UConn defeats South Florida; matches historic 90-game win streak
By Carl Adamec | Jan 10 | 10:31PM
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Saniya Chong had scored 20 points in a game once in her career with the University of Connecticut women's basketball team before Tuesday night.
It came in the Huskies' only loss during her time in Storrs on Nov. 17, 2014, at Stanford.
The senior guard made sure her new career night was one she'll never forget and one the program will always remember.
Chong matched her highs of 20 points and eight assists Tuesday night as top-ranked UConn tied its own NCAA record with its 90th straight win, blasting No. 20 South Florida 102-37 in American Athletic Conference action before a crowd of 10,109 at the XL Center.
"I would say this was my best one yet," Chong said. "But it wasn't just me, it was also my teammates and how we all came together. We worked hard from the start and now I need to be consistent."
The Huskies (15-0 overall, 3-0 AAC) will look to establish a new mark Saturday when they take on SMU at Moody Coliseum in Dallas (SNY, 3 p.m.).
UConn is 131-1 in Chong and classmate Tierney Lawlor's time at UConn. The Ossining, New York, native has played in 123 games.
But while she got 20 points at Stanford, she struggled defending Cardinal guards Amber Orrange and Lili Thompson. When the Huskies returned to the court six days later, Kia Nurse had replaced her in the starting lineup.
Tuesday night, Chong was not only 8-for-10 shooting from the floor she also took over the lead in the AAC in assist-to-turnover ratio. Her eight assists matched the total she had Feb. 23, 2015, against Tulane.
"Some games I've scored a lot and some games I didn't score any," Chong said. "All that matters to me is how I'm helping my teammates out in every aspect."
And for her that started on the defensive side against USF.
"She tried really hard at that end," Auriemma said. "She scored 20 points at Stanford and she gave up 30. Today she worked really hard at both ends of the floor and you could tell she was in a good place where she expected great things to happen.
"Now the trick is, will we see this again in our lifetime? Sometimes there's a tendency for it to come and go. But this was a really, really good game for her."
And she had plenty of help. UConn broke the century mark and placed six players in double figures for the first time this season.
Katie Lou Samuelson added 19 points while Napheesa Collier had 18 points and matched her career high of six steals. Nurse chipped in 13 points and reserve Natalie Butler 10.
And then there was Gabby Williams, who finished with 11 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, four blocked shots, and three steals in just 21 minutes of action.
Her final steal came with 3:27 left in the third quarter when she chased a bouncing ball and saved it by sliding into the USF bench. She came out for good one minute later.
"I don't want my minutes to be wasteful," Williams said. "If I'm going to be on the court, I don't want to go up and down the floor for no reason. I want to make sure that every minute I'm out there is worth something."
UConn ran its streak of not trailing to 275:59 -- dating back to the Kansas State game on Dec. 11 -- as the Huskies ran the Bulls (13-2, 2-1) out of the building.
Chong opened the scoring with a 3-pointer off a pass from Williams, who passed up an open layup to make the delivery. A Samuelson backdoor layup, a Williams rebound hoop, and a Chong layup made it 9-0. Collier had five points in a 13-0 run to close the quarter for a 30-6 bulge.
At 33-10, the Huskies left no doubts with a 27-3 run in a 5:42 span. Nurse had seven in the burst, Collier six, and Samuelson and Chong five each that made it 60-13. A Butler basket at the buzzer made it 65-19 at the break.
"It was more about the way the game went as opposed to whatever numbers were attached to it," Auriemma said. "The way the first 20 minutes were played, we played like a team that, tonight, was on a mission to do something that was really important to them. I would say it's important to play great, to play hard, and to play with a lot of energy every single night. I know that's not possible every night. I told them that was as good a 20 minutes of basketball as any of them have been a part of. Even the Mississippi State game last year in the NCAA tournament, a lot of those guys didn't play a lot. For them, this was pretty special.
"We played an amazing game of basketball," Auriemma said. "We played the kind of game that coaches aspire for their players to play. It was at both ends of the floor. There was a lot of stuff going on that you just shake your head ... That's why I'm smiling, it has nothing to do with 90."
The Bulls got no closer. It was 84-26 after three quarters with UConn having more assists (27) than USF had points. Freshman Kyla Irwin's free throw with 2:23 to go was the 100th point.
"It was a really fun game to be a part of," Nurse said. "It was the energy we came out with, the energy that we maintained throughout the game. Everyone was getting excited with the big plays we were making. When you play games like that, it is just pure fun, pure joy and excitement.
"Coming into the game I think we understood that there was something that we could do. At the same time it was about how we were going to execute to play our best game and play our best basketball."
The only bad news for UConn came afterwards when Auriemma announced that freshman guard Crystal Dangerfield will miss about two weeks as a precautionary measure as she deals with a foot injury.
Maria Jespersen had 11 points for USF. Sophomore Kitija Laksa, the unanimous selection as the 2016 AAC Freshman of the Year and the leading scorer in the league this season at 21.6 points per game, had just seven points on 3-for-15 shooting. Point guard Laia Flores, who was averaging 7.1 assists per game, had one Tuesday night and it came with her team trailing by 64 and 5:44 left.
The 65-point margin of defeat was the biggest in USF history, topping a 56-point loss to Northwest Missouri State 41 years ago.
"They (UConn) played great," USF coach Jose Fernandez said. "Talking to our staff, we have a lot of guys who haven't played against Connecticut. This is the worst margin of defeat we've ever had against them. We hadn't given up 100 points in my 17 years at USF. It's disappointing on how we performed and executed on both ends of the floor. They also had a lot to do with that.
"There has to be some kind of individual accountability for your play. We didn't get to the free throw line until the fourth quarter. We weren't aggressive enough offensively. The 50-50 balls, Connecticut got. Like I told them, they were like a kid in a candy store and they took our lunch money on the school yard. There was no passion, we were just content getting our asses kicked. And that's what happened."
The teams play again at the Sun Dome in Tampa on Feb. 27.
The Huskies look for more history in Dallas Saturday.
"It was fun and tonight we have to enjoy it," Williams said. "There are very few moments like this. Now we can take a deep breath and take it all in. Saturday is another opportunity."
