WATCH: Geno Auriemma, UConn Huskies discuss 72-61 victory against California
The season-opening win led to mixed reactions for the home team
By Garrett Stepien | Nov 10 | 8:42PM
Head coach Geno Auriemma has been around UConn long enough -- since 1985, to be exact -- to know what to expect, but he was unsure what to make of how his 2019-20 team opened the season overall.
The slate started Sunday at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut, with the No. 5 Huskies' 72-61 win over California -- the victory, ultimately, an expected result.
Between the production -- sophomore guard Christyn Williams led with 24 points, junior forward Megan Walker added 21 and senior guard Crystal Dangerfield dropped 14 -- Auriemma received just about what he thought his experienced trio would provide on offense.
"The fact that Christyn and Crystal and Megan scored most of our points -- that doesn't surprise me," Auriemma said. "I mean, that's kind of how it's going to play out for most of the season."
However, the other end of the court was less promising as the Golden Bears (0-1) got a game-high 25 points from fifth-year senior guard Sara Anastasieska, who drilled five three-point shots.
"And defensively, we were really good at times and not so good at times," Auriemma said. "So, you know, you win and you move on. For as far as first games go, I've seen better and I've seen worse."
Williams echoed Auriemma's sentiments.
"I mean, we obviously have a lot to work on," Williams said. "It's just our first game. We need to clean up our offense a little bit and some things on defensive end, too. So we just have things to work on, all around."
The Huskies (1-0) return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. from Memorial Gymnasium in Memphis, Tennessee, against Vanderbilt (2-0).
"We don't have an identity yet -- it's probably a little too early for that," Auriemma said. "As I said, there was some interesting things that happened on the offensive end and there was some things defensively that, as I said, I knew we were going to struggle with some things. But it's going to take us a while."