Azzi Fudd was in the midst of the first quarter with her UConn women's basketball teammates, an air of anticipation since it was announced a day prior that reigning national player of the year Paige Bueckers was cleared to return from a lengthy injury.

That game against St. John's, Feb. 25, gave the Huskies their full complement of 11 players for the first time since late November.

When UConn coach Geno Auriemma subbed Bueckers into the game, UConn led 19-4 and there were, somewhat surprisingly, four players kneeling at the scorer's table, waiting to enter the game.

"I mean, that first sub group when four people subbed in at a time, it was just kind of weird looking," said Fudd, a freshman. "It was a lot of fun today, for sure."

"We were surprised," UConn graduate transfer Dorka Juhasz said. "It was like, 'You, you, you.' I was like, 'OK, four of us just went in.' It's nice to see that everybody's healthy. Everybody's back. It's been a long, long time since we were all healthy and ready to suit up. That was a great moment for all of us."

Seventh-ranked UConn (22-5) begins its postseason quest Saturday as the No. 1 seed in the Big East Conference tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena, where the Huskies will take on No. 9 Georgetown (10-18) at noon (FS1). Georgetown topped No. 8 Providence in the first round Friday, 68-55.

In the last two games, UConn has been somewhat Harlem Globetrotter-esque, with the depth that Auriemma anticipated when the season began with 14 healthy players competing for playing time, with the energy that Bueckers' return has brought, with the camaraderie of having gone through an inordinate amount of adversity involving injuries and COVID-19 that seemingly affected every player on the team.

The Huskies steamrolled St. John's 93-38 in Hartford, then returned to Gampel Pavilion for Senior Day two days later and blasted Providence 88-31.

Consider that with the starting lineup against Providence consisting of the four seniors — Christyn Williams, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Evina Westbrook and Juhasz — and Bueckers, that left Aaliyah Edwards, Nika Muhl, Caroline Ducharme and Fudd among the players on the bench, with those four "reserves" having started a combined 52 games this season.

Auriemma said the team that Bueckers returned to is vastly different and less dependent on her than when she was injured Dec. 5 against Notre Dame. The Huskies will be vying for their ninth straight conference tournament title, with seven consecutive American Athletic Conference championships and last year's Big East crown.

"The team that she came back to is a better team, has a better understanding of what we're trying to do, has more players that can do more things than they could do last time she played," Auriemma said. "She gives them confidence. Teams' confidence sometimes wavers. If you have somebody like Paige on the floor whose confidence never wavers, that kind of is infectious. The rest of the team now knows there won't be any droughts."

"Obviously, I think the vibe is different just with everybody's confidence and the way different people had to step up," Bueckers said. "Everybody knows their role now and just has a whole bunch of confidence. You can see it on the floor."

With Bueckers out over a 19-game span, the Huskies had six different players lead the team in scoring — Ducharme, a freshman, scored the game-winning basket with 1.6 seconds remaining in an 80-78 victory at DePaul — and eight players led in the assist column.

Auriemma said his players are better physically and mentally, almost like they "built up a reserve" through their many travails.

"We've taken a bunch of hits, but the thing about us is we always bounce back," Bueckers said. "The way we've kind of adapted to the cards that have been dealt to us, it was just awesome to see and just for me to get back in the flow of what they've already built ... I'm just trying to do what I can do to help the team win."

v.fulkerson@theday.com 

NO. 1 UCONN vs. NO. 9 GEORGETOWN

Big East tournament quarterfinals

Location: Mohegan Sun Arena

Tip: Noon (FS1)

Records: Georgetown 10-18 overall, UConn 22-5.

Last game: Georgetown beat No. 8 Providence in the Big East tournament first round Friday 68-55; UConn beat Providence in the regular-season finale Sunday 88-31.

Last game's starters: Georgetown, 5-10 G Milan Bolden-Morris (12.8 ppg), 6-4 F Brianna Scott (4.7 ppg), 5-10 G Kelsey Ransom (12.0 ppg, 4.0 apg, 2.5 spg), 5-7 G Kaylin West (3.4 ppg), 6-3 C Ariel Jenkins (4.1 ppg).

UConn, 5-11 G Paige Bueckers (17.1 ppg, 5.4 apg, 2.0 spg), 6-5 F Dorka Juhasz (7.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg), 6-5 F Olivia Nelson-Ododa (10.0 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 4.0 apg, 1.9 bpg), 6-0 G Evina Westbrook (9.4 ppg, 3.6 apg), 5-11 G Christyn Williams (14.9 ppg).

Noteworthy: UConn will try to win its ninth straight conference tournament, seven in the American Athletic Conference plus the 2021 Big East tournament title in its return to the league, and its 27th overall. The Huskies have been to the championship game of every conference tournament since 1993. In order to take the title, UConn may have to face a rematch against Villanova, the No. 2 seed in the tourney. Villanova came to Hartford on Feb. 9 and beat UConn 72-69 for the Huskies' first loss in league play after a 169-game winning streak. UConn is the Big East's regular-season champion. ... First up is Saturday's game against Georgetown. The Huskies beat Georgetown Feb. 20 in Hartford 90-49, getting 19 points in that game from Christyn Williams. ... UConn's Nika Muhl, a sophomore, was named Big East Defensive Player of the Year on Thursday, while Williams and fellow senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa earned first team All-Big East honors. Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme were named to the All-Freshman Team and Ducharme earned a spot as a second team all-star. ... The Hoyas are coached by James Howard, in his fifth season. Also this year, former Georgetown All-American Sugar Rodgers (Class of 2013) joined Howard as an assistant coach. Georgetown's all-time leading scorer with 2,518 points, Rodgers played in the WNBA for the Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces and recently published a memoir entitled They Better Call Me Sugar. ... Said Georgetown guard Milan Bolden-Morris, asked about facing UConn again after losing by 41 points just last month: "One thing coach Sugar always says — I'm going to quote her a lot because she's always pumping us up — if you're not ready to play and you're going to play soft, stay in the locker room. That's our mentality. We're not soft. Just because we got knocked down, we're coming back. We've got a lot of fighters on this team. Sometimes it doesn't show but we're definitely ready. We only got to play them once. This is our second opportunity." ... UConn's Paige Bueckers, who has played in two games since her return from injury, has been on a minutes restriction so far. She will increase her playing time but Auriemma said he will use her cautiously in the three-games-in-three-days format.

— Vickie Fulkerson