Hartford — It was one day after UConn coach Geno Auriemma proclaimed he had found “a sense of calm and peace” during his recent time away from the team due to illness.

And the fourth-ranked Huskies were leading Georgetown, now 1-7 in the Big East Conference, by a 24-23 margin at halftime, only taking the lead after coming from behind.

“There were a couple times in the first half today ... they’re like so much for the new you,” Auriemma said later Sunday, laughing. “I told Jamelle (Elliott, assistant coach and former UConn player) I was turning over a new leaf. She said, ‘Since I’ve been here, you’ve turned over trees.’”

UConn won 65-50 in the second half of a men’s and women’s basketball doubleheader at the XL Center.

The Huskies came out in the second half with a great deal more energy, going on a 20-3 run to start the third quarter, capped by a leaner by Lou Lopez Senechal from the left baseline to make it 44-26.

But UConn also came back onto the floor to start the second half without leading scorer Azzi Fudd, who made her return to the team Wednesday night in a game at St. John’s after missing eight games with a right knee injury.

Fudd, on offense, bumped into a Georgetown defender at the end of the first half. She left the game with 3 minutes, 5 seconds left in the second quarter and went immediately to the UConn locker room, accompanied by a trainer. She returned to the bench for the second half with a bag of ice strapped to the knee.

That left UConn, who has been plagued with injuries, with seven available players once again.

The Huskies are still missing Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson, who are in concussion protocol. UConn had a game against DePaul postponed on Jan. 8 due to falling below the Big East minimum of seven healthy scholarship players. It returned to play Wednesday against St. John’s, winning 82-52.

UConn (15-2 overall, 8-0) next plays at Seton Hall on Tuesday.

“Doc’s taking a look at her right now,” Auriemma said of Fudd during the postgame.

“On the video, she was going through the lane and trying to get from here to there and somebody on the other team, I think, just kinda bumped, tweaked it a little bit. I guess they’ll know more after they look at it more in depth ... par for the course.”

Fudd aside, Auriemma said he believed it to be the first time all season the Huskies just flat out didn’t come with the energy they normally have.

“We didn’t have the energy to get us through some of the missed shots,” Auriemma said. “We missed a lot of shots in the first quarter, the first half. Why? They were pretty decent shots, they just didn’t go in. But we didn’t go chase ’em either. Like some games we’ll go and get 15, 17 offensive rebounds and make up for some of those misses.

“We just kind of settled into an ugly scrum kind of a game where we just couldn’t get any kind of flow.”

“I feel like with what we’ve been going through, there has to be days like this,” UConn point guard Nika Muhl said. “We just have to make sure those days are as rare as possible but we understand that days like this are going to come and today was that day.”

Aaliyah Edwards had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Dorka Juhasz 13 points and 10 rebounds, both of the Huskies’ bigs turning in double-doubles after Monday’s practice session with former UConn All-America center Tina Charles, entering her 13th year in the WNBA.

Muhl added 12 points and six assists and Lopez Senechal had 12 points, giving her double figures in every game this season. The Huskies were 22-for-26 from the free throw line, but also committed 23 turnovers.

Brianna Scott had 11 points for Georgetown (8-9, 1-7), which scored the final nine points.

UConn finished the game with two available subs, sophomore Amari DeBerry and freshman Ines Bettencourt, who combined for eight minutes of playing time, while all five starters played 34 or more.

“You want to use these guys, you know, you want to get them opportunities out on the floor,” Auriemma said. “You just want them to be solid, like not great, they don’t have to be great, they just gotta be solid. You want to give some of these guys a rest with all the games we have coming up the next two weeks.

“If Azzi’s out any period of time, like if she doesn’t play Tuesday, we’re right back to square one, right?”

v.fulkerson@theday.com