After the UConn women’s basketball team’s third game of the season against Ohio State, head coach Geno Auriemma had some thoughts on the program’s top 10 matchup against the No. 6 ranked Michigan Wolverines on Friday night. “Based on what I’ve seen from Michigan, they will be, for sure, the best team we play this year; by a long shot, at this time in the season.” Auriemma said. Even with the tough deck of cards handed to Connecticut in this top 10 matchup, the Huskies got the job done, defeating the Wolverines 72-69. Coming out of the gates in the first quarter, it was evident on the hardwood that Connecticut had the upper hand. The Huskies stunned the Wolverines with their defensive pressure down low and their sequences in transition. The two main focal points behind this success, you may ask? That would be graduate student Azzi Fudd, the games’ most valuable player and sophomore forward, Sarah Strong. “This might be one of the best teams that he’s had,” Head coach of the Michigan women’s basketball team, Kim Barnes Arico, said on the UConn squad postgame, “Sarah Strong is a really special, special player and Azzi [Fudd] just doesn’tmiss. They tested us and we responded, we just ran out of time.” Strong, the Big East Preseason Player of the Year, played like her life depended on it. The 6-foot-2 North Carolina native finished the game with 16 points, six assists and four blocks, along with a career-high of 20 rebounds. Nine of those rebounds from Strong came in the first quarter, alone. It seemed that no matter the possession, drive or clash, Strong was involved in it all. The Huskies shocked the Wolverines in the first frame, forcing Michigan to shoot only 2-20 from the field and rack up five turnovers, while the Huskies ran up 15 rebounds at the same time. In the second quarter, though, the Wolverines started to get the hang of things, but that’s where Fudd kept the game rolling for the Huskies. In just the second quarter alone, Fudd scored 13 points and propelled the Huskies to finish the first half of the game up 18 points, 45-27. “I think the only thing that was going on in my mind was to be aggressive,” Fudd said when asked about her scoring. “I knew we needed to get a bucket [.] You want to be aggressive if you take those shots, and then my teammates were giving me great looks.” However, after halftime, things started to get precarious for the Huskies, as the Wolverines came out of the locker room with their composure at an entirely new level, then what the Huskies saw originally in the beginning of the game. One of these players on Michigan’s team who rallied for her squad, particularly in the second half, was sophomore Syla Swords, who finished the game with 29 points and 9 rebounds. The third frame brought some struggles for the Huskies, as they only shot 3-15 from the field. As both the third and fourth frames went down, things were consistently going down to the wire as Michigan slowly crept up to the Huskies, as Swords kept racking up points with her squad, coming as close as within one point from a triple from Swords with 13 seconds left in the game. Thanks to Fudd scoring key points from beyond the arc and 13 points in the fourth quarter and two free throws would seal the deal, as the Huskies pulled the win off. “So, once you get a good player, once they get going, they can feel it, and then team has a certain momentum.” Geno Auriemma said post-game to the media. “They just need an opportunity to shoot, and it’s just going to win. So they went to their strengths, you know, and we went to ours, and we just had enough at the end to put it away.” Next up, the Huskies will continue their journey in the Invesco QQQ Women’s Hall of Fame Showcase to take on the Utah Utes Sunday afternoon. Tip-off is scheduled for 2: 30 p. m. If Husky fans cannot make it to Uncasville, Conn. they can tune into the match on FS1 or listen in on 97. 9 FM from Learfield.
https://dailycampus.com/2025/11/22/womens-basketball-no-1-uconn-survives-no-6-michigan-in-top-10-win/
