2009–10 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team

The 2009–10 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 2009–2010 NCAA Division I basketball season. The Huskies were coached by Geno Auriemma, as the Huskies played their home games at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the XL Center located in Hartford, Connecticut, and on campus at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. The Huskies were a member of the Big East Conference and won their seventh NCAA championship against Stanford on April 6, 2010.

Offseason

May 5: Jamelle Elliott, a 12-year member of Geno Auriemma's coaching staff was named head coach of the University of Cincinnati Bearcats women's team. She will be the school's eighth head women's basketball coach. May 18: Marisa Moseley was named women's basketball assistant coach at the University of Connecticut. Moseley works primarily with the post players in her new role. She spent the previous two seasons as an assistant coach on the women's basketball staff at the University of Minnesota. She also assists in all facets of recruiting and player development. June 8: Incoming freshman Kelly Faris named Indianapolis top high school female athlete. July 2: Huskies sophomore Tiffany Hayes scored nine points and added five rebounds as the 2009 USA Women's World University Games Team (2–0) posted a 93–59 victory over Great Britain (1–1). Senior Tina Charles contributed six points, two rebounds, a block and a steal in just 13 minutes of action. July 25: Rebecca Lobo became the first Connecticut player named as an inductee into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, leading a class of six inductees. Lobo helped UConn to its first national championship with an undefeated season in 1995. The six individuals in the Class of 2010 will be formally inducted as members of the Hall of Fame on June 12, 2010, in Knoxville, Tenn. July 30: The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), on behalf of the Wade Coalition, announced the 2009–2010 preseason "Wade Watch" list for The State Farm Wade Trophy Division I Player of the Year. Three players from the Huskies, Tina Charles, Tiffany Hayes and Maya Moore, have been named to the 2009–10 preseason "Wade Watch" list, which is made up of top NCAA Division I student-athletes who best embody the spirit of Lily Margaret Wade. This is based on the following criteria: game and season statistics, leadership, character, effect on their team and overall playing ability. August 14: Lorin Dixon finishes four days at Point Guard College, run by Dena Evans August 18: ESPN announced that Notre Dame and Connecticut would be part of the first-ever ESPN women's basketball College GameDay broadcast. August 21: The 2009–10 preseason candidates list for the Women's Wooden Award was released, naming 31 student athletes. Tina Charles and Maya Moore from Connecticut were two of the candidates. September 22: UConn celebrated the undefeated national championship with a dinner for the team, athletic staff and fans. Senior Tina Charles and Junior Maya Moore were invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp, in preparation for the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational. The team then will compete for the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Also on the 19 member team are former UConn players Renee Montgomery, Swin Cash, Asjha Jones, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi. The coach of the National Team is UConn coach Geno Auriemma, although the team selections are made by USA Basketball. November 3: Maya Moore and Tina Charles selected to the preseason All-American team by the AP. Moore is only the seventh ever unanimous selection.

Regular season

Pre-season The Connecticut team opened the year ranked No. 1 in the ESPN Coaches poll and the AP Top 25 Poll, following a 39–0 record leading to a national championship in the prior season. In both cases, the polling results were unanimous. UConn graduated three seniors, Renee Montgomery, Tahirah Williams and Cassie Kerns, but only Renee was a regular starter. The team added one freshman, Kelly Faris, and Caroline Doty returned to the line-up after missing most of the prior season due to injury.

The two preseason games were wins against St. Rose College(85–44) and Vanguard (98–68).

Non-conference games The defending national champions opened their season against Northeastern. The outcome of the game was never in doubt, with a final score of 105–35; the game was more about personal accomplishments than the game itself. Senior Tina Charles pulled down her 1000th career rebound while senior Kalana Greene scored her 1000th career point. The win would continue a consecutive streak started the previous year, then at 40 games. The game against Texas, played in San Antonio, the location of this season's Final Four, was expected to be competitive, as Texas was ranked tenth in the nation by the AP. However, UConn pulled out to a 21-point lead by halftime, and ended up winning by 25, 83–58.

Connecticut's next game against Holy Cross would mark the 20th game between the two teams, an annual competition going back to the 1985–86 season. At the start of the series, the schools were competitive, with the teams splitting the first four meetings. However, UConn has not lost since, and entered the game with a 17–2 series record. UConn prevailed 87–34.

After the WBCA Classic, UConn would play Vermont in a rematch of the previous year's NCAA opening round game. UConn won easily 84–42, on a night in which senior Tina Charles became the second leading rebounder in school history.

UConn's next opponent, Hartford, was coached by former UConn star Jennifer Rizzotti. Hartford had never beaten UConn, and this game would be no exception, with UConn winning 80–45 for the eleventh consecutive victory over the Hawks. In the next game, UConn easily beat Iona 90–35.

