Storrs — Albany coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee was asked what she could take out of this game, a 116-55 loss to top-seeded UConn in the first round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

In essence, her answer was that her team needs to take not only how hard UConn plays, but all the other little things the Huskies bring, and implement them into its own game so as not to be a 16th seed the next time around.

“I've said that about Connecticut for years,” McNamee said of UConn's passing in particular, after the unbeaten Huskies finished with 34 assists on 43 field goals. “What separates them from other teams isn't just how hard they play, but how well they pass and catch. They do it better than any other team in the country.”

UConn, on a day coach Geno Auriemma wasn't particularly thrilled with many of his players — he called Katie Lou Samuelson, the Most Outstanding Player of the recent American Athletic Conference tournament “horrible in the first half” — still took its first step toward a fifth straight national championship in efficient if not entirely jaw-dropping fashion before 5,670 fans at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies (33-0) advanced to Monday's second-round game against No. 8 Syracuse by scoring 52 points "“points in the paint,” or essentially 26 layups. It was the Huskies' 108th straight victory, and the 116 points tied the UConn record for most points in an NCAA tournament game.

Syracuse defeated No. 9 Iowa State 85-65 in the second game, setting up a rematch of last year's national championship game in Indianapolis. UConn won that game 82-51.

Against Albany, it was 58-32 at halftime with Auriemma looking unimpressed with UConn's defense, when the Huskies put the gas pedal to the floor.

“Our defense wasn't where it should be. That was just us mentally, too; we weren't in the right mindset,” UConn junior Gabby Williams said.

“Our defense has got to be way better Monday night than it was today and it will be,” Auriemma said. “… There really wasn't anything to say (at halftime). They know. When they're locked in, when they're really locked in, I could tell them it's Tuesday and they'd go around saying, 'Today's Tuesday.' (Saturday) was them looking at each other saying 'This is what we've got to do.' These are their words and they own them. That's what I want them to do."

Napheesa Collier and Kia Nurse led the way with 24 points each for UConn. Collier shot 10-for-15 and added 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots. Nurse, who came back from a stress reaction in her right ankle to play limited minutes in the AAC tournament, played 24 minutes against Albany but made the most of them with six 3-point field goals on seven attempts.

Williams, whom McNamee called “one of the most athletic players ever,” finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five steals. Freshman Crystal Dangerfield, in the first NCAA tournament game of her career, had 16 points, with four 3-pointers and six assists. Samuelson scored 15 points and had nine assists.

It was the sequence to start the third quarter, a nine-point showcase by UConn in 1 minute, 9 seconds, that finally distanced the Huskies from Albany, which shot 40 percent in the first half and still had the belief going into the second half it could join forces for an upset.

Nurse drilled a 3-pointer nine seconds in and Samuelson scored on a fast break from Saniya Chong to push the lead past the 30-point barrier at 63-32. Nurse scored on the front of the break from Chong and Samuelson engineered a steal and laid the ball in one-on-three to put UConn up 67-32.

McNamee called a timeout. But, at that point, it was over.

“We got a lot more in transition, which is what we're good at and what we want to do,” Collier said.

“We always say that it takes a while to get going in this particular game,” Auriemma said. “That 12-day layoff you have (after the AAC tournament) isn't quite normal. It didn't seem to affect us offensively. I thought, defensively, we were a little bit out of synch. But there were long of stretches in the second half we started to get it back and looked really, really good. … It's not going to be as easy as sometimes we make it look.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com