STORRS, Conn. — Following an anticipation-filled offseason, the UConn women’s basketball team finally took the court Saturday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion for their first game of the 2020-21 season.
The Huskies, particularly freshman phenom Paige Bueckers, largely lived up to their billing.
Behind a dazzling debut from Bueckers, the No. 3 Huskies breezed past UMass Lowell in front of a sparse home crowd on their way to a 79-23 victory. The Huskies haven’t lost a season opener since 1995.
In her first collegiate game, Bueckers started and made her impact felt all over the court, finishing with a team-high 17 points (8-for-11 shooting), nine rebounds, five assists, five steals and just three turnovers. Per Her Hoop Stats, Bueckers is the third freshman since 2015-16 to put up a stat line of 17/9/5/5 and the only one to do so in her college debut.
“I think Paige was Paige,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Paige did all the things that Paige does. She scored some points. She rebounded the ball. She stole the ball. She passed the ball. She had a feel for our offense. Her first game as a college player, I think she played great.”
UConn never looked back after scoring the first 11 points of the game, eventually building a 27-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and pulling ahead even more thanks to a 19-0 run in the second. They led 48-13 at the half and allowed Lowell to score a mere two points in the third.
The Huskies’ press stifled the 0-2 River Hawks, who turned the ball over 22 times and shot 14% from the field. UConn shot 55% but went only 3 for 13 on 3s, while committing 18 turnovers of their own.
With UConn not permitted to host fans this season aside from friends and family, Gampel Pavilion was eerily quiet for such a hyped moment. But to the players, none of that mattered. Only getting back on the court did, especially after their original season opener was scrapped and delayed two weeks when someone in the program tested positive for COVID-19 in late November.
“It was really fun,” Bueckers said. “We’ve been waiting to play basketball for nine months and just for it to be our first college game as well, it was just really exciting to get out there. No fans, fans, it didn’t really matter. Our whole team just wanted to play basketball.”
Juniors Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Christyn Williams had relatively quiet outings but both reached double figures. Nelson-Ododa scored all 12 of her points in the first half, and sat for most of the second half, ultimately finishing with nine rebounds and three blocks. Williams (10 points) came out more aggressive after halftime but struggled from beyond the arc (0 for 4). Sophomores Aubrey Griffin and Anna Makurat chipped in nine and eight points, respectively.
Some 600 days after her last collegiate game, red-shirt junior Evina Westbrook impressed in her first game as a Husky, finishing with five points, four assists and two steals and some physical defense.
“I don’t think Liv and Christyn had particularly great days, I mean, not at all, for whatever reason,” Auriemma said. “But I thought Evina had a really good day, considering she hasn’t played in two years. ... I thought Aubrey had her moments, and I thought Anna had her good moments.
“First game out, and there’s a lot to like, and there’s a lot to not like. That’s normally how these things go.”
All five freshmen scholarship players saw the floor for the Huskies, with guard Nika Muhl playing the most off the bench (15 minutes), followed by forward Aaliyah Edwards (12), forward Mir McLean (11) and forward Piath Gabriel (four). Of that group, McLean was the fourth to enter the game but led the pack in scoring (10 points) and was all over the glass with six rebounds. Edwards appeared mighty physical, adding eight points and three rebounds.
The Huskies kick off a packed stretch of Big East competition starting Tuesday at Seton Hall, with tip set for 6:30 p.m. The team will have to jump right into conference play , but Auriemma is simply looking forward to collecting more data about his team.
“We practiced for four months, and I learned more about my team today than I did in those four months,” Auriemma said. “And after Tuesday’s game, I’ll know twice as much about my team as I did in those four months. So for me, these are all learning experiences, finding out about my team.”
“We knew we were going to make mistakes, little mistakes that we shouldn’t be making,” Westbrook said. “But now we have a better understanding as individuals and as a team of what we need to really focus on in practice.”
