Back in the day, women’s college basketball teams couldn’t start official practice until Oct. 15. But on Monday, Oct. 12, UConn took on Syracuse in its first preseason game at Mohegan Sun Arena. Naturally, the Huskies were far from flawless.

They learned they have plenty to clean up on defense — Geno Auriemma said their transition defense was “as bad as I’ve ever seen it” in the first half while Sarah Strong noted that they needed to communicate better — but that should improve with additional reps, both in practice and upcoming exhibitions.

UConn also shot an ugly 3-22 (14%) from three, which would’ve been its worst performance from behind the arc both in terms of makes and percentage since the 2025 Big East quarterfinals (2-19, 10.5% vs. St. John’s).

Geno Auriemma didn’t mind, though.

“I'm kind of glad [the shooting struggles] happened because all these things that happen are good because they're opportunities. They're opportunities for us to get better,” he said. “So if we could win a game like this, the way we did making three threes, I think we could be pretty good.”

UConn came out strong and built a 23-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. Syracuse responded by going into the locker room on a 12-2 run then cut the gap to four early in the third quarter. The Huskies eventually righted the ship and outscored the Orange by 24 the rest of the way en route to an 88-60 final score.

“When you play hard and you play good defense, it makes everything go well,” Auriemma said. “But when you foul a lot, like we did in the second quarter, it just negates all the hard work that you're doing. Once we cut that out in the third quarter, we were fine.”

UConn was without Blanca Quiñonez (shoulder), Allie Ziebell (ankle) and Marine Dursus (foot), who will all factor into important roles once healthy.

“All three of those guys, they make baskets,” Auriemma said. “When we get them back, I think our offense is going to be a lot better.”

All in all, it was a successful first outing for the Huskies. Nine of the 10 players who suited up scored and while some shined more than others, everyone had at least one positive moment. There weren’t any outright bad performances.

Let’s get into all of it.

The kids are alright. While only two of UConn’s freshmen took the court (Dursus sat out), both looked like they belonged on the floor in their unofficial collegiate debuts.