There’s just sometimes things that happen on the floor that she’s not ready to deal with yet, but she competes and she’s a gamer … You really want to go into the tournament with three games in three days feeling like you have options. “Q is going to compete all the time, and I like that about her. We’ve had games where she’s been a big contributor and it’s helped tremendously, and we’ve had games where she’s been a non-factor,” Auriemma said. “Ice has to be consistently able to contribute. “But whenever you’re playing teams like that, it’s always in the back of your mind like what if this is the night they all go in? They’re not gonna go 35-for-35, but what if they make 15 or 17 of them? Who the hell knows? When you’re playing a team like that, you don’t assume anything.” Luckily they missed a bunch,” Auriemma said. “They took 35 threes against us here, and we took 14. 20: The team shot 18-of-59 from the field and 10-of-35 from 3-point range with just one player logging more than eight points. The absence of consistent scoring threats showed for DePaul in its 88-51 loss in Storrs on Jan. The Blue Demons also lost second-team guard Darrione Rodgers in the transfer portal to Mississippi State, and she hit three 3-pointers for 15 points in last year’s game against UConn. Aneesah Morrow, a unanimous All-Big East first team selection in 2023, transferred to LSU and is averaging 17.1 points and 9.9 rebounds for the Tigers. However, DePaul doesn’t have the same weapons that fueled it in the latest close contests. “We’ve kind of experienced it all out there, and whenever we play DePaul I’m always convinced something will happen that I haven’t seen.” We’ve gone out there and won by a lot, and gone out there and been down 17 with 10 minutes to go in the game when Maya (Moore) was a freshman,” coach Geno Auriemma said with a wry smile. “We’ve gone out there and played great and gone out there and played lousy. The closest victory in series history was the Huskies’ 77-76 win in Chicago in 2008, and they went on the reach the Final Four that season while the Blue Demons were eliminated as a 10-seed in the first round of the tournament. They beat the Blue Demons by just two points there in 2022, and it was a 10-point game in 2019 when UConn was the No. Late free throws from Nika Muhl secured a 72-69 win for the Huskies, but it wasn’t the first time the team has struggled against DePaul on the road. But recent scares at the Blue Demons’ Wintrust Arena have taught the Huskies not to take this road trip for granted.ĭePaul (12-16, 4-11 Big East) took UConn (23-5, 15-0) down to the wire in Chicago last season after leading them for the first three quarters. CHICAGO - On paper, the UConn women’s basketball team should have no doubts about earning a comfortable victory in Sunday’s matchup against DePaul, the second-worst team in the Big East this season.