Draft:2024–25 UConn Huskies women's basketball team

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2024–25 UConn Huskies women's basketball
ConferenceBig East Conference
Head coach
Associate head coachChris Dailey (40th season)
Assistant coaches
Home arenaHarry A. Gampel Pavilion
XL Center
Seasons
2025–26 →

{{2024–25 Big East women's basketball standings}}

Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, where the Huskies played home games

The 2024–25 UConn Huskies women's basketball team represent the University of Connecticut (UConn) during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Huskies, led by Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma in his 40th season at UConn, split their home games between Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on their campus in Storrs, Connecticut, and the XL Center in Hartford. UConn is a member of the Big East Conference, which it rejoined in the 2020–21 season; it had been a member of the original Big East Conference from 1979 through 2013, and one of the original women's basketball teams in that conference in 1982.[a]

Previous season[edit]

UConn was ranked second in pre-season polls, but lost three early non-conference games and several key players to injury by midseason. The Huskies went undefeated in Big East conference play and the post-season conference tournament, anchored by previous All-Americans Aaliyah Edwards and Paige Bueckers. Both players were selected to 2023–24 All-Big East and All-American teams; point guard Nika Mühl was an All-Big East selection and completed the season as UConn's all-time career assist leader. The Huskies entered the NCAA tournament seeded third in their bracket, but emerged victorious with Bueckers awarded most outstanding player. The Caitlin Clark-led Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Huskies in their Final Four contest, a match watched by a record 14.4 million ESPN college basketball viewers. UConn ended the season 33–6, ranked #3 in both polls. Both Edwards and Mühl were selected in the 2024 WNBA draft.

Offseason[edit]

Departures[edit]

The Huskies graduated senior starters Aaliyah Edwards and Nika Mühl from the 2023–24 roster, and both were drafted into the Women's National Basketball Association. Two undergraduates chose to enter the transfer portal after the NCAA tournament, senior Amari Deberry and sophomore Inês Bettencourt.

Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Reason for departure
Aaliyah Edwards 3 F 6'2" Graduated Kingston, Ontario Drafted by the WNBA's Washington Mystics
Nika Mühl 10 G 5'11" Graduated Zagreb, Croatia Drafted by the WNBA's Seattle Storm
Inês Bettencourt 21 G 5'9" Sophomore São Miguel, Portugal Entered the NCAA transfer portal
Amari Deberry 42 F 6'6" Senior Williamsville, New York Entered the NCAA transfer portal

Incoming transfers[edit]

The Huskies added Kaitlyn Chen, a graduate student who transferred from Princeton University. While at Princeton, Chen was the 2023–24 Ivy League Player of the Year and was two-time All-Ivy First Team. She has one year of eligibility remaining.[1]

Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Previous school
Kaitlyn Chen 00 G 5'9" Graduate student San Marino, California Princeton

Injuries[edit]

Tour of Huskies' team facilities
video icon UCONN Women's Basketball Virtual Tour

Recruiting[edit]

Recruiting class of 2024[edit]

On December 3, 2022, UConn received a verbal commitment from five-star guard Allie Ziebell.[2] Fellow five-star guard Morgan Cheli committed to UConn soon after. In November 2023, ESPN ranked the Huskies' 2024 class as the sixth-best in the country.[3] On April 6, 2024, the #1 player in the class of 2024, five-star forward Sarah Strong, also committed to UConn.[4]

US college sports recruiting information for 2024 recruits
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Sarah Strong
F
Fuquay-Varina, NC Grace Christian School 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) N/A  
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 98
Allie Ziebell
G
Neenah, WI Neenah High School 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) N/A  
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 98
Morgan Cheli
G
San Jose, CA Archbishop Mitty High School 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) N/A  
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 96
Overall recruiting rankings:   ESPN: 6
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

  • "2024 Player Commits". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.

Recruiting class of 2025[edit]

US college sports recruiting information for 2025 recruits
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date
Kelis Fisher
PG
Baltimore, MD IMG Academy 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) N/A  
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A    ESPN:5/5 stars   ESPN grade: 96
Gandy Malou-Mamel
C
Limerick, Ireland Gill St. Bernard's School 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) N/A  
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

Recruiting class of 2026[edit]

US college sports recruiting information for 2026 recruits
Name Hometown High school / college Height Weight Commit date

N/A N/A  
Recruiting star ratings: ScoutN/A   RivalsN/A   247SportsN/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
  • Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight.
  • In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale.

