The 2010–11 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 2010–2011 NCAA Division I basketball season. The Huskies were coached by Geno Auriemma, and played their home games at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and on campus at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. The Huskies are a member of the Big East Conference and attempted to win their eighth NCAA championship. The UConn team had won the last two national championships, and extended a win streak to an NCAA record 90 consecutive games.
Offseason
May 12: Coach Auriemma, along with Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the Duke men's basketball program, were the recipients of the "Winged Foot Award" presented annually (since 1996) to the coaches of the Men's and Women's NCAA Division I Basketball Championship. June 11: 1995 graduate Rebecca Lobo inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame June 27: Incoming freshmen Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson played on the USA Basketball U18 team and helped the team win the gold medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship. June 30: Senior Maya Moore was named to the United States women's national basketball team which will compete at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women. As part of the preparation, the national team played the WNBA All-stars in the WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Stars at the Sun Game. Moore's teammates will include former Connecticut Husky players Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Swin Cash and Renee Montgomery. Moore scored 12 points to help the USA team beat the WNBA All Stars. August 8: Moore was selected to play in a basketball game organized by Barack Obama to entertain wounded troops. The players invited included some current and former stars: LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Bill Russell and Magic Johnson. August 12: Caroline Doty to miss season. Doty will undergo surgery to repair a torn ACL in her left knee, and will be out for the season.
Regular season The Connecticut team opened the year ranked #1 in both the ESPN Coaches poll and the AP Top 25 Poll, following two consecutive undefeated seasons. The votes were not unanimous, with Baylor earning a number one vote in the AP poll, and Baylor, Stanford, and Tennessee earning first place votes in the coaches poll.
Roster changes The regular season began with a number of changes, some expected, some not. The expected changes including the graduation of five seniors from the previous squad, and the addition of five new freshmen. The unexpected change was the loss of starting guard Caroline Doty, who suffered an ACL injury in July, and will be out for the entire season.
Jackie Fernandes is one of the seniors who graduated last year and is no longer with the team. Fernandes averaged six minutes a game during the 2009–10 season. She was the high school teammate of Heather Buck, who will be a redshirt, after sitting out one year for development. Kaili McLaren played twelve minutes a game for the Huskies in the previous season, and has moved on to a professional basketball career with Apollon Ptolemaidos in Greece. Meghan Gardler graduated as well, after a career with UConn that saw her minutes increase each year, playing over thirteen minutes a game as a senior. Kalana Greene was a starting guard, playing almost 26 minutes per game and averaging eleven points per game. Greene was the 13th selection in the WNBA draft, where she was selected by and plays for the New York Liberty. The final graduating senior was Tina Charles who was selected as the overall number one draft pick by the Connecticut Sun. Charles won a number of awards, including both Naismith and AP Player of the Year.
Joining the team were five freshmen: Bria Hartley from North Babylon, New York; Stefanie Dolson from Port Jervis, New York; Lauren Engeln from Laguna Hills, California; Michala Johnson from Bellwood Illinois; and Samarie Walker from West Carrolton, Ohio.
Pre-season The exhibition games were not competitive, as UConn defeated Franklin Pierce by a score of 112–41 and the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks by a score of 100–41. Two of the freshman stood out at the IUP game, when Samarie Walker scored 22 points and Bria Hartey scored 18.
Non-conference games UConn opened their season against perennial opponent Holy Cross. Uconn prevailed easily, winning by an 80-point margin, 117–37.
The second game was a match up between the top two rated teams in the country. UConn had beaten Baylor in the previous season NCAA semifinal game, but in that game, Baylor center Brittney Griner was a freshman, and faced the senior, AP Player of the year, Tina Charles. This year, Griner would be more experienced, and UConn had replaced the veteran Charles with a freshman, Stefanie Dolson. The game started with a moderate advantage for Baylor, who led by five points early, with scores of 8–3 and 10–5. Then UConn took over and extended the lead, reaching a fifteen-point margin early in the second half 44–29. Baylor did not fold, and went on a 27–4 run to retake the lead, and extend it to eight points. UConn responded, with Bria Hartley scoring eight points in the last four minutes, and held on for a 65–64 victory. The victory extended the UConn winning streak to 80 consecutive games.
Five days later, on November 21, the Huskies traveled to Georgia Tech, a game scheduled so that Maya Moore could play near where she had been a high school star. 7,325 fans showed up at the arena, setting a school record for attendance at a women's basketball game. Moore scored 30 points before coming out of the game to a standing ovation. The game would mark the 81st consecutive victory, tying consecutive wins record for NCAA basketball help by Washington University in St. Louis.
After the conference opener against South Florida, UConn played another perennial non-conference opponent, Sacred Heart University, and won easily, 86–32, to stretch the winning streak to 86 games.
World Vision Classic UConn hosted the World Vision Classic over Thanksgiving. In the first of the three games, UConn easily beat Howard 86–25, to set the new record consecutive win streak for NCAA women's basketball at 82 games. UConn then went on to beat the other two opponents in the Classic, Lehigh and LSU
Madison Square Garden: record-tying game UConn met tenth-ranked Ohio State in Madison Square Garden as Part of the Maggie Dixon Classic, an annual event in honor of Maggie Dixon, the head coach of the Army team who died at the age of 28. A crowd of 15,232 witnessed UConn win 81–50 to tie the record of 88 consecutive wins set by UCLA in 1974.
