The No. 1 Huskies led by four midway through the third quarter before using a 14-0 run to close the period and put the game away in a 96-66 victory on Sunday.
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The 30-point margin surpassed the Huskies’ 79-56 win in 2002, which was the previous worst loss in the series for 15th-ranked Tennessee. It is the Lady Vols’ second-worst loss, trailing only a 31-point loss to Texas in 1984, according to the school’s record book.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma didn’t know it was the most lopsided game in series history. He didn’t really seem to care. I was happier that the Huskies had to win, rather than coasting early the rest of the way like they have for most of this season.
“I think if I had a 30-point lead at halftime I would have been really disappointed,” he said. “We play these games to test ourselves and find out what your team is made of. It’s good that you have to regroup, find yourself and go out, so I think in that sense it served its purpose, why you play these games with confidence.”
The two teams will continue their series for the next two years. Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell would love to see the game played at a different time of year and not in the middle of the conference.
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“It’s too hard for us. We have two bye weeks in the SEC and this takes away one of our bye weeks, which is unfortunate,” he said.
Tennessee has seven games in a 17-day period, including five against Top 25 teams.
These two teams had a rivalry in women’s basketball for almost two decades before they stopped playing after the 2007 season until it resumed in 2020.
Tennessee won the meet last season in Knoxville, which was the Huskies’ last loss en route to winning their 12th national championship and current 39-game winning streak.
“It still means something, not the same as it did back then,” Fudd said of the rivalry. “I think any opportunity we get to play a really talented team like this is exciting. There’s a lot of anticipation about it. It’s not the same as it used to be, but we come out with extra energy and intensity.”
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UConn has no ranked games left on its regular season schedule, so this was an opportunity for the Huskies to play one of the best teams in the country.
“I think it was really great for us to have to pass,” said Fudd, who had 27 points, seven assists and seven rebounds. “I think we handled it, too. We were steady, we were calm, we played our basketball. We didn’t let their runs in the first half carry over into the second half.”
It looked like the loss would come much sooner, as UConn took a 21-5 lead in the first 7 minutes behind Fudd.
But Tennessee finally started to get going and outscored UConn 35-15 over the next 12 minutes to lead by four at the end of the half.
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The Lady Vols (14-5) played their frenetic style of constantly substituting new players while applying defensive pressure.
It worked during that stretch to wear the Huskies down a bit. However, UConn rallied and the two teams were tied at 42 at the half.
“We looked as good as we have all year for 15 minutes, but it’s a 40-minute game,” Caldwell said.
The Huskies (23-0) only led 57-53 midway through the third quarter before scoring the final 14 points of the period to open the game. Sarah Strong started the run with a 3-point play and the Huskies broke through Tennessee’s defensive pressure for layups.
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Allie Ziebell, who tied a program record with 10 3-pointers in the Huskies’ previous game, capped the flurry with a 3-pointer that made the score 71-53 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Huskies kept pace in the fourth, leading to the loss.
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