The UConn Huskies aren’t just competing this season, they are redefining domination in women’s basketball. With an undefeated 23-0 streak, Geno Auriemma’s team is well and truly poised to go back-to-back at the March Madness. However, according to an analyst, UConn’s on-court strengths aren’t as formidable as they seem, and their strongest arsenal can rust, despite their success this season.

Chantel Jennings, an experienced basketball analyst for The Athletic, caught everyone off guard while speaking of a major crack that ranked teams, Michigan and Tennessee, highlighted in UConn’s seemingly unbreakable dominance. “The blueprint would be sort of taking what Michigan did in the second quarter or the third quarter against UConn, or taking what Tennessee did in the second quarter or third quarter,” she said in the No Offseason: The Athletic Women’s Basketball Show podcast. “If you can expand that to 40 minutes, because that’s what it would take to beat UConn this year.

Jennings further delved into how Tennessee and Michigan employed relentless pressure and quick movements against UConn’s defense, pushing them back on the court. Moreover, she also added how this fast play on the court even affected a player like Sarah Strong, who hasn’t put a foot wrong in her sophomore season so far. “The UConn players and coach Geno Auriemma said after the game that a lot of it was getting UConn to speed up to make them make uncharacteristic mistakes,” she added.

“I feel like that Sunday was the first time I have seen Sarah Strong look like a human being on the basketball court. She was triple-teamed on the back court, and threw the ball to a Tennessee defender. That was her first underclassman mistake. ”

To some extent, Jennings’ analysis isn’t wrong. In the Tennessee game, the Huskies did struggle with ball security, giving away 15 turnovers, an unexpected number for Auriemma’s side. Notably, it was the same against Michigan, when they gave the ball away 17 times, raising serious eyebrows about their ball security against formidable, ranked opponents.

With defensive blocks, Lady Vols coach Kim Caldwell’s team tried to limit the Huskies’ offensive strength by charging Strong at times. Moreover, Caldwell’s side also employed immense physicality on Strong and Co. with frequent double-teams on the offensive players.

Despite the Lady Vols’ noble efforts, they weren’t able to keep the Huskies and Strong at bay. Auriemma’s team registered a 30-point win over Tennessee. And Strong led the side from the paint impressively with 26 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists, with Azzi Fudd adding 27. This speaks highly of the team’s character this season: when the chips are down, the Huskies can still wave the magic wand and dominate opponents like no other.

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Despite the win, this crack remains a concern for Geno Auriemma and the team come March Madness. The Huskies won’t have room for mistakes as they did in the regular-season game against the Tennessee Lady Vols. Moreover, even stronger teams like South Carolina, UCLA can capitalize on this relentless pressure-play against them and cost them big time.

Geno Auriemma’s Antidote to UConn Huskies’ Weak Spot

While the Lady Volunteers did a commendable defensive scheme to limit Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies, the question here is how the side managed to be in the race and eventually clinch a dominating win? And Auriemma had the perfect answer to it in the post-match press conference.

While the Lady Vols were building defensive and ball pressure on the Huskies, Auriemma had just one piece of advice for his team: just attack the opposition rim, and one player, Serah Williams, helped him immensely. “There’s so much pressure on our perimeter players to make shots, and their big guys were killing us in their lane,” Auriemma said.

“So, there’s now way of keep playing and be successful, unless we take pressure off our guards. So we just kept talking about being more aggressive, and offensively we have better movement. They were chasing us everywhere we were going, and it left her (Williams) play some one-on-one and she capitalized on it.”

Williams’ 6 points, along with an assist, helped Sarah Strong and the UConn offense immensely, helping the side 29-11 in the third quarter of the game. It was the eventual turning point of the game, and the Huskies never looked back from there.

With an important ranked victory over the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, Auriemma’s Huskies have also proved how their dominance isn’t just bound by the Big East Conference. They can dismantle even stronger SEC opponents at their will. The positive for them is that no ranked opponents are in line for them in the regular season, meaning they can experiment and rotate their squads to further enhance their playing style against the fast defense and relentless pressure style.

DePaul follows next on Feb. 04, followed by Butler and Creighton on Feb. 06 and Feb. 11 for the UConn Huskies. Can Auriemma and Co. work towards their strategies against faster defense and ball pressure in these games and be more efficient, come March? Let us know in the comments.