Before UConn, Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl were roommates at NBA Academy

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Headlines

New/analysis

• Chasing Perfection: Can UConn survive another injury?

• Aubrey Griffin out for the season with torn ACL

• What Aubrey Griffin's injury means for UConn

• Griffin's injury overshadows UConn's best performance of the season

• Paige Bueckers hints at returning to UConn next season

• How UConn found its identity

• The ESPN-NCAA deal is a good sign for women’s college sports

Game coverage

• UConn women’s basketball dumps Georgetown, 83-55

• The Aftermath: Nika Mühl continues to emerge as 3-point threat

• UConn women’s basketball dominates Providence, 85-41

Last week’s Weekly

• How tennis inspired Ashlynn Shade's signature celebration

Elsewhere:

• UConn fell one spot to No. 13 in the AP Poll despite thumping then-No. 21, now No. 22 Creighton by 44 on the road last week.

• Ashlynn Shade won Big East Player of the Week. The Huskies have brought home the award eight of nine times this season.

• Sue Bird spent a half as a the St. Joseph’s hawk mascot. Yes, you read that right.

Before UConn, Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl were roommates at NBA Academy

In UConn’s blowout win over Creighton, Nika Mühl set up Aaliyah Edwards for the opening basket of the game to record her 500th career assist — becoming the 13th Husky to hit that mark. No player was more fitting as the recipient of that pass than Edwards.

The two arrived in Storrs at the same time as part of UConn’s 2020 recruiting class. They’ve been the only Huskies to play major roles in each of the last three seasons while injuries and graduations have led to a constantly rotating cast around them.

It’s not just about what they’ve done together in college, though. The two have been friends since before their time at UConn. In fact, when they met, neither had any idea they’d end up at the same school.

Back in 2019, the two went to Tampa, Florida during the Final Four to participate in the NBA Academy Women’s Program and as it happened, they were paired up as roommates.

“She was really quiet when I met her, I remember,” Mühl said of her first impression of Edwards, “which was so weird looking back right now. My impression was that she was a really good person. She was just quiet, shy, to herself a little bit.”

As for Edwards, she claims she got a better read of her future teammate.

“First impressions of Nika? Fiery, for sure, on the court but off the court when we spent time together, it was just a lot of laughs a lot of jokes… She hasn't changed.”

At least, Mühl’s personality hasn’t changed. Over the last three and a half years, she’s become a fluent English speaker. She could get by when she roomed with Edwards in Tampa, but it wasn’t always easy to understand her — unlike now.

“The language barrier — her English has gotten way better,” Edwards said. “But back then it was a bit choppy.”

An interview with Mühl prior to her commitment:

That weekend in Tampa proved to be a defining moment in both players’ recruiting process. Mühl was at the end of it — she committed to UConn the next Monday — while Edwards was only just beginning — Geno Auriemma and Chris Dailey saw her play for the first time at that showcase.

The two had no reason to believe they’d eventually join forces with the Huskies.

“I didn't actually know that she was being recruited by UConn at the time. It was later into the weekend when I found out,” Edwards said about Mühl.

Similarly, Mühl didn’t learn about the Huskies’ interest in Edwards until later. After they went their separate ways following the event in Tampa, they stayed in touch and occasionally spoke, but changed once UConn started to recruit Edwards harder.

“Once I heard that UConn was recruiting her too, I obviously did a little bit more talking,” Mühl recollected. “I wanted her here with me.”

Edwards eventually committed the following October as part of a recruiting class that also included Paige Bueckers, Mir McLean and Piath Gabriel. Since then, Bueckers has dealt with injuries in half her seasons while McLean and Gabriel eventually transferred out.

Meanwhile, Edwards and Mühl have maintained a steady presence, even if their time in Storrs together hasn’t been easy. They arrived in late July during the Covid pandemic and spent their entire freshman seasons under lockdown where they weren’t allowed to interact with anyone other than the team for the most part. After that, the Huskies have dealt with three consecutive injury-plagued seasons.

Still, Mühl and Edwards have found plenty of success together — both with the team and individually. They’ve won three Big East regular season and tournament titles, reached a pair of Final Fours and made it the championship game in 2022. Last year, Mühl set the program’s single-game and single-season assists record while Edwards earned AP and USBWA Third Team All-American honors.

All of it started during that weekend in Tampa when a kid from Canada and a kid from Croatia were paired up as roommates.

“I'm glad that happened,” Mühl said. “We're here together now in our senior year and it's just been an amazing journey to look back at.”

“It's beautiful,” Edwards added.

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