UConn trailed by 12 in the first quarter Wedneday night, deep in the heart of Nebraska, and associate head coach Chris Dailey, who coached the game in place of head coach Geno Auriemma, was later asked if she felt the offense was somewhat disjointed.

She answered with a smile.

"A little bit ... although this year we're kind of used to being disjointed because every game there's something else," Dailey said.

Just this week, the Huskies' bus wouldn't start Sunday at Providence and Auriemma was too ill to make it out of the locker room for the game Wednesday at Creighton, adding to the litany of injuries and illnesses the UConn women's basketball team has incurred since Paige Bueckers' injury on Dec. 5. Graduate forward Dorka Juhasz, a 6-foot-5 presence, missed her second straight game against Creighton with a foot injury.

And the Huskies are in the midst of a seven-games-in-15-day stretch which began at Providence. Dailey ticked off the days: Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday — "I don't do scheduling, just so you know," Dailey said.

No. 10 UConn (14-4 overall, 9-0 Big East Conference) takes on Butler (1-17, 0-9) in Friday's matchup at Gampel Pavilion (7 p.m., SNY) for the latest test, for which Auriemma is set to return. In a released statement, UConn said Auriemma coached the team at practice Thursday.

Dailey's advice for the Huskies, who trailed Creighton 20-11 after the first quarter?

"At that point you just have to calm down a little," she said. "We're almost sometimes, and this has been the truth about our team all year, we're always in a hurry because we want to hurry up and score and sometimes you have to take a deep breath and run your stuff and be able to get to the second or third pass and have an advantage and take advantage of a mistake by the defense.

"Sometimes if you shoot too quickly, you don't give them a chance to make a mistake. I thought we were a little more patient in the second half."

UConn finished a four-game road trip, getting a dramatic 80-78 victory at DePaul and the comeback at Creighton during that span. The Huskies are now rewarded with four straight at home, with Butler, Tennessee, Villanova and DePaul coming to visit.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists to lead the way against Creighton and Christyn Williams added 17 points in 28 minutes, sitting out a spell in the first half after picking up her second foul. The Huskies had five players in double figures.

Dailey said that all of UConn's obstacles so far have doubled as opportunities.

"No one would know probably the kind of player Caroline Ducharme is if she didn't have the opportunities she had because of injury," said Dailey, mentioning the UConn freshman in Ducharme who scored the game-winning basket with 1.6 seconds remaining against DePaul. "You can look at it like, 'Oh, poor me,' or you can look at it as opportunities that are going to make our team better and that are going to help us prepare down the road.

"... This is not about (Auriemma). It's not about me or our staff. This is about our players having an opportunity to prove themselves that even with some more adversity, we were still able to battle back and find a way. To come into that kind of environment and take (Creighton's) best shot in that first quarter and that first half and still have what it takes to win and win big in the second half, I think that says a lot about our players."

Butler, which has lost seven straight games, is coming off a 78-62 defeat Sunday at Georgetown, in which 6-3 forward Celina Taborn led the way for Butler with 21 points and eight rebounds.

UConn beat Butler 92-47 on Jan. 12 in Indianapolis. Nelson-Ododa and Williams each scored 19 points in that game for the Huskies.

v.fulkerson@theday.com