When the UConn women’s basketball team congregates in the locker room following a game, coach Geno Auriemma usually asks for input as to who should be named Player of the Game for the Huskies.

On Sunday there were a few nominees: Paige Bueckers (25 points), Aaliyah Edwards (19 points, 12 rebounds) ...

“But a couple of them were adamant that it was Nika,” said Auriemma, referring to senior point guard Nika Muhl, who had a career-high 10 rebounds, plus seven assists in a 95-64 victory over Marquette.

“Which goes to show you, I think that managing the game and controlling the game and her toughness is just something that’s irreplaceable and for a kid that size to get as many rebounds as she gets on a regular basis ...”

No. 12 UConn (10-3, 2-0 Big East Conference) plays at No. 21 Creighton (10-2, 1-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska (SNY), a game where Muhl is likely to surpass the 500-assist mark for her career, sitting at 499.

Last year, Muhl, as UConn’s primary point guard with Bueckers out for the season with a knee injury, set the Huskies’ single-season assist record with 284, surpassing the legendary Sue Bird. She also set the UConn record for most assists in a game with 15.

Muhl has had five or more assists 52 times in her career.

This season has come with a learning curve for Muhl, however. With UConn using a four-guard lineup — Muhl and Bueckers start along with freshmen KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade along with Edwards as the lone post player — Muhl doesn’t have the ball in her hands as much.

She has a different role, one she said Saturday she sometimes fulfills and sometimes doesn’t. She had eight turnovers to go with her 10 assists in a victory over Louisville on Dec. 16, for instance.

“It has been a really, really hard adjustment for her, no question about it,” Auriemma said. “We took the ball out of her hands. She played (36) games last year and had the ball in her hands 99% of the time and now all of a sudden we want you to throw it ahead as many times as you can to attack the basket more and ... not easy, not easy.

“She’s compensated a little bit by she’s become a better shooter, she’s become more aware of ‘what my team needs for me to be.’ ... I thought (Sunday) she was exactly what we need from her. Exactly.”

Muhl led the team in minutes with 35 and finished with five points against Marquette, giving the Huskies their first lead of the game with a 3-pointer at the 1:06 mark of the first quarter. She pumped her fist, igniting the sold-out crowd at the XL Center.

Marquette head coach Megan Duffy, herself a former point guard at Notre Dame, was impressed with UConn’s guard rotation, saying she believes it will only make the Huskies harder to stop.

She called Muhl “the queen of small things.”

“Whether she gets an offensive rebound, she hits a 3, she gets up and pressures somebody (on defense), I think that’s why she’s so valuable. Watching her from the outside, just all of those small things, I think she’s capable of having a gem like today where she maybe doesn’t score a ton but her assists are up and maybe she hits a couple 3s the next game.

“Versus last year she was trying to do it all. It changes in a good way. ... When you’ve got other people that can handle the ball, too, that’s only going to make Nika better.”

UConn is led by Bueckers with 19.2 points per game and Edwards with 17.0 points and 8.5 rebounds. Muhl is averaging 6.5 points and 5.1 assists.

Creighton, coming off a 67-56 win over St. John’s on Saturday, is led by 6-foot-1 forward Emma Ronsiek with 18.6 points per game and 5-10 guard Lauren Jensen with 17.0. The Bluejays are fourth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.77), second in free throw percentage (.836) and third in turnovers per game (10.1).

As for Muhl, she admits the change in roles has led to some frustration, especially as the Huskies lost three early-season games against now-No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 NC State and No. 10 Texas.

“It’s been an up-and-down process for me,” Muhl said. “Overall, as long as we’re winning, I’m happy with that.“

“Great,” said Bueckers of Muhl, asked to assess her teammate’s play thus far. “I mean, she’s still our backbone on defense, always guards the best player ... and she just brings the energy for the team that we need. It’s kind of hard to duplicate what she did last year just because she did everything for the team. But she’s the same player, same tenacious defender, same person who controls the offense, calls the offense and is the leader for our team.”

v.fulkerson@theday.com