To the surprise of probably no one who has been watching women's basketball the last two seasons, the UConn Huskies have continued their dominance. They're currently ranked No. 1 in the nation — a position they came into the season with and have continued to hold on to — and are undefeated.
While speaking to reporters following the Huskies' 79-51 win over the USC Trojans, Azzi Fudd laid out exactly why the team is just so good: they have to be. As she put it, "We have the best coaches in the country, and they expect a certain standard of play, whether it’s in practice, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing."
Fudd added that Coach Geno Auriemma requires the team to play to a high standard no matter what day of the week it is or what team they are playing. "Just holding us to that expectation, that standard, we then hold each other to that standard," she continued, "It doesn’t matter if we’re up, if we’re down, or who we’re playing. We’re trying to play UConn basketball."
UConn absolutely dominated USC
Though the match between UConn and USC was set to be exciting and potentially competitive, the Huskies managed to dominate the Trojans for much of the game.
The Trojans managed to lead the Huskies 9-8 early in the game before UConn mounted a vicious 24-24-2 run that the hosts were unable to recover from. The score was 39-17 in favor of the Huskies at the half, and the Trojans failed to recover from UConn's absolutely relentless ball pressure for the rest of the game.
Fudd ended the game with 17 points, which included 3 three-pointers, and four assists.
UConn is eyeing a 13th national championship
The Huskies are still fresh off winning the program's 12th championship, and are clearly hungry for a 13th. Auriemma is in his 41st season as head coach of the program, and has managed to pull off six perfect seasons in his time at the school. While the season is still young, the Huskies have a strong roster this year and could manage to add a seventh to that list before things are said and done.
The road to the championship game will continue to get steeper for the Huskies as the season carries on, and the team will not meet the Texas Longhorns — who seem intent on proving that they're the best team in the country — until March Madness. The Huskies next face Marquette on December 17 and Iowa on December 20.