Geno Auriemma Calls Out 'Immature' UConn Team After Performance Against Holy Cross
The UConn Huskies women's basketball team improved to 7-0 on the 2024-25 NCAA season on Tuesday after they defeated Holy Cross University by a score of 88-52.
While UConn ultimately pulled away and won a game that ended up not being close, they were only winning by six points at halftime and superstar guard Paige Bueckers could not get anything going.
Bueckers wasn't prolific scoring in the second half either, as she finished the win with 11 points. Luckily UConn had freshman Sarah Strong to lean on, as she produced 22 points in 9-12 shooting from the floor to help lead the Huskies to victory.
Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma was not in great spirits after the game and sent a clear message about his team.
"We're a very immature team, so we can't... it's hard for us to sustain something for four quarters," Auriemma said, per SNY. "So we're going to have to be a lot better at that."
Auriemma then praised Strong and her performance before being asked about the tough slate of games they have ahead (four of their next five games are against ranked opponents).
"Well, we just played the No. 5 team in the country, Holy Cross. So I don't know if we're going to be phased at all by playing those teams that are really, really good. I mean, we just dominated the No. 5 team in the country," he said.
To be clear, Auriemma was being sarcastic. Holy Cross is not ranked No. 5, nor ranked at all.
"So yeah, an effort like this, against those teams, and we won't be in the Top 25," he continued. "Holy Cross played in the first half like they were No. 5 in the country, and we played like we were unranked, which may be the case come December 21."
Geno Auriemma joins @ChelseaSherrod to discuss the Huskies' win, Sarah Strong's performance & UConn's upcoming schedule
— UConn on SNY (@SNYUConn) December 4, 2024
"Holy Cross played in the first half like they were #5 in the country. We played like we were unranked, which may be the case come December 21" 😂 pic.twitter.com/GMz1Br92wI
December 21 marks the final game (which is against JuJu Watkins and the USC Trojans) in this stretch of UConn's contests against elite opponents.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.