Storrs — UConn coach Geno Auriemma has been discussing the meaning of fragile with his players and trying to make sure, especially with six games scheduled in the next two weeks, that it’s not a word that describes them.

“I asked them the definition of fragile and they gave me a couple,” Auriemma said Saturday. “’Easily broken,’ ‘handle with care.’ I said if you’re fragile as an individual and we’re fragile as a team, you’ll never reach your goal here because the pressure and who we are and what’s expected of us will break you.

“So you either come in here with that mindset or you develop that mindset of trying to be unbreakable.”

Fifth-ranked UConn showed its fragility early Saturday before 10,167 at Gampel Pavilion, trailing Butler 13-4 at the first media timeout and 13-10 after one quarter — after what was the highest point total of the season earlier this week, 103, at Seton Hall.

But soon the Huskies’ lockdown defense led to offense, which precipitated a 79-39 Big East victory over Butler. And UConn (17-2, 10-0) was unbreakable again, despite playing for the second straight game with only seven available players. The Big East mandates that a team have a minimum of seven available players to compete.

Aaliyah Edwards led the way with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots, while Lou Lopez Senechal, a grad transfer from Fairfield in her first season with the Huskies, had 17 points, seven rebounds and five assists in just three quarters.

Aubrey Griffin also had 17 points and seven rebounds and Dorka Juhasz had 14 points, as UConn began an arduous stretch of games still without leading scorer Azzi Fudd, who reinjured her right knee and is currently on crutches. Ayanna Patterson and Caroline Ducharme remained sidelined with concussions.

Lopez Senechal, a 6-foot-1 guard/forward from Grenoble, France, had 14 points, six rebounds and four assists at halftime, 12 points and three assists in the second quarter, one of the keys to the Huskies reversal of fortune after a lethargic first quarter.

Lopez Senechal hit a jump shot to pull the Huskies within 16-14 and made a back cut, receiving the ball in stride from Nika Muhl, for a layup to tie it.

UConn allowed just one field goal in the second quarter to take a 36-19 lead and held Butler without a field goal for a total of 12 minutes, 17 seconds in all to stretch the lead to 46-19 at the 7:09 mark of the third quarter.

Auriemma, the Naismith Hall of Famer, said later that if he had 12 of Lopez Senechal, he would coach until he’s 90 years old.

“I don’t know where we’d be without Lou; she might be our MVP,” Auriemma said. “When Lou came here for summer school in June, after the first five days, I pretty much said, ‘Somebody who was a starter is not going to start this year.’ That’s how impressive she was and how well she fit into our scheme of things and what a great teammate and what a great person she is.

“And it’s only continued to go up in my estimation, for me personally.”

Auriemma said Butler’s game plan was to put four defenders in the paint and make UConn shoot from long-range. Early on, the Huskies got caught, “standing around doing nothing and they got a little run,” the coach said.

UConn shot 28.6% in the first quarter, 71.4% in the second to flip things.

Muhl hit a 3-point field goal late after finishing the first half with just one point, something which prompted a dance from Auriemma, caught on camera by SNY — “I was overcome with joy,” he said with a laugh.

Sydney Jaynes had seven points for Butler (7-13, 2-9).

“I think Butler had a game plan of just forcing us to knock down those outside jumpers,” UConn’s Edwards said. “I think myself and the rest of my teammates really did and made sure we didn’t let them get us out of our flow.

“There was times we got the ball in the post but they were triple- and double-teaming us. We just had to be fearless ... and just find our shooters like Lou out on the perimeter and kick it out. I think we did well in the second half finding each other.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com