UConn weathers rare test before blowing out Vols in 2nd half

Hartford, Conn.– Yukon Women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma has watched his team perform brilliantly in the first half of countless games this season. In 21 of their first 22 games, the No. 1 Huskies went into the break ahead by double digits.

That was not the case on Sunday when they hosted former rival Tennessee: UConn, the only undefeated team remaining in the country, trailed the Lady Vols by four at the 2:08 mark of the second quarter before the score was tied 42–42 at halftime.

And that’s the way Auriemma liked it.

The Huskies responded to a rare display of adversity by outscoring Tennessee in the second half, ultimately defeating the No. 15 Lady Vols. 96-66 To pass their final non-conference test of the regular season.

“I think if we had a 30-point lead at halftime, I would have been really disappointed,” Auriemma said. “You play these games to really be tested, to find out what your team is made of. … It’s nice to have to regroup and find yourself.”

UConn’s second-half explosion created the largest margin of victory for any team in the series, with the Huskies now leading 18–10. It is also the Lady Vols’ second-worst loss in NCAA history.

The Huskies have now won 18 consecutive by at least 25 points, the longest winning streak by a Division I team in the last 25 seasons. They also have a 39-game winning streak spanning almost a calendar year, with their last loss coming at Tennessee in February 2025.

“The fact that last year they all felt like they played poorly, so going into today’s game, there was a feeling of, ‘We’ve got to do a thing, we’ve got to play a game that means a lot more to us than just a regular season game,'” Auriemma said.

Stars azy fad And sarah strong Combined with 53 points to lead the Huskies, who shot 58% from the floor and 50% from the 3-point arc.

The start was tough for UConn, as the home team jumped out to a 21-5 lead, before the Lady Vols came back to defeat the Huskies 23-17 in the second frame. Tennessee’s full-court press and the physicality typical of SEC teams forced UConn to play too fast and into uncharacteristic turnovers – what Auriemma called a loss of identity on both sides of the ball.

“I think we’ve kind of loosened up,” Fudd said. “What they were getting was just fumbles on our part, miscommunication, no communication, just little things, mental lapses.”

“In a big game, if it’s going bad, I have to reset them, and that’s what was happening,” Auriemma said. “We were playing so fast and out of control. I haven’t seen that this year, and we’ve played some pretty good teams, so once we settled down at halftime, I think we kind of settled in.”

The Huskies scored the last four points of the half to gain momentum before stepping on the gas to end the third quarter, where they used a 14–0 run to pull away for good.

Overall, UConn outscored Tennessee 54–24 in the second half, turning the ball over five times compared to only 10 times in the first half.

Fudd said, “It was really great for us to go through it, and I also think the way we handled it was phenomenal – I’m proud of that and how we came out of it.” “We were steady. We were calm. We played our basketball and we didn’t let their run in the first half lead us into the second half.”

“This is a really good team, and when you start playing, they make you pay,” Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell said. “If you take your eyes off your man even for half a second, they’ll take advantage of it, and that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing right now.”