UConn beginning to lastly get wholesome after tough stretch

NEW YORK (AP) — UConn is beginning to lastly get wholesome.

The fourth-ranked Huskies welcomed again coach Geno Auriemma and star guard Azzi Fudd on Wednesday evening in a 30-point rout of St. John’s. The Huskies needed to postpone a sport just a few days earlier in opposition to DePaul after they didn’t have the seven wholesome scholarship gamers required to play the competition.

It’s been that sort of a yr for UConn, which has solely had two gamers play in all 16 video games this season with the others lacking at the least a sport with an damage, sickness or journey issues.

Additionally they have missed their Corridor of Fame coach for 4 video games attributable to an sickness he’s been coping with for a month. He was again on the bench in opposition to St. John’s after he had missed the Huskies’ earlier two video games as a result of he wasn’t feeling nicely. He additionally missed two video games whereas sick final month. The 68-year-old coach can be grieving the loss of life of his 91-year-old mom in early December.

“Clearly, we actually missed him,” senior ahead Dorka Juhász stated of Auriemma. “They did a terrific job whereas he was gone, however clearly having the entire teaching employees is superb. It’s good to see him smiling, laughing, and I believe it was a superb little relaxation for him, I hope he rested sufficient and he feels nice. However I imply for us, we’re simply completely happy to have him again.”

Affiliate head coach Chris Dailey, who has been filling in whereas Auriemma has been away, stated that she didn’t know for certain he was going to be again till he acquired on the bus for the journey to New York on Tuesday.

“He stated he was approaching the journey, that’s after I knew,” she stated. “I simply needed to ensure he was in a superb place and he ought to come again and he was prepared to come back again. He assured me he was.”

Fudd missed eight video games after injuring her proper knee in opposition to Notre Dame on Dec. 4. She was cleared to renew basketball actions two weeks in the past and had gone by means of warmups just a few instances earlier than taking part in Wednesday.

“I had to enter the sport and simply remind myself to remain aggressive,” stated Fudd, who scored 14 factors in 20 minutes within the 82-52 win. “I’ve been out for some time, so I felt like I did a superb job of sort of shaking the rust off. However I do know that my response time and all that may get higher as we hold taking part in.”

UConn was nonetheless lacking Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson, who’re in concussion protocol. Paige Bueckers (ACL tear) and freshman Ice Brady (dislocated patella) are out for the yr.

“I believe as soon as we get (Caroline Ducharme) again and Ayanna within the combine it’s simply going so as to add to what we’re working in the direction of,” Dailey stated. “So I simply assume all people’s in a superb place now.”

The Huskies have a busy stretch developing with six video games over 14 days and having a full roster would make that slightly simpler.

“We’ve tried holy water. We’ve tried sage burning. None of them appear to work,“ Dailey stated after a win over Xavier final week. ”It’s simply one thing we’ve got to cope with. Whoever we’ve got, we really feel like we’ve got sufficient.”

___

AP girls’s school basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

SHARE: