UConn women’s basketball team to open season against Northeastern without sophomore Caroline Ducharme – CT Insider

More importantly, however, Thursday’s game will be the team’s last chance to fix any bugs before the competition gets stiff when No. 3 Texas comes to town next Monday.

And just like Sunday, the Huskies will have just nine available players to open the season.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Wednesday that sophomore Caroline Ducharme will not play in Thursday’s season opener. The guard has been dealing with neck stiffness, which forced her to sit out of Sunday’s game. Ducharme didn’t participate in the period of practice open to the media’s viewing Wednesday.

“I mean, tomorrow she’s not playing but (she’s) better, getting better every day,” Auriemma said.

While Kutztown will likely be the team’s least competitive opponent all year, the game showed Auriemma that his roster can still play up to the program’s expectations despite the lack of depth in the backcourt now that it’s without Ducharme.

“Now it’s a lot of new players and new roles and doing different things and it takes time,” he said. ” … But each day that goes by, you find out a little bit more about the team you have and you’re just more focused on what do we have, not what we don’t have and after a while, it’s completely out of your mind. ….

“There’s an expectation level here at Connecticut and those expectations are self-created. We didn’t just show up one day and somebody dropped those on our heads. We brought this on ourselves. We did it. So, we own it for good and, you know, we’re married to it for better or worse. And there’s no way to get around it. You have to embrace it.”

Auriemma said with such a limited bench his players now have to be mindful of their physicality so as to not get into foul trouble.

“We have to be a little more conservative with some things but other than that, you know, there’s things that we’re not gonna be able to do all year,” Auriemma said. “Basically not having Ice (Brady) our big guys can’t be as physical as they want to be. Not having Paige and Caroline right now our guards can’t be as aggressive and as risk-taking as they want to be. So, we got to be very conservative with a lot of things. But that’s okay.”

UConn’s newcomers made impressive debuts Sunday, showing that the Huskies might just be OK without star Paige Bueckers this season.

Fairfield grad transfer Lou Lopez Sénéchal, who started in place of Ducharme, made shot after shot and showed complete fearlessness driving to the basket. At halftime, she led with 18 points.

Meanwhile, Patterson came off the bench and took control of the paint. The freshman attacked every loose ball and challenged for every rebound. She finished her collegiate debut with a double-double of 10 points and a team-high 10 rebounds.

“Definitely just being in the uniform playing for real and then having the fans out there, that was really surreal for me to actually be in that moment,” Patterson said Wednesday.

Thursday’s game will also be another opportunity for redshirt junior Aubrey Griffin to become re-adjusted to playing in live games again after sitting out all last season due to an ankle and back injury. On Sunday, Griffin finished her first game in over 550 days with six points and eight rebounds.

“I think she’s rusty,” Auriemma said. “Obviously It’s going to take some time for her to get into the flow of things. …. And the trick for Aubrey now, as opposed to being a freshman, and it’s a shame that she hasn’t played because the trick now is you can’t be like you used to be. You got to be better. You got to be different. Because if you’re the same as you were back then and these other guys are gonna go by you.”

UConn defeated Kutztown by over 70 points. Yet, starting Thursday when the Huskies from Boston arrive in Storrs, games will no longer be as easy. And looking ahead, opponents will be just as strong, if not stronger. Mistakes won’t be easy to make up. Players will be more physical. Losses will count.

Everything counts starting Thursday. And with a quick turnaround before facing Vic Schaefer’s third-ranked Longhorns next week, UConn needs to use Thursday’s game to prime itself for a competitive slate of nonconference matchups.

“Anytime you get to put your team out there on the floor against somebody different, you’re always a little bit anxious to see what you’re gonna see,” Auriemma said “That hasn’t changed. Doesn’t matter how many years, it’s still the same all the time.”

Maggie.Vanoni@hearstmediact.com  @maggie_vanoni