nation's top point guard. The native of Zagreb, Croatia was not on the award's preseason watch list.

She leads the Big East and ranks second nationally to Iowa's Caitlin Clark in assists at 7.9 per game. No UConn player has led the country in assists. With anywhere between two and nine games remaining, she is also assured of breaking Bird's single-season average assist mark of 5.923.

"Given the number of minutes she has had to play and the circumstances and how few scorers there actually are on the court, it's pretty remarkable that she has been able to do what she's done to keep it together for this long," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "I know she wasn't at her best, and she wasn't herself today. But there is nobody that works harder, deserves it more, and plays with more passion and heart."

Mühl had five points, all from the free-throw line Monday. She added five rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot.

Bird, a three-time Lieberman Award winner, compiled her 231 assists in 1,168 minutes played and had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.48. Mühl has played 1,094 minutes this season and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.29.

The other finalists for the 2023 Lieberman Award are Clark, McKenna Hofschild (Colorado State), Olivia Miles (Notre Dame), and Lauren Park-Lane (Seton Hall) with Clark a prohibitive favorite to be honored the second straight year.

"I'm happy for Nika and really proud of her whether she wins or doesn't win," Auriemma said. "I don't know that any other point guard in America this year has had to work under the same circumstances that she did."

Senior Night sendoff

For the first time since the Huskies have held Senior Night, there were no four-year players honored. Instead, two fifth-year transfers — Lopez Sénéchal and Dorka Juhász — were recognized.

The national anthems of Mexico (where she was born) and France (where she grew up) were played for Lopez Sénéchal while the national anthem of Hungary (where she was born and raised) was played for Juhász.

"I knew it was going to be very emotional because it's always a special night," Lopez Sénéchal said. "It was amazing feeling the love and the support from the whole team and the crowd. The video they made and everything together was very emotional. To do it with Dorka, it was a special ceremony. I loved it."

Both received framed white UConn jerseys that they held up as the Gampel Pavilion crowd roared. Juhász opted for the traditional white jersey her second time around instead of blue. She also received a white jersey a year ago on Senior Night that she took part in before deciding to return to the UConn for her final year of eligibility.

Lopez Sénéchal, who received a bachelor's degree in marketing from Fairfield a year ago and will receive a bachelor's degree in general studies from UConn in May, had 12 points and six rebounds Monday. Juhász, who received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Ohio State in 2021 and a masters degree in sports management from UConn in 2022, will also receive a bachelor's degree in general studies in May. She did not play Monday in order to rest a sprained right ankle.

"She said the reason she sat out was so that she could be ready for the Big East tournament," Auriemma said. "So I would expect that she is going to be ready for that."

The top-seeded Huskies will play a quarterfinal game Saturday at noon at Mohegan Sun Arena against either No. 8 Butler or ninth-seeded Georgetown.

Poll position

UConn dropped five spots to No. 9 in the Associated Press poll released Monday following a loss to St. John's and an unimpressive three-point win at DePaul last week.

South Carolina (29-0) was the unanimous No. 1. Indiana (26-2) stayed at No. 2 following a last-second loss to Iowa Sunday while Utah (25-3) moved up five spots to an all-time high of No. 3 following a win over Stanford Sunday. LSU (27-1) was fourth and Maryland (24-5) fifth.

Stanford (27-4) checked in at No. 6 followed by Iowa (23-6), Virginia Tech (24-4),and the Huskies (26-5) with Notre Dame (24-4) rounding out the Top 10.

Villanova (26-5) moved up four spots to No. 11. Creighton (21-7) topped the also receiving votes category, eight points behind No. 25 South Florida. St. John's did not get any votes.

Husky bites

Lopez Sénéchal, after not getting a trio of foul calls that she and the Huskies' bench thought she deserved, was hit with a technical foul after colliding with Xavier's Taylor Smith midway through the third quarter. Asked if it was the first technical of her college career, Lopez Sénéchal smiled and said, "I think it is my second one." ... Ducharme made her fifth start of the season and first since Dec. 31 in place of Juhász. The sophomore guard had 14 points in 32 minutes. The group of Mühl, Lopez Sénéchal, Juhász, Aaliyah Edwards, and Aubrey Griffin had started 17 straight games. ... In becoming the first to go 0-20 in Big East play, Xavier's nine-point loss to UConn was only its fourth by single figures.

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.