Conference games UConn opened its conference schedule against with an 80–54 win against USF. After playing Sacred Heart, their second Big East opponent was Marquette, who came to the UConn campus but lost 79–47.
Roster
a Walker transferred to the University of Kentucky 24 January 2011
Schedule The XL Center is the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at XL Center Date Time (EST) Opponent / Event Location UConn points Opp. points Record Streak
11/4/2010
7:30 p.m.
vs. Franklin Pierce ε
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
112
41
11/10/2010
7:00 p.m.
vs. Indiana Univ. (PA) ε
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
100
41
1
11/14/2010
2:00 p.m.
vs. Holy Cross
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
117
37
1–0 79 2
11/16/2010
6:00 p.m.
vs. Baylor
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
65
64
2–0 80 3
11/21/2010
2:00 p.m.
at Georgia Tech
Atlanta, Ga. Thrillerdome
71
51 3–0 81 4
11/26/2010
7:30 p.m.
vs. Howard
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
86
25
4–0 82 5
11/27/2010
7:30 p.m.
vs. Lehigh
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
81
38
5–0 83 6
11/28/2010
4:30 p.m.
vs. LSU
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
81
51
6–0 84 7
12/2/2010
7:00 p.m.
at USF β
Tampa, Florida (USF Sun Dome)
80
54 7–0 85 8
12/5/2010
1:00 p.m.
vs. Sacred Heart
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
86
32 8–0 86 9
12/9/2010
7:30 p.m.
vs. Marquette β
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) 79
47 9–0 87 10
12/19/2010
2:30 p.m.
vs. Ohio State
New York City (Madison Square Garden)
81
50
10–0 88 11
12/21/2010
7:00 p.m.
vs. Florida State
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
93
62
11–0 89 12
12/28/2010
10:00 p.m.
at Pacific
Stockton, California Alex G. Spanos Center
85
42
12-0 90 13
12/30/2010
9:00 p.m.
at Stanford
Palo Alto, California (Maples Pavilion)
59
71
12-1
0 14
1/05/2011
7:30 p.m.
vs. Villanova β
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
81
35
13-11 15
1/8/2011
2:00 p.m.
at Notre Dame β
South Bend, Ind. (Purcell Pavilion)
79
76
14-12 16
1/12/2011
9:30 p.m.
at St. John's β
New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden)
84
52
15-13 17
1/15/2011
12:00 p.m.
vs. Louisville β
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
78
55
16-14 18
1/17/2011
7:00 p.m.
at North Carolina
Chapel Hill, N.C. (Carmichael Auditorium)
83
57
17-15 19
1/22/2011
7:30 p.m.
vs. Pittsburgh β
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
66
46
18-16 20
1/26/2011
7:30 p.m.
at Rutgers β
Louis Brown Athletic Center (Piscataway, N.J.)
63
44
19-17 21
1/29/2011
2:00 p.m.
at Cincinnati β
Cincinnati, Ohio (Fifth Third Arena)
80
46
20-18 22
1/31/2011
7:00 p.m.
vs. Duke
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
87
51
21-19 23
2/5/2011
2:00 p.m.
vs. DePaul β
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
89
66
22-110 24
2/8/2011
7:00 p.m.
at West Virginia β
Morgantown, W. Virginia (WVU Coliseum)
57
51
23-111 25
2/12/2011
2:00 p.m.
at Providence β
Providence, R.I. (Dunkin' Donuts Center)
68
38
24-112 26
2/14/2011
7:00 p.m.
vs. Oklahoma
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
86
45
25-113 27
2/19/2011
2:00 p.m.
vs. Notre Dame β
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion) 78
57
26-114 28
2/22/2011
7:00 p.m.
vs. Seton Hall β
Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
80
59
27-115 29
2/26/2011
3:00 p.m.
at Georgetown β
McDonough Arena (Washington, D.C.)
52
42
28-116 30
2/28/2011
7:30 p.m.
vs. Syracuse β
Storrs, Conn. (Gampel Pavilion)
82
47
29-117
ε Exhibition
β Big East
Big East tournament
The Big East tournament was held at the XL Center. The opening rounds proceeded largely as expected, with the Villanova Overtime victory over Providence the only upset in the first two rounds. In the third round (quarterfinals), the top seeds also held form.
Quarterfinal UConn faced Georgetown, in a surprisingly quiet offensive night for Maya Moore, who scored only six points, although gathered 15 rebounds. She has been held to under ten points only five times in her college career, spanning 147 games so far. Freshman Stefanie Dolson scored 24 points on eight of twelve shooting to lead all scorers. Her 24 points represented the most by a UConn player in their first post-season game, exceeding the 22 points scored by Diana Taurasi in 2001. Georgetown's Sugar Rogers scored eight consecutive points in the second half to cut the UConn lead to eleven, but UConn went on to win 59–43.
Semi-final In the semifinals. UConn faced Rutgers, the last Big East team to beat UConn. That loss occurred in 2007. Moore, after scoring only six points in the quarterfinal, bounced back to score 17 points in the first half, and ended up with 22 points for the game. Kelly Faris added 19 points, one short of her career high, to help the Huskies to a 75–51 win over the Scarlet Knights.
Big East Championship