Minneapolis — It was a long day and now a long night for UConn, a little more adversity — why not? — and a healthy dose of South Carolina.

The Gamecocks were the team to beat from the beginning of the season to the end and commanded the NCAA championship game Sunday night from start to finish, as well, handing UConn its first loss in a title game, 64-49, after the Huskies were 11-0 on that stage.

And UConn coach Geno Auriemma, tired and sick and hoarse, had a glimmer in his eye talking about freshman Amari DeBerry, the 6-foot-5 forward from Williamsville, New York, who played in just 15 games this season before subbing in Sunday to give senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa a break from battling with South Carolina giant Aliyah Boston.

"I told her when we got here this weekend, I said, 'If I put you in are you going to pee yourself? What are you going to do?' And she just started laughing? Because I wanted to just break the ice a little bit," Auriemma said.

"And she goes, 'No, I'm ready. I'm ready.' I'm thinking, 'How can you be ready, you've hardly even played?' So then I said, 'Listen, I'm serious. If you get in I need you to really play.' She goes, 'I'll be ready. Don't worry.' She's got this great attitude, she's got this great skill set and she's already committed to be (on campus) all summer long to work on her game and I'm excited about what she's going to do this year."

Auriemma predicted during his postgame press conference Sunday that he expects UConn to be back in this spot next year at the Final Four, which will be held 365 days from now at American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

For all of this season's obstacles, and there were many, with eight of 12 players missing multiple games, including three of the Huskies' five starters in 2021 national player of the year Paige Bueckers, freshman Azzi Fudd and Nelson-Ododa, Auriemma believes many lessons were learned.

The Huskies, who finished 30-6, lose Nelson-Ododa and fellow seniors Christyn Williams and Evina Westbrook, all 1,000-point career scorers and off-the-court pillars.

Graduate transfer Dorka Juhasz will stay for her final year of eligibility, recovering from a broken wrist that kept her out of the Final Four, and Aubrey Griffin, who missed the entire season after back surgery, will also return.

Then there are highly touted incoming freshmen Isuneh "Ice" Brady, a 6-3 post from San Diego and the No. 5-ranked recruit in the Class of 2022, and Ayanna Patterson, a 6-2 wing from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the No. 4 recruit. Both freshmen-to-be are McDonald's All-Americans.

That group will team with this year's freshmen and sophomores: the star in Bueckers, the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in Nika Muhl, Big East all-tournament team member Aaliyah Edwards, the sharpshooter in Fudd, freshman Caroline Ducharme (who had a stretch of the season in which she served as the Huskies' savior) and the pair of 6-5 up-and-comers in DeBerry and Piath Gabriel.

"You start thinking about the number of freshmen and sophomores we played today that played a lot of minutes and really got an education today on what it takes to win at this level," Auriemma said.

"I remember being in that situation a bunch of years ago and we lost with a bunch of young kids and we came back and won it the following year. You cross your fingers and you hope that the lessons that were learned this weekend carry over into May, June, July and throughout the rest of the year."

UConn has reached an unparalleled 14 straight Final Fours but hasn't won a national championship since winning four straight from 2013-16, the longest drought since capturing its first national championship in 1995.

The 49 points against South Carolina were the second fewest ever by UConn in an NCAA tournament game and the Huskies' 24 rebounds were tied for third fewest in a national championship game. UConn was 1-for-4 from the free throw line, the fewest made in a title game.

Bueckers led the Huskies with 14 points and six rebounds to earn Final Four all-tournament honors.

"Obviously every loss is hard to swallow and hard to just watch again and go through again," Bueckers said. "So you just want to make sure and do everything you can in the offseason to prevent that from happening again.

"We know, now we know how to get here and how hard it is and how hard we have to work all throughout the season and how much we have to overcome. Just knowing that and the experiences of just being here, you can definitely use it to be better and win it."

Auriemma called the season a "non-stop series of events," carrying right through Sunday night when Nelson-Ododa had her previously injured groin wrapped and Fudd was too ill to contribute much.

"The way it went, I guess if you weren't there, if you didn't see it, if you didn't feel it every day in practice, just who can't go, who can go, it was just a credit to them that they were able to hold it together that long," Auriemma said.

"... It's kind of like half full/half empty. You want to hope that the next day's better and the next day's better and the next day's better and then you get hit with 'No, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not.' You can't act like the sky is falling, so the rollercoaster goes down and then it goes back up. When you're down, you're down, and when it goes back up you feel like you're on top of the world."

UConn proved its mettle in reaching the Final Four, struggling through what resembled a street fight in the second round against Central Florida and then finding a way to win a high-octane 91-87 double-overtime test against top-seeded N.C. State in the Bridgeport Regional final.

"When you get here, you're really incredibly excited to be here, incredibly proud that you got there, especially under the circumstances we got here," Auriemma said. "Then once you're here you want to win and then when you don't win, it's crazy that 40 minutes can wipe our five months of stuff you're really passionate about that you did great.

"But that's the nature of sports, you know? And that's the beauty of it. ... The best way I can say it is I'm really proud of them."

v.fulkerson@theday.com