Memphis, Tenn. — It’s one thing to get dominated by Baylor’s Lauren Cox, who is probably the best post player in the country.

But it shouldn’t happen in American Athletic Conference play to Olivia Nelson-Ododa, the UConn women’s basketball team’s sophomore center.

Though the fourth-ranked Huskies pulled out a 68-56 win over Memphis at Elma Roane Fieldhouse Tuesday night, the best post player in the game was the Tigers’ Dulcy Fankam Mendijadeu. The 6-foot-4 junior forward, who came in averaging 11.3 points and 8.0 rebounds, finished with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds.

Nelson-Ododa did do some damage early in the third quarter and finished with eight points and nine rebounds while also getting into foul trouble.

“Liv’s had a reputation of waiting for game day,” said UConn coach Geno Auriemma, whose Huskies close out a two-game AAC road trip in Orlando on Thursday against Central Floria (6 p.m., SNY). “And I don’t know how long you can keep doing that.

“I thought that she was better in the second half than the first half. She was much more aggressive in the second half. That is where it all lies with Liv. We can’t afford to have her be a 6-5 jump shooter. We need her to be an aggressive defensive presence and an aggressive offensive player in the lane. She’s lost some of that aggressiveness. But maybe the second half was good for her.”

Nelson-Ododa, who was 0-for-8 from the floor and scoreless in the loss to the Bears last Thursday, did bounce back with a solid effort against Houston two days later (13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocked shots). But Tuesday night was not another step forward.

In the first half, Auriemma used all nine of his players looking for the right combination. The Huskies needed a 3-pointer from reserve freshman Anna Makurat to take a 35-33 edge at the break. UConn has trailed just twice at halftime — both against South Florida — in its 125 AAC games.

Something in the water

UConn has made it look easy throughout its time in the AAC. But the 125th consecutive win left the Huskies and Auriemma frustrated.

With UConn trying to hold off the Tigers down the stretch, a missed defensive assignment — resulting in a three-pointer by Madison Griggs to make it 59-54 with 4:10 left — caused the Hall of Famer to throw his Dasani bottle of the water to the lower facing of the stands behind the Huskies’ bench. It was that kind of night for long stretches.

“Coaching is a lot harder than it used to be,” Auriemma said. “That’s all I can say. Things I take for granted ... Like, there’s a kid on (Memphis). You see her on film, you practice it, you know when she catches it that she’ll shoot a 3. How do you not know where she is? We’re not getting our point across in practice like we used to and that’s frustrating.

“It’s just different today. Whatever you do in practice you cross your fingers and hope it carries over to the games. That’s the new world order. I guess I’ll have to deal with it for a while longer.”