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UConn making points in a different way

carl adamec, journal inquirer, manchester, conn.
·5 min read

Dec. 2—STORRS — Twelve times — including 11 times over the past 23 seasons — the UConn women's basketball team has led the country in assists. No one else has done it more than three times since 1986.

But never has a Huskies' individual led the nation in assists and, in fact, no one's come close. Two seasons ago during her national Player of the Year freshman campaign, Paige Bueckers averaged 5.8 assists to finish 14th nationally, 1.4 assists per game behind leader Tiana Mangakahia of Syracuse.

When Sue Bird set the single-season program record for total assists (231) and assists per game (5.923) during UConn's 2002 perfect national championship season, the three-time Nancy Lieberman Award winner had only 27.3 percent of the Huskies' total assists. And that number is generally in line with what UConn assist leaders have done the past 30 years. Of the top 10 single-season assist leaders, only Jennifer Rizzotti in 1995-96 (31.4 percent) and Crystal Dangerfield in 2018-19 (30.1 percent) have assisted on more than 30.0 percent of the team's total.

Three times in UConn history it has had five players end a season with more than 100 assists, the last time in 2017 when Dangerfield, Saniya Chong, Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams, and Katie Lou Samuelson hit triple figures as the Huskies set an NCAA record with 863 assists.

Which makes the start of the season for Nika Mühl unusual and different. Heading into the third-ranked Huskies' Big East opener against Providence tonight at Gampel Pavilion, the junior point guard leads the country in assists at 10.8 and has 50.5 percent of the team's assists. Azzi Fudd is second in assists at 3.0 per game.

Coach Geno Auriemma isn't complaining.

"A lot of our offense over the years has been everybody touches the ball," Auriemma said Thursday. "Well, now we have a couple guys on our team that when they touch the ball they shoot it. That's fine with me, because the ball goes in the basket.

"I got a text from a friend of mine who said, 'Azzi had 32 points and zero assists. I love it. I never want her to pass the ball.' That's the mentality out there and rightfully so. You have that aspect. You also have the aspect that for so many years we had post players who were tremendous passers. We ran a lot of our offense through them. Gabby got 100 assists per year. Stefanie Dolson got 100 per year and Stewie (Breanna Stewart) probably did, too. This year we haven't necessarily used that aspect of our offense, not yet anyway. So there are a lot of factors. And you have to be able to make shots if somebody passes to you."

The Huskies (5-0) are averaging 87.2 points per game and their 52.5 percent shooting from the floor led the nation until they were passed by Utah Thursday night. Forwards Aaliyah Edwards and Aubrey Griffin are over 60 percent while Fudd (53 percent) and guard Lou Lopez Sénéchal (48 percent) have aided Mühl's record early-season run. While the sample size is small, UConn has played three Top-10 opponents.

A year ago, UConn averaged 73.8 points per game.

"I think our flow on offense is better, we have so many different ways of scoring and so many people capable of scoring," UConn wing Caroline Ducharme said. "Our versatility helps us. The ball is moving, we're moving, and we have so many different looks. That's been huge for us.

"The way we play is fast, and there is a difference between rushing it and speeding up the pace. That really fits to our style of making quick decisions and reads. It makes us hard to guard."

Ducharme, who had been battling neck stiffness, gave the Huskies a boost in Sunday's Phil Knight Legacy final win over Iowa as she finished with a season-high 15 points. Down four with six minutes left the sophomore hit a 3-pointer, passed up a good shot for a great look that ended with a Lopez Sénéchal trey, then hit another 3 of her own to cap a 13-0 run that gave UConn a lead it would not relinquish.

The Huskies will be without Dorka Juhász for a fourth straight game tonight with a broken left thumb and the center will likely miss Sunday's showdown at No. 7 Notre Dame. She has been taking part in portions of practice and was to get a splint for the thumb today.

"The offense will look much better when Dorka comes back because that's one more big kid, one more ballhandler, one more experienced flow guy," Auriemma said.

Mühl will take a school-record streak of three straight double-figure assist games into tonight while Edwards will go for a personal-best fourth consecutive double-double.

Providence (6-2) has lost 31 in a row to UConn and has not beaten the Huskies since the 1993 Big East tournament semifinals.

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.