Geno Auriemma and Paige Bueckers have a similar response to Notre Dame loss steering Georgetown win

Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies suffered a rare loss on Thursday, falling to Notre Dame 68-79 in Indiana. Despite Paige Bueckers scoring 25 points and Sarah Strong adding 14, it was not enough, as the Huskies were unable to recover from an early deficit.

No. 2 UConn bounced back from the loss on Sunday, defeating the Georgetown Hoyas 79-44 in Hartford. Bueckers led the way once again, scoring 24 points and pulling down 2 rebounds in the win.

Interestingly, both Geno Auriemma and Paige Bueckers adopted a similar approach in addressing the Notre Dame loss, emphasizing their focus on the subsequent game against Georgetown.

"It's really important that you come out and not let a loss linger and cause you to play poorly the next game," the coach told SNY after the game.

"So we talked a lot about that and we talked a lot about how our defense needs to dictate more what happens. I think we gave some players an opportunity to play more minutes than they have, and I like that."

Chelsea Sherrod, an SNY sports reporter, also spoke with Bueckers after the game and asked about the team's mentality following the defeat.

"It was huge to be able to respond," Paige said. "Obviously, when you lose, the next game, you can have a great game or a bad game and let it linger and steer you in the wrong direction, or you can let it steer you in the right direction ... take all the lessons that we learned from the last game and apply them to this game and moving forward so we can be a better team."

How well is Geno Auriemma's UConn team doing at this stage compared to last season?

On paper, the UConn Huskies are faring better this season than they did after ten games a season ago. Geno Auriemma's team had already suffered three losses falling to NC State, UCLA and Texas at this point last campaign.

This year, they only suffered one defeat which came to rival Notre Dame at Purcell Pavilion. The Huskies are currently 9-1 and sitting at No. 2 in the AP Top 25 poll compared to being No. 17 last season.

However, one can argue that the teams the Huskies have played so far this campaign are of a lower caliber compared to last season's early slate. They faced tough opponents like UCLA, Kansas, NC State and North Carolina in the first ten games of 2023-24.

This year's games have included No. 14 UNC, No. 22 Ole Miss, Louisville and Notre Dame as main challenges. Geno Auriemma and the Huskies will face another ranked opponent, Iowa State, on Tuesday.