Everything UConn head WBB coach Geno Auriemma said after win over South Carolina

UConn head women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma spoke to the media following the team’s 87-58 win over South Carolina on Sunday. Here’s everything he had to say.

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On whether UConn played a “perfect game” against South Carolina

“Perfect is a bad word, you know. We’ve endured perfect seasons where you’re chasing something that’s so difficult to achieve. To me, the idea of playing perfect basketball is more about decision making, making sure that we’re connected and playing five-on-five, that players are in tune with each other, that you’re getting contributions from a lot of people at key times.

“I’ve come down to this building and won by a lot, come down here and get smacked a little bit a couple of times. I know how hard it is to play on the road against a great program like this. And you’re going to have to be, not perfect, but you’re going to have to be pretty darn good to be successful down here.

“I said our rebounding and transition defense are going to be the two things, and we have to win this game with our offense. I thought in those three things – our rebounding, our transition D and our offense – that’s about as close to perfect as we’ve been all year, for sure.”

On the gap between “great” and “elite” teams in women’s basketball

“The topic’s always been about parity, you know. There were a lot of years when there was tremendous parity among the top five, top six – some years, as many as top 10. I do believe that the landscape started to change. And now, certainly, in the era of NIL and (the transfer) portal, players have more opportunities to go to more places and feel like they can be successful. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still the teams that are always near the top. It’s not quite as bad as football yet, but there are a lot more really, really, really good teams than there have been in a long time. Super teams, great teams, maybe not as many of those – but, certainly, a lot more really good teams that would make for a truly interesting NCAA Tournament.”

On UConn’s rebounding success

“There’s a team mentality that you have to have. The rebounding stats are always about effort and about, ‘How bad do you want to win?’ as opposed to, ‘I hope we I hope we don’t lose.’ And I think that, more than anything else, was evident today – that we played to win, that there wasn’t any, ‘I hope I don’t miss the shot. I’m not going to take the shot because I don’t want to miss it. Or, ‘I’m not gonna go after that rebound because I’m tired,’ or whatever the case may be. This was a ‘play-to-win’ game. And (if) we go down to Seton Hall Wednesday night and get out-rebounded, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.”

On Jana El Alfy’s performance against South Carolina

“I thought that first quarter, she set a little bit of a tone for us in the lane. We’ve been talking all season long about, ‘What’s our strength?’ I told the team, I said, ‘I think we’re one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country. And I hope that we can add something to that – something in the lane, something around the basket, something a little bit easier, something that’s a toughness thing.’

“I really think that, today, Jana (El Alfy) played the best game that she’s played since she’s been at Connecticut, for sure. And that’s something to build on for her.”

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On the broader impact South Carolina-UConn has on women’s basketball

“The interesting thing about that question is the Texas-South Carolina game was a big game, too. Everyone was paying attention to that. The LSU-South Carolina game was a big game. The UCLA-South Carolina game was a big game. Connecticut-Tennessee was a big game. Connecticut-Notre Dame was a big game; Connecticut-USC was a big game. There are more big games now than there used to be, and they involve more than just UConn and South Carolina. Those are the ones that get a lot of attention, which is good – you know, you have to have that. But I think there are a lot more big games now that people are interested in watching. And I’m really proud of that because that means our sport has grown.

“This particular game has a lot of history. We’ve played them a lot of times – regular season, NCAA Tournament; both here and in Hartford. So, this is a great rivalry, and it became a rivalry when they started winning. It became a headache for me when I started winning back home, but it became a great rivalry, and I think it’s one of the premier games in college basketball right now. It means a lot to a lot of people, which is great.”

On how UConn hopes to carry momentum forward from Sunday’s win

“See how narrow that is? It’s hard to put things in a bottle. And it’s especially hard to put a performance like this, all of it, into one bottle. How do we take bits and pieces from a lot of those things and start to build some momentum with that? It used to be – in our best years, our best teams – our practices were incredibly close to being the kind of basketball that you play that no one could beat you. So, in order to put this in a bottle, we’d have to go back to practice and have a week or two of practices where we feel like, if we play the way we just practiced today, nobody in the country can beat us.

“That’s hard to do with this group because there’s some missing pieces. But if we could just take a little bit of all this and take it with us… I actually said to the GameDay people today, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen today, but I think we’re going to be a great NCAA Tournament team because this is in them.’ And it came out today. Can it come out every day? I don’t know. But now we know what’s in them.”

On Azzi Fudd’s performance against South Carolina

“The first quarter, I don’t think she made a shot. She missed a lot of pull-ups. She finally got a reverse layup – that was her first basket. There were times, maybe, in the past when Azzi (Fudd) would be affected by that. She’s kind of a perfectionist type, and she might have been affected by not seeing the ball go in a couple of times. Or, if she shot it poorly, like she said in pregame warmups, that might carry over. So, right now, I think she’s in a good frame of mind – maybe more mature and takes everything more in stride, instead of letting the past catch up to her.

“This is a big moment for her. It really was. She hasn’t played in a long time, hasn’t been in this scenario in a long time. And for her to have the kind of games that she had, this was big. It really goes a long way towards pushing her forward. I’m sure she had some doubts whether, ‘Do I still have it in me?’ So I was, I was really proud of her.”

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On whether Sunday’s game proved that UConn can compete for No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament

“You know, I try not to put too much into that. I’ve said this before – we’ve gone to the Final Four as a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, a No. 3 seed. You can’t really get too far ahead of yourself into all that. I do know that we’ve always proven ourselves in March. So, will the committee go, ‘Well, this was Connecticut during the regular season, but they’re a different team in March, so let’s give them the benefit of the doubt?’ I’m not sure that they should do that. But we’ve been pretty successful in March, and it doesn’t matter really what seed we’re in. Maybe where you go is more important than what seed you are, right?Especially these days.”

On Paige Bueckers’ role in win over South Carolina

“This reminded me a little bit of the Louisville game. She didn’t shoot the ball a lot, and she didn’t shoot it great, but she kind of controlled the whole game – and everyone else kind of stepped up. The pressure on players like Page is immense – to have to prove that she’s Paige Bueckers every night. It’s not possible to be what the expectation level out there demands that you be or expects you to be. But games like today, I think, show how valuable she is.

“Even when the ball is not going in, I thought she passed up a couple (shots) that really kind of bothered me because I do believe that, when the moment comes, and we need a bucket, it doesn’t matter what her shooting percentage is – she’s going to make it. And at times, kids think that if I shoot the ball well, I play great. And that’s a perfect example of play great and not shoot the ball well.”

Closing statement

“I don’t want to leave here without saying that coming down here is really, really, really hard. It didn’t used to be a long time ago, and I think they made it really special and really hard to play here. The crowd supports the program. They’re fantastic. I remember the very first time we come down here, they had no idea how to behave. They’ve never seen anything like this, act like this. So, there’s a knowledgeable fan base, and it’s fun to play in this environment.

“I just wanted to say congrats to school and the community. (It’s) great this happened in more places, but it’s a testament to all the people down here and their staff and what they built. It’s really cool. I really, I really enjoy it. So, congratulations to everybody down here.”

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