STORRS — During her four years with the UConn women’s basketball team from 2020-24, Aaliyah Edwards was the definition of consistency.
While the Huskies went through their infamous stretch of brutally bad injury luck, Edwards was one of the team’s most reliable pieces, missing just three games in her college career. She was the Big East Conference Sixth Woman of the Year as a freshman in 2021, then was crowned most improved player in 2023 before finally earning first-team All-Big East honors and the WBCA All-American nod in 2024 that secured her place on the Huskies of Honor.
Advertisement
Edwards never had a massive leap or true breakout season; She just kept improving year after year until her impact became undeniable. As a senior in 2023-24, Edwards averaged career highs in points (17.6), rebounds (9.2), steals (1.7) and field goal percentage (59.3) to graduate as one of just six players in program history to log more than 1,800 points and 1,000 rebounds.
“There’s a feeling now, for for various reasons, that things have to happen quickly, like you have to have instant success,” coach Geno Auriemma said Tuesday. “The way Aaliyah did it is probably more traditional … She gradually got better and better and added more and more. Some kids, they just kind of settle, but she’s pretty driven, and I think that’s what allowed her to make that kind of progression every year … She had an All-American type career. Sometimes it just takes a little bit longer than other times.”
Edwards will officially have her No. 3 added to the wall at Gampel Pavilion ahead of UConn’s game against Xavier on Wednesday night, and the current Huskies will look to bring some of the former star’s signature steadiness to the court in their Big East rematch. Amid a 21-0 start and a streak of 16 consecutive wins by at least 25 points, Auriemma said the biggest challenge at this time of year is limiting the ups and downs that come from complacency.
“Human nature is, ‘We beat these guys by a lot last time, so what could they possibly have done to make me think that we’re not going to do it again?’” Auriemma said. “As a player, you go, ‘Hey, I had 25 and I played great against them. I’m just going to roll in there and get another 25.’ Sometimes you forget you had to work pretty hard at it.”
Advertisement
The first time UConn faced Xavier on the road in November, the team left Cincinnati with a 65-point victory and six players scoring in double digits. The Huskies hit a season-high 18 3-pointers on 50% shooting, forced 31 turnovers and held the Musketeers to a season-low 21.7% from the field.
But a rematch always makes things tougher, and Auriemma doesn’t want the Huskies to fall into the trap of expecting things to go the same way they did nearly two months ago. It’s a lesson UConn just had to face early in its game at Seton Hall on Saturday, its first repeat opponent in Big East play. The Pirates got out to an early 6-0 run and led for more than four minutes, but the Huskies quickly recalibrated to rout them 92-52 — an even wider margin than the 36 points they won by in the first meeting on Jan. 3.
“It’s a challenge going out and playing teams the second time. If you lost to them, that’s different, but if you had a lot of success, it can be a real challenge, and you’ve got to hope that we’re mature enough to be able to handle it,” Auriemma said. “You try to put in a couple little wrinkles offensively to get them thinking, but other than that, it’s mostly about us and about how we can get better.”
UConn has an additional layer of difficulty to overcome in keeping focus against Xavier with a far bigger game coming up later this week. The Huskies will face longtime rival Tennessee at PeoplesBank Arena on Sunday looking to avenge last year’s stunning upset by the Lady Vols in Knoxville. Tennesse, coming in ranked No. 15 in the country, is the last top-25 opponent UConn will see until the NCAA Tournament, but Auriemma emphasized the importance of not looking ahead. He’s not necessarily concerned about beating Xavier even on an off night, but the ‘one game at a time’ mentality is a habit he spends the entire season trying to build in his team.
Advertisement
“It’s a mindset. It’s trying to do it leading up to this, because if you’ve been overlooking certain teams the last two months, then there’s pretty good chance you’re going to overlook this one too,” Auriemma said. “We haven’t done that. We haven’t overlooked anybody. We just try to go out there and play the team that we’re playing that day and not worry about what’s coming next. But human nature is human nature. There’s not much you can do about that.”
How to watch
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Time/date: 8 p.m., Wednesday
Advertisement
Team records: UConn 21-0 (11-0), Xavier 10-10 (3-8)
Series record: UConn leads 10-0
Last meeting: 104-39 UConn, Nov. 30, 2025 in Cincinnati
Streaming: Peacock
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9
