STORRS, Conn. — Through all the adversity the No. 8 UConn Huskies have been through this year, they’ve tried to embrace a mentality that someone’s absence provides another player the opportunity to step up, and that as long as they have five players on the floor, they have a chance to win the game.
UConn hasn’t always held true to that idea this season, but it did Friday night with two (really, three) of its starters sidelined. Without Olivia Nelson-Ododa (groin) for the second straight game and Caroline Ducharme (head) for the third, UConn avoided back-to-back losses, which it hasn’t suffered since 1993, for the 1,044th consecutive game behind a resounding 84-60 win over conference foe DePaul.
After barely making an impact Wednesday in UConn’s loss to Villanova (a combined six points and two rebounds), sophomore Aaliyah Edwards and graduate transfer Dorka Juhász showed up massively with a combined 43 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists to propel the Huskies to victory. Senior Christyn Williams added 16 in the second half (20 overall) to help UConn put the game away.
