Cleveland — There are times that Geno Auriemma, frankly, would rather not play redshirt freshman Ice Brady.

“There’s things that Ice does during the week or leading up to games that makes you think she doesn’t believe that she can be effective in the next game that we’re playing,” said Auriemma, coach of the UConn women’s basketball team, playing in its unprecedented 23rd Final Four on Friday night.

“She makes you think, ‘I can’t do this.’ But then when you put her out there, you say, ‘Listen, you have no choice. I don’t care what you think,’ then she goes out and plays really, really well. So ...”

Brady playing really, really well is part of the reason UConn (32-5) was set to take on Iowa on Friday night in the national semifinals.

Brady played a clutch 13 minutes in the regional final against Southern California with several players in foul trouble. She had two points, one rebound and two blocks, but also defended and, at 6-foot-3, added a presence for the Huskies in their victory.

Brady, the No. 5 recruit in the nation out of high school, missed all of last season with a dislocated patella and had to ease her way into game play.

Until the Big East Conference tournament.

UConn senior forward Aaliyah Edwards broke her nose in the tournament opener and did not play for its duration. Brady played 40 minutes in the semifinals and 40 in the championship game, earning a spot on the all-tournament team.

Auriemma said that Brady was a better player coming out of the tournament than she was going in.

“I would say just like the way we prepared leading up to that definitely gave me confidence to do that,” Brady said. “But also the circumstances; I was literally the only option with Aaliyah being out.

“I feel like I knew that my team really needed me more than ever, so I let that be my fuel, my motivation. I mean, I feel like there’s always going to be that level of nervousness because you know it’s something I haven’t done before.”

UConn senior guard Nika Muhl called Brady “stubborn.”

Brady, who said the injury took a toll on her mentally, said she’s starting to “get that groove back.” She laughed when told of Muhl’s description of her.

“She said that?” Brady said. “I can see where she can get that idea from. That’s all I have to say. That’s fair. I won’t disagree.

“I would just say my competitiveness ... obviously we’re here because we want to get coached by the greatest coaches, but at the same time being that stubborn just to try things our own way, but the only way to be successful is to let go of that idea. It’s a process, but I feel like I’m getting better at that.”

Play for Kay

When NC State won its Portland regional final over No. 1-seeded Texas to reach Cleveland, the first thing Wolfpack coach Wes Moore thought of was Kay Yow.

Yow, a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, was the NC State coach from 1975-2009 and brought the Wolfpack to the Final Four in 1998 in Kansas City. NC State, which beat UConn in the regional final to get to the Final Four that year, lost to Louisiana Tech in the national semifinal game.

That was the Wolfpack’s last Final Four appearance. Yow died on Jan. 24, 2009, after a long and courageous fight with cancer, her legacy living on through the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

“You know, just hard to describe what she means in the state of North Carolina,” said Moore, who was an assistant under Yow from 1993-95. “And it was more than basketball. Even now, in her passing, look at what she’s doing (for cancer research).”

NC State was scheduled to take on South Carolina in the Final Four on Friday night, with the winner to take on either UConn or Iowa in the title game on Sunday.

Moore said this week that he still considers this to be Yow’s program.

“She was such an unbelievable person. And that, of course, sometimes is hard to take because I know I’m not near the person she was. Very special in North Carolina. She’s a legend.”

And more

Sarah Strong, a senior at Grace Christian School in Sanford, North Carolina, and the No. 1-ranked girls’ basketball recruit in the nation, will announce her college commitment Saturday. She recently narrowed her choices to UConn, Duke and North Carolina. Strong, a 6-2 forward, finished her career with 2,302 points and 1,628 rebounds.

... UConn grad Christyn Williams, who helped lead the Huskies to a berth in the national championship game as a senior in 2022, signed a training camp contract Thursday with the Phoenix Mercury. Williams was drafted 14th overall by the Washington Mystics in the 2022 WNBA Draft but suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp. She signed a hardship rest-of-the-season contract with the Mercury at the end of last season, but did not appear in a game, still awaiting her WNBA debut. Williams was a two-time All-Big East first team pick for UConn and 2022 Big East tournament Most Outstanding Player.

v.fulkerson@theday.com