Geno Auriemma’s demeanor on the sideline was anything but relaxed as the UConn women’s basketball team struggled through the second quarter of their rivalry showdown with Tennessee at PeoplesBank Arena.
The No. 1 Huskies blew an early 16-point lead and were outscored 23-17 in the quarter to end the first half tied with the No. 19 Lady Vols. Auriemma spent most of the period vacillating between irate and appalled, hollering with arms flung wide at every missed defensive rotation or shaking his head with a pinched expression over an errant pass resulting in a turnover.
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But in the aftermath of a 96-66 win Sunday, Auriemma was grateful for the time the team spent on its heels. After cruising through Big East play, Tennessee provided the Huskies the kind of challenge he believes they needed.
“Had it been a 30-point game at halftime, I would have been really, really disappointed, because you play these teams to be really tested, to find out a little bit about what you ream is made of,” Auriemma said. “Not that you want to give it away, but it’s good that you have to kind of re-route and find yourselves. I think in that respect, it sort of served it’s purpose.”
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When UConn lost to Tennessee a year ago in Knoxville, Auriemma’s biggest complaint was that the team’s stars didn’t rise to the occasion. Then-freshman Sarah Strong led the team with 18 points but had a season-high six turnovers, and sharpshooter Azzi Fudd scored just 10 points going 3-for-9 from the field.
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Coming into Sunday’s matchup, Auriemma was especially worried about Fudd. The redshirt senior was in the midst of what he described as “the worst month of shooting I’ve ever seen a great shooter have,” averaging just 32.1% from 3-point range in January. She had a dismal offensive showing in UConn’s win over Xavier on Wednesday, finishing with a season-low six points going 2-for-12 from the field and 1-for-7 beyond the arc.
But when it mattered most, Fudd turned back into the superstar she’s been in nearly every big game this season. She led the team with 27 points, seven assists, seven rebounds, four steals and a block, shooting 5-for-8 on 3-pointers for her best performance beyond the arc since she went 7-for-12 in a win over No. 8 Michigan on Nov. 21.
“I wasn’t too happy or proud of that performance (against Xavier), and I knew that this game would be a lot tougher,” Fudd said. “I wanted to change my mindset, be more aggressive and just not doubt anything.”
Fudd has consistently been at her best under the brightest lights this year. Her season-high 31 points came in the Huskies’ closest game to date against Michigan, and she is averaging nearly 25 points in matchups with currently-ranked opponents. She has hit at least five 3-pointers in four of UConn’s five top-25 wins and has also logged some of her most well-rounded performances with 4.2 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 steals across the five matchups — all higher than her season averages.
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“These are the kind of games she has in big moments,” Auriemma said. “Azzi can fool you easily, because her demeanor is always the same whether she’s playing great or she’s playing lousy … There’s a toughness that you require, especially when I’m not the only one that knows that (she) has to play great for us to win. She knows it, so that’s added pressure, but for the most part she handles it.”
Auriemma never has to worry about Strong, the runway favorite to win national player of the year in 2026. The All-American sophomore has scored in double digits in 37 consecutive games and currently leads the Huskies in every major statistical category.
But Tennessee gave Strong a new challenge with one of the biggest and most physical frontcourts UConn has faced this year. The 6-foot-2 forward proved she can handle the pressure, finishing one rebound short of a double-double with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting plus nine boards, four assists and two blocks.
“Especially them being an SEC team, that’s kind of what they do over there is be very physical,” Strong said. “So I just had to do a better job of matching that.”
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Behind the superstars, UConn got promising contributions from all over the floor. Senior center Serah Williams floundered early against the Lady Vols’ bigs, and she was on the receiving end of multiple rants from Auriemma and associate head coach Chris Dailey on the sideline throughout the first half. With freshman Blanca Quinonez sidelined by a shoulder injury, the Huskies needed Williams to step up — and eventually, she did.
Williams scored 10 points in the second half to finish with 12 plus five rebounds, two assist and two blocks. Her only turnover of the game came in the first half, and she helped hold Tennessee’s Zee Spearman and Janiah Barker to six points apiece after halftime.
“There’s so much pressure on our perimeter players to make shots, and their big guys are killing us in the lane, so there’s no way we can keep playing and be successful unless we get some production in the lane,” Auriemma said. “We just kept talking about being more aggressive, and offensively we had better movement. So they were chasing us everywhere we were going, and it left her opportunities to play some one-on-one, and she capitalized.”
Starting point guard KK Arnold was off against the Lady Vols, leading the team with four turnovers and attempting just two field goals — though she also had six steals and four assists. But when UConn needed an offensive spark, USC transfer Kayleigh Heckel stepped into the high-pressure matchup with effortless confidence. The sophomore guard scored eight points, almost all of which came in clutch moments. She sank the layup that ended Tennessee’s 10-0 run in the second quarter and hit a pair of back-to-back shots in transition late in the third to break open the Huskies’ first double-digit lead since the first quarter.
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“When we brought her in here, it was (because) KK can’t do this by herself,” Auriemma said. “When you can bring in somebody like Kayleigh, you don’t have any drop-off, and in some cases you’re adding a dimension that KK doesn’t have. And she’s fearless. She’s just in attack mode all the time … All these games are brand new to her, and I think she’s just going to keep playing better and better.”
Azzi Fudd, Sarah Strong dominate to lead UConn women’s basketball in rivalry rout of Tennessee
If Tennessee was a test of UConn’s postseason readiness, the team passed with flying colors. Auriemma reflected Saturday on last year’s matchup with the Lady Vols, and he believes that loss stung the players so much because they were in position to win the game at multiple points and couldn’t finish the job. The pieces hadn’t fully come together yet, and the Huskies were still missing a level of focus and intensity that they needed to win the NCAA championship that came two months later.
But this season, it seems the Huskies already have the juice, and their response to adversity in Sunday’s win was no surprise to Auriemma.
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“I’ve been in a lot of games like this where we come in having played lousy for stretches of the half and been very critical of the team. Today, we just changed our defense,” Auriemma said. “They’ve responded all year, and I’ve been pretty proud of that. They’ve responded the entire season so far.”
