What to watch for in the final month of UConn's regular season

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Headlines

News

• Chasing Perfection: Counting the days to March

• Recruiting: UConn one of three finalists for top 2025 prospect

Creighton coverage

• UConn women’s basketball holds on at Creighton, 72-61

• UConn set for lone test in Big East play

DePaul coverage

• Azzi Fudd and Kaitlyn Chen lead UConn women’s basketball over DePaul, 84-58

Analysis

• Kaitlyn Chen finally flashes scoring potential

Last week’s Weekly

• UConn counting on Aubrey Griffin to be a disrupter

What to watch for in the final month of UConn's regular season

The next time UConn takes the court, one month will remain in the regular season. At this point, the Huskies are into the doldrums of conference play with games ranging from an 11-point win over Creighton that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated to a 60-point obliteration of Seton Hall.

Once February rolls around, fatigue — both physical and mental — sets in while everyone begins to anticipate the excitement of March. This part of the calendar can be a grind, especially when there’s nobody in the conference that can really challenge UConn.

Even though the outcome of most of the final nine contests probably won’t be in doubt, there’s still plenty to of reasons to watch down the stretch.

SEC interludes

The monotony of Big East play is broken up twice by a pair of marquee non-conference matchups: at No. 18 Tennessee and at No. 2 South Carolina.

While the Vols have improved under first-year head coach Kim Caldwell, this should be a game the Huskies win. Still, it’ll be another chance for UConn to play in a hostile environment against a team that isn’t easy to play against. At the bare minimum, it’ll be a nice break from conference play.

The big one is South Carolina. While the Gamecocks are no longer the unstoppable juggernaut that went undefeated last season, they’re still one of the best teams in the country despite losing Kamilla Cardoso (graduation) and Ashlyn Watkins (torn ACL). Their last five wins have all come against ranked competition, including blowout victories over No. 5 Texas (67-50) and No. 13 Oklahoma (101-60).

That will be UConn’s final chance to prove it belongs among the nation’s elite after falling to No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 4 USC earlier in the year. Another stumble and the Huskies will look a lot more like pretenders than contenders. They don’t need to win — though doing so would be a major boost to their NCAA Tournament resume and their only hope at a 1-seed — but they need to be competitive for all 40 minutes.

After these two games comes and go, UConn probably won’t be tested again until late March.

Secondary scoring

Most nights, UConn knows it can count on Paige Bueckers and Sarah Strong to carry the scoring load. The two have reached double-figures in all but three games combined and account for 43.1 percent of the Huskies’ scoring. Bueckers and Strong are as steady as they come.

Over the next month, UConn needs to figure out who can help them on the scoresheet. Azzi Fudd and Kaitlyn Chen did just that on Wednesday at DePaul, putting up 17 points each with the two superstars having off-nights. They’re also the two best candidates.

Fudd is only other Husky averaging double-figures (11.2 points) and has a few breakouts to boot (five games with 17+ points), though she can be hot and cold. Meanwhile, Chen averaged 15.8 points at Princeton last season but has spent too much of the season as a pass-first — or pass-only, at times — point guard. Only recently has she looked to score herself and the results have been immediate: Over the last three games, Chen is averaging 13.0 points thanks to a pair of 17-point efforts.

Elsewhere, Ashlynn Shade helped get the Huskies to the Final Four as the third scorer last year but has struggled to replicate that success on a nightly basis. There’s also Aubrey Griffin, who’s still getting her feet back under her after returning from a torn ACL but emerged as a consistent option last season prior to the injury. If Caroline Ducharme ever returns, she could certainly help too.

Whoever it is, two players need to emerge from that pack as capable secondary scorers behind Bueckers and Strong for UConn to make a serious run.

Jana El Alfy’s development

Coming into the season, UConn spoke about Jana El Alfy as if she were an emerging superstar down low. Through the first 22 games of her collegiate career, that hasn’t quite materialized. Dealing with the difficult combo of being a freshman while coming back from a major injury (she tore her achilles in 2023), El Alfy has predictably been up and down.

She started the season with 17 points against BU but has only reached double-figures three times since — in part because she’s shooting just over 50 percent on shots at the rim, per CBB Analytics. El Alfy’s 5.2 rebounds are second on the team, as are her 16 blocks.

While she’s generally improved over the course of the season, that progress is incremental. Or as Auriemma put it: “Like I-95 between New Haven and Greenwich.”

The best version of the Huskies requires a capable big down low and El Alfy is their best hope. To get there, she needs to take a major leap forward in the next month.

Aubrey Griffin’s progress

When Griffin returned to game action on Jan. 18, that marked a major milestone in her recovery from a torn ACL but it didn’t complete her comeback story. She’s still far from her old self.

In three games, Griffin has played a grand total of 35 minutes while collecting five points and 10 rebounds. UConn knew she’d need time to knock the rust off, though. There’s nothing to be concerned about just yet.

Still, Griffin could very well be the x-factor for the Huskies in March. Her progress will be a top storyline the rest of the way.

Best of social media

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