STORRS — UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma doesn’t get excited for First Night after 40 years at the helm of the program. In fact, the legendary coach said he doesn’t start to feel the buzz of a new season until his team gets through its first few games.
“The first two weeks of practice in October, there’s absolutely nothing to be excited about,” Auriemma joked. “Last October I thought man, we are in great shape. This is going to be phenomenal. Second game of the year, we get our ass beat down at NC State and we look like we’ve never practiced. So I’m excited to see what can happen. Right now, it hasn’t yet.”
The 2024-25 season unofficially began in Storrs with First Night on Friday, and the Huskies enter the year ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP poll after making a miracle run to the Final Four last season. Injuries have plagued UConn’s roster for the last three years, and even with at least three players still recovering to start of the season, Auriemma knows that this team’s expectations are as high as they’ve always been: NCAA championship or bust.
“Nobody’s entitled to four (national titles) in a row, so you can explain those couple of years, but then as the years have added up and gotten to seven or eight, now it’s a sense of urgency,” Auriemma said. “Not for me, because I’ve said this before: I have more than anybody should ever — than anybody deserves to have. But it’d be great for some of these guys to experience that once in their life, so that’s kind of urgent. That part of it is.”
Bueckers shines as bright as ever
Though the UConn men returned multiple contributors from its back-to-back national championship teams this season, the loudest reception from the crowd on First Night unquestionably belonged to Paige Bueckers. The Huskies’ superstar entered Gampel Pavilion to GloRilla’s TGIF wearing a pair of navy blue sunglasses, and she carried that swagger with her throughout the night.
Bueckers is one of the faces of the athletic department’s partnership with Madison Reed, a hair color brand run by UConn alumna Amy Errett. Shots from the company’s logos on the court, positioned several feet behind the 3-point arc, counted for five points on first night, and Bueckers fittingly drained the first one of the team’s intra-squad scrimmage. She also assisted Ziebell’s 5-point make with a no-look backwards pass between her legs. Even in the no-stakes game, she was picking up full-court defense to mess with her teammates.
A 6-foot redshirt senior guard from Hopkins, Minnesota
PAIGE. BUECKERS. pic.twitter.com/rnshfxbz63
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) October 18, 2024
Freshman class looks as advertised
Allie Ziebell was known as a shooter when she committed to UConn as the No. 7 prospect in the Class of 2024, and the freshman completely lived up to those expectations in her Gampel Pavilion debut. Partnered with men’s forward Jayden Ross, Ziebell hit 11 of 12 shots in the First Night 3-point contest, including 100% of her attempts at the corner and elbow. She and Ross went on to beat out Azzi Fudd and Alex Karaban in the championship round with Ziebell going 8-for-12.
Freshman Sarah Strong, the No. 1 prospect in the class, also had a big moment in front of the crowd: After Bueckers opened the scrimmage on a 5-pointer for the blue team, Strong immediately pulled up from the Madison Reed logo at the other end and drained one of her own for the white team. Morgan Cheli rounds out the rookie class as the No. 11 prospect, but she has been limited in practice because of a lingering hamstring injury from her senior high school season. Cheli was able to participate in the scrimmage, a major positive sign of her readiness as the Nov. 7 opener against Boston University approaches.
We know the 3-point line hates to see Allie Ziebell coming pic.twitter.com/SJrasM7c63
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) October 19, 2024
Injured players get active
Though Fudd and Karaban weren’t able to defend their title as two-time champions in the First Night 3-point contest, Fudd took her first shots in Gampel since she suffered a season-ending ACL and medial meniscus tear in November 2023. Auriemma said before the event that Fudd is at a great spot in her recovery progression but noted that she is “rusty.”
Redshirt junior Caroline Ducharme, who has grappled with head and neck injuries throughout her college career, also competed in the 3-point contest amid her own recovery process. Like Fudd, it was her first appearance on the court at Gampel since she was sidelined by neck spasms after three games in 2023-24.
