The 2017–18 UConn Huskies women's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut (UConn) during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Huskies, led by Hall of Fame head coach Geno Auriemma, in his 33rd season at UConn, played their home games at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and the XL Center and were fifth-year members of the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 36–1, 16–0 in AAC play, to win the AAC regular season championship. They defeated Tulane, Cincinnati, and South Florida to win the AAC women's tournament title. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA women's tournament. As the overall No. 1 seed, they defeated Saint Francis (PA) and Quinnipiac to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. They defeated Duke in the Sweet Sixteen and South Carolina in the Elite Eight to reach their 19th Final Four. In the national semifinal, they lost in overtime on a last-second shot for the second consecutive year, this time to Notre Dame, ending the school's 36-game winning streak.

Previous season The Huskies finished the 2016–17 season 36–1, 16–0 in AAC play, to win the AAC regular season championship. They defeated Tulsa, UCF, and South Florida to win the AAC women's tournament championship. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA women's tournament. As the overall No. 1 seed, they defeated Albany and Syracuse to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There, they defeated UCLA to advance to the Elite Eight, where they defeated Oregon. In the National Semifinal, they lost in overtime to Mississippi State, ending the school's 111-game winning streak.

Offseason

Departures Name Number Pos. Height Year Hometown Reson for departure 12 G 5'8" Senior Ossining, NY Graduated/declared to 2017 WNBA draft 20 G 5'7" Senior Ansonia, CT Graduated 51 C 6'5" RS Junior Fairfax Station, VA Transferred to George Mason

Recruiting class

FIBA Kia Nurse participated on the Canada women's national basketball team in the 2017 FIBA Women's AmeriCup event. This is a tournament that takes place every other year between the national teams of the two continents. It also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Olympic games. In the gold-medal game against the host team Argentina, the Canadians were behind by seven points at halftime, but they came back in the second half. Nurse had a basket with just over a minute left, to give Canada the lead and the gold medal.

FIBA U19 Megan Walker, Crystal Dangerfield, and Christyn Williams (Central Arkansas Christian Schools, with a verbal commitment to Connecticut) participated on the United States women's national under-19 basketball team which competed in the FIBA Under-19 Women's Basketball World Cup, held in Udine, Italy in July. The USA team faced an undefeated Russia in the gold medal game, but fell short, losing 86–82. Dangerfield scored 15 points in the final, which resulted in the silver medal for the USA. For the entire event, Dangerfield averaged 9.0 points per game, Walker averaged 7.6 and Williams averaged 3.2.

3x3 U18 Christyn Williams was one of four players selected to represent the US in the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup held in Chengdu, China in June and July. She scored 22 points over the course of the seven games to help the USA win all seven games, including the gold-medal game against the Czech Republic.

Roster

Andra Espinoza-Hunter was only on the roster for the fall semester, after which she transferred from UConn.

Game summaries

Exhibition

Netherlands national team The UConn team took a trip to Italy in August, interspersing visits to historical sites with exhibition games against Dutch, Italian and Slovenian basketball teams. The first game was against the Netherlands national team on August 14, 2017 in Rome, Italy. Collier led the team in points and rebounds with 16 and 11, respectively, helping UConn to a 68–52 in over the national team. Nurse was not present for that game as she was still playing for the Canadian national team in the FIBA AmeriCup tournament.

The next day, the two teams faced off again. Nurse was present for this game and contributed 18 points, although high-scoring honors went to her teammate Samuelson with 23 points. UConn won the game 88–66.

Italian All-stars Three days later, UConn took on the Italian All-Stars in Vicenza, Italy. Samuelson repeated her scoring performance with 23 points, while freshman Walker was the leading rebounder with nine. Dangerfield had eight assists with no turnovers. Samuelson scored 15 of her points in the first quarter, helping the team to a 17-point lead. The team continued on to a 103–45 victory.

Celje The final exhibition game was held in Trieste against Celje, a Slovenian women's basketball club. UConn held a slim lead at halftime 37–36, playing without Collier, who had injured her ankle in the prior game. However, in the third quarter the Huskies were outscored 25–10 and ended up losing the game 79–59. Samuelson was the high scorer with 17 points but only hit one of her six three-point attempts. The Huskies hit just 32% of their field-goal attempts.

Fort Hays State UConn took on Division II Fort Hays State in their first exhibition game at home. The starters were the four returning starters from the previous year, plus Dangerfield. Stevens came in off the bench and recorded 15 points and four blocked shots in the game. Nurse was the leading scorer with 19 points, while both Williams and Collier had nine rebounds each. UConn won the game easily, 82–37.