Sources:

Coaching[edit]

Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma and Hall of Fame associate head coach Chris Dailey returned for their 40th season. Assistant coach Jamelle Elliott was a UConn assistant coach from 1998 to 2009 and returned after a nine-year head coaching stint at Cincinnati. Assistant coach Morgan Valley was the head coach of the Hartford Hawks when hired by the Huskies. Elliott and Valley are both former UConn players.[5][6] Tonya Cardoza, another former Huskies assistant, returned to UConn in June after serving as Temple's head coach for 15 years.[7] In June 2023, UConn announced Ben Kantor was promoted to assistant coach from his previous staff position serving as the team's video coordinator since 2015.[7] Auriemma comes into the 2024–25 UConn Huskies with 1206 victories as head coach.

Season summary[edit]

Roster[edit]

2024–25 UConn Huskies women's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Previous school Hometown
G 2 KK Arnold 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) So Germantown Germantown, WI
G 4 Qadence Samuels 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) So Bishop McNamara Forestville, MD
G 5 Paige Bueckers 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) RS Sr Hopkins Hopkins, MN
G 12 Ashlynn Shade 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) So La Lumiere Noblesville, IN
C 24 Jana El Alfy 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) RS Fr Al Ahly SC Cairo, Egypt
F 25 Ice Brady 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) RS So Cathedral Catholic San Diego, CA
G 33 Caroline Ducharme 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) RS Jr Noble & Greenough Milton, MA
F 34 Ayanna Patterson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) RS So Homestead Fort Wayne, IN
G 35 Azzi Fudd 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) RS Jr St. John's College HS Arlington, VA
F 44 Aubrey Griffin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sr Ossining Ossining, NY
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: April 28, 2024

Schedule and results[edit]

Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record High points High rebounds High assists Site (attendance)
city, state

 
 
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

[8]

Rankings[edit]

Ranking movements
Week
PollPre12345678910111213141516171819Final
AP
Coaches

Player statistics[edit]

Player Games Played Minutes Field Goals Three Pointers Free Throws Rebounds Assists Blocks Steals Points
BueckersPaige Bueckers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ShadeAshlynn Shade 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
ArnoldKK Arnold 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
BradyIce Brady 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SamuelsQadence Samuels 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GriffinAubrey Griffin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
FuddAzzi Fudd 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DucharmeCaroline Ducharme 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Awards and honors[edit]

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ The settlement of the 2013 split of the Big East Conference resulted in the so-called "Catholic 7" purchasing the "Big East" name and reorganizing as a new conference. The original conference charter was retained by the Division I FBS football schools that now operate as the American Athletic Conference. As part of the settlement, the current Big East recognizes the competitive history of the original conference in all sports that it sponsors.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Philippou, Alexa (28 April 2024). "Former Ivy Player of Year Chen joining UConn". ESPN.com. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
  2. ^ Arguello, Ricardo (December 3, 2022). "Neenah girls basketball standout Allie Ziebell commits to UConn". The Post-Crescent. Retrieved December 4, 2022.
  3. ^ Laflin, Shane. "2024 women's college basketball recruiting rankings: Updated top 25 classes". espn.com. November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  4. ^ "Top 2024 recruit Sarah Strong commits to UConn". espn.com. April 6, 2024. Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  5. ^ Bonjour, Doug (2019-02-14). "UConn's Jamelle Elliott happy to be back home". Connecticut Post. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  6. ^ "Morgan Valley leaves Hartford to become UConn assistant". The Washington Times. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
  7. ^ a b Eaton-Robb, Pat (June 13, 2023). "Former Temple coach Tonya Cardoza returning to UConn, among two assistant hires". USA Today. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
  8. ^ "2024–2025 Schedule". UConnHuskies.com. Retrieved April 28, 2024.


Category:UConn Huskies women's basketball seasons UConn UConn UConn