The Stanford game was one of the most anticipated games of the season. Both teams came into the game undefeated. UConn was ranked No. 1 in the AP writer's poll and the ESPN Coaches poll, while Stanford was ranked No. 2 in each poll. Stanford's last loss was to UConn in the 2009 NCAA Final Four game, while UConn's last loss was to Stanford in the 2008 Final Four game. UConn hadn't been behind in a game at halftime or later all season until this game, but Stanford entered halftime with a slim two-point lead. However, after trading baskets early in the second half, UConn pulled out to a 22-point lead (74–52) with five minutes left in the game, and coasted to their 49th consecutive victory, all of which were won with a double-digit margin.

UConn ended the calendar year with a 78–59 victory over 11th-ranked Florida State. The game was relatively close at halftime, 41–35, but UConn's Tina Charles scored 16 of her 24 points in the second half to help ensure a victory.

UConn took a break from conference games to play a home game against the University of North Carolina(UNC). At the time, UNC was ranked seventh in the country. Despite the prospect of a close game, it was never close. Tina Charles scored 25 points in the first half, single-handedly outscoring the entire UNC team. UConn lead at halftime 56–24, and go on to win by 41 points, 88–47. ESPN's Graham Hays called "the first-half play as good as it gets".

Connecticut had played ACC teams Florida State and North Carolina; on 18 January, they would play their third ACC team of the season, Duke. Just as North Carolina had been ranked seventh at the time of the game, the Duke team was the seventh ranked team in the country. The margin of victory would not be as large as the UNC game, but it was still a convincing win, with UConn outscoring Duke 81–48. In contrast to the UNC game in which the first half was decision, Duke would remain reasonably close at halftime, down only ten, 38–28, but UConn would stretch out the lead in the second half. Maya Moore hit six three point field goals in the game, and Kalana Greene scored 18 points.

Connecticut faced Oklahoma in a late, out-of-conference match-up on February 15. Oklahoma was ranked 12th in the nation, but UConn had faced higher ranked opponents, and won relatively easily. Midway through the first half, it appeared UConn was heading for another easy win, as they had doubled the Sooners score 24–12. However, Oklahoma brought the game back to a two-point margin at halftime, and took a one-point lead in the second half. Five minutes later, UConn had opened up a ten-point lead, and extended the lead to a final 16 point margin 76–60.

WBCA Classic The WBCA Classic Tournament was held at the UConn campus 27–29 November 2009. Coach Geno Auriemma is the current president of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association. The four teams participating in the three-day round robin event were host UConn, Hofstra, Richmond, and Clemson. Richmond beat Clemson 86–67 in the first game. UConn easily beat Hofstra 91–46, but the game was notable for being Auriemma's 700th career win. Auriemma reached 700 victories the fastest of any coach in Division I history, reaching the mark in his 822nd game.

The following day, Clemson defeated Hofstra 69–68, while UConn defeated Richmond 86–37. On the final day of the tournament, Richmond defeated Hofstra 42–41, while UConn won the tournament with their victory over Clemson 87–48.

Conference games UConn opened conference play against Seton Hall on 2 Jan 2010. Most away games against Seton Hall are played on campus, but this game was played at the Prudential Center in Newark. The result was never in doubt, as UConn won 91–24, their largest margin over a Big East team in seven years. UConn's second conference game was at home against the University of South Florida. UConn started out with an 18–2 run, but Charles and Moore got into early foul trouble, and had to sit on the bench. Nevertheless, UConn had a double-digit lead at halftime, leading coach Auriemma to quip, "This is the only place in America where you've got to apologize for being up 14 at halftime."

UConn's next game, against Cincinnati, was notable more for the coaching match up than the game. After twelve years as an assistant coach at Connecticut and four years as a player, Jamelle Elliott took the head coaching job at Cincinnati. This would be the first match up between Cincinnati and Connecticut since Elliot left Connecticut. UConn won easily 83–51.

UConn returned to Big east play after the UNC game with a game against Marquette at their arena. The game outcome wasn't in doubt, as Tina Charles had a double-double (23 points, 11 rebounds) leading to a 24-point halftime lead, and a final score of 68–43. The game was unusual for a rare coaching decision near the end of the game. UConn typically declines to attempt to score if the game result is not in doubt, and they are inbounding the ball with less than 30 seconds to play, preferring just to dribble out the end of the game. However, in this game, with 72 seconds on the clock, Coach Auriemma instructed his player not to even cross half-court, deliberately accepting a shot clock violation and a turnover. The announcers were unsure of the reason at the time, but subsequent remarks by Auriemma clarified that he felt the officials were not doing enough to stop rough play, and he didn't want to "put his players into any more physical danger by crossing midcourt".

UConn's game against Notre Dame on 16 January didn't tipoff until 9 pm, but the arena opened at 7:30 in the morning. The ESPN CollegeGame Day event, traditionally held at the campus on a men's basketball game, held its first ever College Game Day in connection with a women's basketball game. The campus, shut down for winter break, opened a day earlier than usual to allow students to return in time to attend GameDay. Thousands turned to be in the backdrop of the 10 am national coverage. Because the event occurred in the morning, the UConn team was able to participate.