Geno Auriemma stood on the sideline in entrance of his bench with his fingers on his hips, his left leg popped.
A fruitless Huskies possession resulted in the Connecticut coach dropping his head and crossing his arms like a annoyed trainer.
His Huskies led by only 34 early in the fourth.
Auriemma’s relentless fireplace and ardour for suffocating the mild out of opponents is contagious.
So even with a lead so snug as Sunday’s recreation against scrappy St. John’s, Auriemma expected higher from his Huskies.
They want to be higher if they need to win back-to-back nationwide championships.
No. 1 UConn, under the brilliant stage lights of Madison Square Garden, capped its good common season by throttling the Johnnies 85-49.
The beatdown made last week’s UConn males’s 72-40 win against the Red Storm look like coddling.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma yelling at his team from the sideline during an NCAA school basketball recreation against St. John’s. AP
Yet there was no main celebration after the Huskies’ forty seventh consecutive win.
That’s never been UConn’s model.
The Huskies don’t dare to lower down the nets unless they earn the proper by profitable a nationwide championship.
The closest factor UConn got to relish in the success of this season was Auriemma telling his gamers in the locker room that he was proud of them.
In the same breath, though, he warned, “We have a lot to work on to get ready for the Big East tournament.”
UConn already runs like a well-oiled machine.
During their win streak that dates back to last February, the Huskies have overwhelmed opponents by an common of more than 38 factors.
But March is when the actual stress take a look at comes, and UConn has some sharpening to do.
“Just kind of tightening up all aspects of our game, aiming for perfection in practice,” Sarah Strong said. “It’s not going to happen, we’re gonna get pretty close to it.”
That’s the aim, at least.
An outside narrative surrounds UConn this season: The Huskies are even higher than last yr’s team, which ended their title drought with the assist of the eventual No. 1 choose in last yr’s WNBA draft, Paige Bueckers.
But Auriemma shook his head in disagreement when a reporter talked about how this season’s team might be higher than a yr in the past.
St. John’s guard Brooke Moore (10), defended by UConn guard Azzi Fudd (35), searches for an opening to the basket during the first half of an NCAA girls’s school basketball recreation, Sunday, March 1, 2026. AP
“I don’t like that narrative,” he said. “You take away [Bueckers] one of the prime 5 gamers in the WNBA off the team and say you’re higher. I don’t know how I can justify saying that because there are a lot of occasions when I watch them play and I say, ‘That wouldn’t have occurred. That wouldn’t have occurred.’
“That doesn’t mean they’re not capable of playing at a real high level that matches what that team did last year,” Auriemma continued. “Maybe that’s in the cards for them — I don’t know — but no, we’re a much different team than we were last year.”
Strong, a sophomore, is even higher than a yr in the past, averaging 18.8 factors, 7.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 3.1 steals.
Azzi Fudd, in her first totally wholesome season, may be the nation’s most deadly sharpshooter, changing on 45.4 % of her 6.9 3-point makes an attempt per recreation.
KK Arnold is a more dependable flooring common.
Blanca Quiñonez is one of the finest freshmen in the nation.
Up and down the roster, UConn is loaded with expertise.
And still…
UConn guard Kamorea “KK” Arnold (2) heads toward the basket during the first half of an NCAA school basketball recreation against St. John’s, Sunday, March 1, 2026. AP
“None of those guys that I bring off the bench are Paige,” Auriemma said.
Auriemma, the winningest coach in girls’s school basketball, has said in the previous that, to be nice, a team wants to have gamers who can do a number of issues.
This UConn team has the substances to put collectively a postseason run that culminates in reducing down the nets in Phoenix and bringing back another nationwide title to Connecticut.
“We have enough good players to have as good of a chance as anybody else out there to win a national championship,” Auriemma said. “But like anyone else that’s going to be playing in that tournament, you’re going to have to be playing at your best. … Generally, the best team usually wins the national championship, but not always. [Sometimes,] it’s the team that comes together at the right time.”
Winning the Big East regular-season title, which UConn clinched last month, was cute. Running through the convention match is an expectation.
Conquering March Madness and being the last team standing is the finish recreation.
Only 21 groups since 1982 have pulled off undefeated common seasons.
Of these, 10 in the end won the NCAA Tournament.
This was UConn’s tenth undefeated common season.
Six of the Huskies’ earlier good seasons culminated in a nationwide title.
“It’s not an easy journey by any stretch of the imagination,” Auriemma said. “There is something to be proud of, there is something to feel good about and they should feel proud of themselves.”
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