UConn women's notebook: Huskies will need plenty in reserve

Mar. 26—What had been a strength for the UConn women's basketball team for a month disappeared suddenly against UCF Monday night.

The second-seeded Huskies are hoping they will again have plenty in reserve when they take on No. 3 Indiana today in an NCAA Bridgeport Regional semifinal game at Total Mortgage Arena.

UConn's bench, so reliable at the end of the regular season and through the Big East tournament into the NCAA opener against Mercer, struggled against the Knights as reserves Dorka Juhász, Evina Westbrook, Caroline Ducharme, and Nika Muhl combined for six points on 1-for-11 shooting in 48 minutes.

"I could say, obviously, that was not my best game of the year," Juhász said. "I think it was both physically, kind of mental too. I think UCF was very aggressive and kind of made me a little rattled. I think our guards need us a lot, the whole team needs us, so we're ready to play, and we're really excited."

Muhl had the only basket for the reserves, a second-quarter 3-pointer. But the Big East Defensive Player of the Year did not get off the bench in the second half with the Huskies struggling to score. UConn's 29.2 percent shooting from the floor was its worst in 148 NCAA tournament games.

Ducharme missed two second-quarter layups and she, too, did not play in the second half.

"Caroline got hit pretty hard like three games in a row and missed some time, and it's taken her a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "Like I told her about the other night, Monday night was not a reflection on whether Caroline or Nika, for that matter, aren't going to be able to have a big role tomorrow and going forward if we're fortunate. But Caroline will have a big role tomorrow, and she's got to do what she does.

"That's the thing about the NCAA tournament. You can't all of a sudden reinvent yourself. You can't be less than you are, right? You can't be less than you've been all year, but you're not going to go out there tomorrow and be something you haven't been all year. We know what Caroline has done. She carried us for the longest time. She was second-team all-Big East as a freshman. She's going to have a hell of a game tomorrow. I told her that. Not that anybody listens to what I say anymore. At least I can say I said it."

Past experience

While UConn has not played Indiana before, Juhász has. The graduate student forward averaged 13.0 points and 10.5 rebounds in four games for Ohio State against the Hoosiers. The Buckeyes went 3-1 in those games.

"I've done this the past three years," Juhász said. "I know a lot about them, and I have some friends on the team. It was exciting just when they started doing the scouting. They were like, 'Hey Dorka, can you help me with this? Of course, I would love to tell you about it.' It's going to be interesting and kind of weird that the last time I played them I was on a different team wearing a different jersey color and now I'm at UConn and it's on the big stage.

"They're a very aggressive offensive team, and I think they have a lot of good pieces at the guard spots and as well in the post. I think they're a pretty complete team. We have to guard every single person on the court at that time. I think we've just got to be very physical and just play our game."

Juhasz could match up against Indiana senior forward Aleksa Gulbe, who is from Latvia.

"I've been playing for the youth national teams and with older kids, as well," Gulbe said. "When we played Hungary, she was always there. So we've played against each other a couple of times, plenty of times. And now coming to America I see her at Ohio State, and it's a funny thing.

"I don't know if she likes if I say this out loud. She texted me when the brackets came out — actually after the first round, and she was like, 'I thought I was going to get away from you guys.' "

Close calls

When UConn fell behind in the third quarter against UCF, it marked the first time the Huskies trailed in an NCAA second-round game since 2007 against Wisconsin-Green Bay in Hartford.

The victory was UConn's sixth of the season when it trailed at some point in the second half.

"I think this season has really taught us that it's important to really grind games out and that things aren't just going to be handed to us just because we're UConn," center Olivia Nelson-Ododa said. "That's the biggest lesson we learned this year. Because in previous years we kind of had this expectation where we come in, roll in and win games, and this year that was the complete opposite.

"Every game we really had to grind it out and really fight for that, and I think that even helped us with Monday's game, just staying composed, staying in the moment, and realizing, 'OK if we really want to win this game, if we want to finish it out the right way, this is what we need to do to win it and just grind it out.' "

The Huskies' only Sweet 16 losses were to Iowa State in 1999 in Cincinnati and to Stanford in 2005 in Kansas City.

Husky bites

UConn is 13-1 in NCAA tournament games played in Bridgeport. The only loss came to Duke in overtime in the 2006 regional final. Its last appearance was a win over Oregon in the 2017 regional final, the last win of the record 111-game winning streak ... Senior Christyn Williams reached 1,800 points (1,802) and 500 rebounds (502) in her career against UCF ... Williams was named to the WBCA all-region team making her eligible for selection to the 10-member WBCA All-America team that will be announced next week.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.