The Aftermath: UConn's win over Holy Cross was a microcosm of the season so far

UConn’s 88-52 win over Holy Cross could’ve been a lot worse. Despite a poor first half, the Huskies kept every player on their roster — which wasn’t the case the last time they put up a lackluster performance against the Crusaders coming out of a Thanksgiving tournament.

Back during the 2002-03 season, they returned from winning the Wahine Classic in Hawaii and slogged to a 68-46 victory at Holy Cross in which they trailed during the second half.

“[When] we came home, I think I threw three kids off the team,” Geno Auriemma said. “I mean, it was only for a day, but…”

The coach didn’t go that far on Wednesday night, but he still wasn’t happy with his team in the victory. UConn had a miserable opening quarter in which it shot just 4-15, trailed by four at one point and didn’t put forth the requisite effort. At the first media timeout, he subbed out three starters but then pulled Ashlynn Shade, who came off the bench in that line change, after just 15 seconds when she committed a quick foul.

When the Huskies went into the half up by six, Auriemma told SNY that he was “shocked” they were winning and added that “the wrong team’s ahead.” UConn didn’t return from the locker room until less than a minute remained on the clock and postgame — even with a much better effort in the second half — he called his squad “immature”.

Some of that can be chalked up to a post-Bahamas hangover. Morgan Valley, a junior on that 2002-03 team and now an assistant coach, expected there to be rough patches.

“Morgan Valley said she knew this was coming,” Auriemma said. “It's always bad — bad jet lag, bad everything when you come back… It's just really, really hard to get back into the rhythm of things.”

Still, it’s not like the issues were exclusive to Wednesday night. The Huskies’ win over Holy Cross proved to be a microcosm of the season to this point.

“Nothing surprised me because in all the games that we played so far this year, we've looked really, really good — regardless of who the opponent is — and we've looked not so good — regardless of who the opponent is,” Auriemma said.

In the opener vs. BU, UConn led 60-13 at halftime but followed it up with a 26-19 second half. Against USF, the Huskies out-scored the visitors by 28 in the middle two quarters but by just nine in the first and fourth. In their first test vs. then-No. 14 UNC, they went up as many as 20 in the first half before letting the Tar Heels get back within single-digits in the final period.

UConn blew out FDU by 44 but started slow. In the first game down in The Bahamas vs. Oregon State, the Huskies were +25 in the opening half and -6 in the latter. Two days later, a 19-point halftime lead over Ole Miss evaporated to as little as three before they righted the ship.

Every time out, UConn’s looked dominant — borderline unstoppable — for stretches. It just hasn’t been able to keep it going.

“It's been hard for us to sustain something for four quarters,” Auriemma told SNY afterwards. “We're gonna have to be a lot better at that."

The Huskies can’t afford to take their foot off the gas in the coming weeks, though. Four of their next five games are against ranked teams — No. 22 Louisville, No. 20 Iowa State, No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 6 USC — and all but one will be away from home.

The good news? They know what they need to do. It’s just a matter of execution.

“We came out with a whole different mindset in the second half and that's a mindset that we need to have going into every single game and every half that we play,” Kaitlyn Chen said. “We all have to be locked in, focused on what we practiced, what we worked on, and just be ready and to attack the other team.”

Fudd dealing with stomach bug

After an 18-point performance in her last outing vs. Ole Miss, Azzi Fudd returned to the starting lineup for the first time in over a year against Holy Cross. Yet it almost didn’t happen.

“Azzi’s been battling some stomach issues yesterday, today, and it was a game-time decision whether she was going to play at all,” Auriemma said.

The ailment limited Fudd to just 18 minutes, though she still put up seven points on the night.

Chen’s big game

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