2024 NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets
Back on November 20, after UConn women’s basketball defeated then-No. 10 NC State at the XL Center, head coach Geno Auriemma made a statement that he at the time noted “might be fair or unfair to say.”
“Our post players are going to define the fate of our season,” Auriemma said. “We’re going to go as far as our post players take us, so they’re going to have to be great every night.
A little over two months later, that seems especially relevant with Aaliyah Edwards and Dorka Juhász both playing at an elite level.
The frontcourt duo particularly put their dominance on display in a 94-51 win over DePaul on Monday night. Going up against All-American forward Aneesah Morrow, Edwards finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for her ninth double-double of the season while Juhász recorded 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.
“Well, when Azzi was playing and Caroline was playing and Lou and Nika and Aubrey, I thought there really isn’t much that we don’t have covered in the backcourt,” Auriemma said when asked to revisit his early season statement postgame. “We probably could’ve used one more ball-handling guard, I don’t know, but when March comes around our guards are good enough to make anything happen in March. But it’s not going to be enough.
“It’s been proven the last couple of years that if we don’t have the kind of post play that we’re getting right now on a regular basis, the season will end earlier than it’s supposed to. So I’ve told them that enough times. And right now, they seem to be improving every day.”
Both Edwards and Juhász have taken huge leaps from last season to this one, on both ends of the floor.
Edwards is averaging 17.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 62.9% from the field this season. She’s certainly stepped up to the coaching staff’s challenge to be more consistent after producing 7.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game on 52.1% shooting as a sophomore.
“There isn’t anything that that she hasn’t done since the season started, today was just another example of it,” Auriemma said. “In a lot of different ways, whether it was foul-line jump shots or drives to the basket or put backs and free throws or her defense. There isn’t an aspect of the game where she’s not playing at an All-American level. I mean, if anybody needed any proving, tonight was certainly indicative of that.”
Despite missing seven games with a broken thumb earlier this season, Juhász is averaging 14.8 points, 10.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.5 blocks per game in her second year with UConn. She averaged 7.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 0.5 blocks per game last year after transferring from Ohio State.
“I think especially coming off her wrist injury and everything that happened last season, she’s really showing out and showing the versatile player that she is this season,” Edwards said of Juhász. “She’s not only a threat down low, but she’s showing her range on the perimeter and it’s a great asset to our team because going down the road we’re gonna need the presence of a post being that shooter on the perimeter like Dorka is, and she’s such a great threat.”
Edwards and Juhász have been especially productive in the scoring department over the last three games, with the former averaging 21.3 points on 63.4% shooting and the latter putting up 18.3 points on 61.8% shooting.
The duo played lockdown defense on Monday night too, as the Huskies outscored the Blue Demons by a 58-18 margin in the paint — also their highest point total inside all season. DePaul shot 26.3% from the field and made just 6 of 19 layup attempts while Morrow was held to 8 of 26 shooting.
“They’re really good interior players,” DePaul head coach Doug Bruno said of UConn’s posts. “The strength of this team is the interior play.”
Edwards and Juhász passed their test against DePaul and Morrow with flying colors. Next up they’ll take on a Tennessee team boasting a lot of height on the road.
“They’ve got a really good connection, they”ve got a really good chemistry, they’re both pretty good at finding each other, (Dorka) and Aaliyah,” Auriemma said. “When those threes are falling for Dorka, it could be a 25 or 30 point night. But she’s getting better and better in the lane all the time and more trustworthy every day. And a couple of drives by Aaliyah were really plays she couldn’t make a year ago.
“So there’s been a lot of maturity on their part. They stay grounded, they don’t get too high, they don’t get too low. I don’t know that I expected it to be like this tonight.”