Geno Auriemma likens playing Villanova to a trip to the dentist.

“You don't want to, but you gotta do it,” said Auriemma, coach of the UConn women's basketball team, which plays at Villanova tonight and should incur a test of its patience against the deliberate Wildcats, who happen to be leading the nation in fewest turnovers per game.

“A lot of times you can tell a lot about your team in a game like that.”

The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. at The Pavilion (CPTV), the Big East Conference opener for both top-ranked UConn (11-0) andVillanova (10-3) which already has more wins than it did in all of last year's 8-21 season.

Villanova leads the nation in most 3-point field goals made per game (11.1), as well as fewest turnovers per game (11.3).

And that's only the beginning of the Big East competition.

Next week brings 17th-ranked West Virginia (Jan. 9) and a game at Louisville (Jan. 12), which is also receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Eight Big East teams in all are receiving votes, with UConn, No. 6 Rutgers, No. 14 Notre Dame, No. 15 DePaul and West Virginia all ranked and Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse not far behind.

All 16 teams in the league have winning records, with Marquette having the fewest wins at 7-5. And that's a team with NCAA Tournament potential, having set the school record with 26 victories a year ago.

The league went 155-37 (.807) against nonconference opponents through Dec. 31.

UConn has games scheduled at Rutgers, at Notre Dame, at DePaul, at Louisville, at Pittsburgh and at Syracuse this season, with the lone exception to playing all the top teams away being the home date with West Virginia next Wednesday at Gampel Pavilion.

After that, winning the Big East by going unbeaten the way it did last year may be a stern test for UConn.

Auriemma pointed to the fact that all the teams the Huskies have beaten so far have been unfamiliar; now they're heading to a portion of the schedule where teams are primed for what UConn has to bring.

“You never really know,” Auriemma said of what it means to be 11-0 to this point, including wins over No. 2 Stanford and No. 12 Duke. “I would like to think it's a good sendoff ... but it's a whole new season now, 16 games of as much a mental test as a physical test.”

“I think that we played pretty well and we still have room for improvement,” UConn senior co-captain Mel Thomas said. “Coming into the next stretch, every game is important because we want to go undefeated again in the Big East. Every game just matters a lot. (Villanova's) going to test us mentally and we're going to have to play smart.”

Auriemma said that because this particular group of players has never been ranked No. 1 in the nation before, the way they are now, they could very well be feeling “10 feet tall.”

“If that's what it does, then great,” Auriemma said.

He just wants to see the team get better in a number of areas, including the ability to react quicker to given situations, especially with a freshman (Maya Moore) and a sophomore (Tina Charles) in the starting lineup.

“You just gotta get smarter all the time,” the coach said. “Keep getting better at recognizing things, anticipating things.”

UConn, coming off an 82-33 victory Monday over Army, is led by 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game by Moore, who was named Big East Freshman of the Week for the third time this week, and by Charles with 13.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Senior guard Mel Thomas scored 19 points against Army, all in the first half when she hit her first seven shots, five of them 3-pointers.

Villanova, coached by Harry Perretta in his 30th season, defeated Manhattan 69-45 on Sunday, led by 22 points from Stacie Witman. Witman, a 6-foot senior forward, leads the team with an average of 16.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, followed by 6-2 junior forward Laura Kurz with 14.3 points and 7.2 rebounds and 6-1 junior forward/center Lisa Karcic with 13.5 points and 5.1 rebounds.

v.fulkerson@theday.com or 701-4392

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