No. 2 UCLA women’s basketball (4-0) is set to travel to the Cayman Islands after a four-game sweep at home. After overcoming unranked teams in Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins will face No. 6 Connecticut (3-1) in the first matchup of the Cayman Island Classic two-day tournament. Here’s a breakdown of the Huskies from senior staff writer Lauryn Wang and staff writer Gavin Carlson – both of whom think it’s a shame that the game is not nationally televised.

Personnel:
Coach: Geno Auriemma
Bigs: F Aaliyah Edwards and F/G Aubrey Griffin
Guards: G Paige Bueckers, G Nika Mühl, G KK Arnold
Best Player: G Paige Bueckers
X-Factor: F Aaliyah Edwards

Stat Profile:
Points per game: 81.3
Field goal percentage: .483
Points allowed per game: 60.5
Field goal percentage allowed: .343

Guards

Scouting the Huskies now is drastically different than it would have been a few days ago.

UCLA would have been certain that UConn guard Azzi Fudd would be in the Huskies’ starting lineup on Friday, but her team announced Wednesday that she’ll miss the remainder of the season after tearing her ACL and meniscus.

The injury is a huge development for this top-10 matchup.

Fudd is a former No. 1 overall high school recruit in the class of 2021 who has averaged more than 13 points per game in her three seasons with the Huskies. She was second on the team in minutes per game for the first two games of this season before her injury caused her to miss the last two.

With Fudd out, more weight will be on the shoulders of her backcourt mate: guard Paige Bueckers.

But if there’s anyone who can handle the extra pressure, it’s Bueckers.

The redshirt junior guard is back to full health after missing the 2022-23 campaign with an ACL injury and 19 games in 2020-21 with a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus. Bueckers won just about every Player of the Year award in her freshman season, and she’s starting to look like that best version of herself this year.

In just her second game back, the 6-foot-0 playmaker scored 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting and went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc against No. 10 NC State. Then Bueckers scored 24 points on an even more efficient 10-of-15 shooting performance the following game.

Bueckers will have to be at her best to overcome the loss of Fudd, but she doesn’t look far removed from the player who took the women’s college basketball world by storm.

Like Bueckers, guard Nika Mühl has started every game for the Huskies this season and should be in the starting lineup again Friday.

Mühl is primarily a distributor, leading UConn in assists with 19 and has only committed three turnovers through four games. Coach Geno Auriemma already looks to Mühl for elite decision-making and consistency, but those traits from the senior will be even more important on Friday with her usual backcourt mate gone.

As for Fudd’s replacements, the name to watch is KK Arnold.

The 5-foot-9 freshman guard has played at least 22 minutes in the last two games since Fudd went down and has averaged nine points per game during that stretch.

Junior guard Caroline Ducharme has started all four games this season with or without Fudd in the lineup, but she’s played less than 11 minutes in the last three games. Arnold has already shown a scoring prowess that Ducharme does not possess.

With or without Fudd, UConn still has one of the best guards in the country in Bueckers.

The question is whether or not the rest of the backcourt will step up their game against the Bruins.

Bigs

When UCLA faced UConn in December 2021, two upperclassmen in then-forwards Dorka Juhasz and Olivia Nelson-Ododa superseded Aaliyah Edwards on the depth chart. Two years later, the now-senior Edwards has developed into a staple in the paint for the Huskies.

Edwards made significant strides between her sophomore and junior campaigns, earning 2023 Big East Most Improved Player, 2023 Big East Tournament Most Outstanding Player and 2023 All-Big East First Team following 37 straight starts last season.

The Ontario, Canada, local has continued to dominate inside this season, pacing the team in minutes, points and rebounds per game at 30.3, 18 and seven, respectively. Standing at 6-foot-3, she will likely play the five opposite UCLA sophomore center Lauren Betts.

Seeing as Edwards also leads the Huskies in turnovers, the Bruins have an opportunity to clog the paint and force the ball out of her hands in order to prevent conversion on a team-high 59.6 field goal percentage.

UConn’s guard-heavy roster and UCLA’s height will likely position guard/forward Aubrey Griffin as Edwards’ front-court counterpart. The 2023 All-Big East Honorable Mention notched a convincing comeback from an injury two seasons ago, nearly doubling her point output and recording career-highs across the stat sheet last year.

In the biggest contest thus far of her fourth season with the Huskies, Griffin will need to spread the floor more to counter the towering presence of Betts alongside a second Bruin forward inside who – with the exception of 6-foot sophomore forward Gabriela Jaquez – is guaranteed to be at least Griffin’s height or taller.

Accordingly, UCLA can limit that option with its agility, mounting pressure inside and making it difficult for UConn to take care of the ball.