Ashland University The final exhibition game was against Division II Ashland University, who had won the Division II national championship in the prior year and came into the season with a longest winnings streak in the country, at 37 games. Both teams were ranked number one in the preseason polls. Ashland's Laina Snyder had a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Julie Whorley led the team in scoring with 17 points. For the Huskies, nurse led all scorers with 21 points, hitting all of her seven shots from the field. Stevens and Williams each had double doubles, with Stevens scoring 16 points and pulling down 11 rebounds, while Williams had 11 points and 10 rebounds. UConn won the game 119–56.

Regular season

Stanford The UConn team opened their season on the road, playing in the Countdown to Columbus doubleheader against 10th-ranked Stanford. The Huskies had the good fortune to return three first-team All-Americans (the only team in Division I women's basketball to do so this year). The fourth starter for the team, Nurse, was the starting guard on the Canadian Olympic team. The fifth starter was sophomore Dangerfield, who had a good but uneven freshman year. However, she reached double figures in scoring halfway through the first quarter, and ended up hitting six of seven 3-point shot attempts. The Huskies opened up a 49–14 halftime lead. For the first time in four years, the opening game did not follow a successful national championship bid, so the team potentially could interrupt their back-to-back winning streak extending from 1993 to 1994. That streak was never seriously threatened in this game, as UConn ended up with the win 78–53. This was the 22nd consecutive year that UConn had won their opening game.

California UConn played their home opener against 20th-ranked California. The Golden Bears led 4–3 early, but scored 23 of the next 25 points to take control of the game. The Huskies had a 19-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and cruised to an 82–47 win. The team unveiled a banner to honor Rebecca Lobo before the game to reflect her inclusion in the Naismith Hall of Fame in September. Dangerfield, Collier and Nurse shared scoring honors with 14 points each.

Maryland The Huskies played their second home game of the season and their first home game at the XL Center against 15th-ranked Maryland. UConn's best shooter, Samuelson, had injured her foot in the prior game, and was not able to play. Despite that, every starter for UConn scored in double figures, led by Nurse with 21 points. This was the first start for Azure Stevens, who had transferred to UConn from Duke and sat out the prior season. She had a double double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The game was tied early at seven points apiece, but the Huskies went on a 19–2 run to take control. Both teams struggled with ball control, combining for 45 turnovers. The final score, in favor of the Huskies, was 97–72.

UCLA UConn headed west to play UCLA, a team near Samuelson's hometown of Huntington Beach, but her foot injury prevented her from playing. She was no longer on crutches and wearing a walking boot, which she could be seen wearing along the sidelines while shouting encouragement to her teammates. Despite playing the number five ranked team in the country, her teammates responded, opening up a 24-point lead at one point and ending with a 78–60 win over the Bruins. The audience of over 9,000 included Kobe Bryant and Ann Myers Drysdale.

Michigan State The Huskies headed north on the next step in their West Coast trip to Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon to take part in the Nike PK80 invitational. They took on Michigan State, their first unranked opponent of the season, but a team with a 4–1 record. Stevens, who felt she had not performed well against UCLA, stepped up with 25 points, 16 rebounds and five assists to help UConn to a 96–62 win. She also reached the 1,000-point mark for her career, with 938 scored at Duke. UConn held the Spartans to just over 34% shooting from the field, and beat Michigan State 46–18.

Nevada UConn had never played the University of Nevada, so the game played at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno was the first time on the court for most players on the team. However, it was familiar ground for Williams, who had led her high school's team to the state title in 2012 in that arena. She also spent time in the arena watching her father and her sister, who both played basketball for Nevada. The game was set up as a homecoming game for the senior Williams. She scored 18 points, although her coach Auriemma emphasized her defensive prowess. Stevens had a double double with 17 points and 14 rebounds, but the offensive star of the team was Nurse, scoring on all eight of her three-point attempts, and ending up with 27 points. This was the first nationally-televised game for Nevada. UConn won 88–57.

Notre Dame The game against the third-ranked and undefeated Notre Dame was highly anticipated, resulting in a sellout for the XL center. Connecticut led at the end of the first quarter by four points, but the Irish responded with a 24–4 run to take a seven-point lead into halftime. The third quarter was close, but Notre Dame extended the lead by a single point to enter the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead. UConn's Samuelson had missed the prior four games with her foot injury, but was able to play in this game until the early in the fourth quarter, when she reaggravated her injury and had to leave. Williams was battling a migraine, and ineffective in the first half, when she scored only two points on one of seven shooting and did not play the second half. Despite missing two of the top players, UConn outscored Notre Dame 26-9 in the fourth quarter, ending up with 80–71 victory. Five Huskies scored in double digits. Despite missing most of the fourth quarter, Samuelson was the leading scorer with 18, followed by Stevens with 17.

DePaul