UConn women’s basketball faces No. 22 Creighton for Big East regular-season title

STORRS The only championship that truly matters to the UConn womens basketball team in 2024-25 is the one that will be decided in Tampa, Fla., on April 7, but the Huskies can earn what they hope will be the first of several titles this season when they host Creighton on Thursday.Fifth-ranked UConn (26-3, 16-0 Big East) faces the No.

22 Bluejays (23-4, 15-1) in a sold-out battle at the XL Center with the Big East regular-season championship on the line.

UConn has won 11 consecutive regular-season conference titles including the teams seven-year stint in the American Athletic Conference from 2014-20, and it has won the Big East in the regular season 22 times in 36 years as a member.Geno Auriemma, in his 40th season at the helm of the program, said winning the conference consistently is a matter of pride for the Huskies, but adding another trophy to the case doesnt mean anything to the longtime coach about what his team can accomplish come March Madness.I dont know that one has anything to do with the other, Auriemma said Wednesday.

If you win (Thursday) and you win Sunday, you win the regular season, so you accomplish a goal.

Does that make you better equipped to win the national championship? No, (but) it doesnt hurt your chances ...

We have a really tough game tomorrow night, because theyre a really good team thats hard to match up with, and they have a really hard game because were a really good team thats hard to match up with, and thats why games like tomorrow are important.The Huskies handed Creighton its only conference loss, 72-61, when the teams first met on the road on Jan.

25, though the Bluejays are the only Big East squad this season to score more than 60 points against UConn.

Freshman phenom Sarah Strong powered the team with a double-double, with 26 points and 12 rebounds plus five steals, four blocks and three assists, and superstar Paige Bueckers added 22 points in the victory.

Strong hasnt had a 20-point game since that performance, but she had her sixth double-double of the season in UConns stunning upset of South Carolina on Feb.

16, and she came one rebound shy of her seventh at Butler on Saturday.(Sarah) is the same every minute of every day, Auriemma said.

Theres almost never a time where youre going to see a different version in terms of how she appears, how she carries herself, how she reacts to things, and I think thats probably why shes able to handle and have the kind of success that shes having.

She doesnt suffer the highs and lows that young kids do ...

Internally, the expectations that we had when we were recruiting her, shes right about where I thought shed be.UConn Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) shoots over Creighton Bluejays forward Morgan Maly (30) in the first half of an NCAA game at the XL Center, Hartford, Conn., Feb.

19, 2024.

Photo by Cloe Poisson/Special to the CourantThursday will also mark the final game of Bueckers college career at the XL Center as she prepares to enter the 2025 WNBA Draft.

The Huskies play their regular-season finale at Gampel Pavilion against Marquette, and the on-campus arena is also expected to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Bueckers, who walked on Senior Night in 2024 before deciding to return for her fifth year, said the end of her UConn career hasnt hit her yet, but the last moments will become harder and harder to ignore as the team enters the home stretch of the season.I didnt even realize it was my last XL game, Bueckers said.

Its all crazy.

Like, last year I sort of knew that I was coming back, but this year it definitely feels different.

Im still really not thinking about it, but it become more real as the time goes on.How to watchSite: XL Center, HartfordTime/date: 7 p.m., ThursdaySeries record: UConn leads 10-0Last meeting: 72-61 UConn, Jan.

25 in Omaha, Neb.TV: CBS Sports NetworkStreaming: CBS Sports appRadio: UConn Sports Network on Fox Sports 97.9.

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