ST. LOUIS -- UConn is used to taking care of business. We've come to expect it. But it's still impressive how well they did so Tuesday in a 98-42 victory over Saint Louis in the Huskies' first game back as the No. 1-ranked team.
Two days after an emotional win at Notre Dame, the Huskies could have been sloppy or lethargic against a freshmen-led Billikens team that was playing hard against its marquee visitors.
But these are the kinds of games on which UConn coach Geno Auriemma judges his team: How do the Huskies compete when there are reasonable excuses to not be as sharp?
"You're on the road for five days and have two games in three days," Auriemma said, "and this isn't high school or junior high. If we'd have played lousy tonight, that means we're no better than a junior high team.
"If you're a true championship contender, then you've got to come out every night -- regardless of how many days you've been on the road, who the opponent is -- and you have to play. I was really proud of the way we played tonight."
The 7,105 fans came out on a snowy night to SLU's Chaifetz Arena to see the best women's college basketball program in the country in general and UConn senior Napheesa Collier in particular. She was born and grew up in Jefferson City, in central Missouri, but went to high school in the St. Louis area after her family moved here. She won three state titles with Incarnate Word, and on Monday the Huskies players and staff went there to see her high school jersey retired.
"It was really cool, but a little bit embarrassing," Collier said of being honored. "I hate giving speeches, and I had to give a speech in front of the gym. It was humbling to have everyone there."
Auriemma tries to schedule "homecoming" games for his seniors when possible, and it was a nice two-day stay back in the Gateway City for Collier, who said she achieved her goal of eating some Ooey-Gooey Butter Cake, a St. Louis specialty.
Collier had about 300 friends and family in attendance Tuesday. But as is her personality, she was calm and laid-back about it all. She had her sixth double-double of the season with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior Crystal Dangerfield (18 points, 10 assists, no turnovers) and freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa (12 points, 10 rebounds) also had double-doubles. Freshman Christyn Williams followed her 28-point star turn against Notre Dame with 17 points and four assists Tuesday. Junior forward Kyla Irwin filled in for an ill Megan Walker and got 10 rebounds in her first start.
Senior Katie Lou Samuelson had 20 points, six rebounds and eight assists. With her first 3-pointer on Tuesday, she moved into third place on UConn's career list, passing Maya Moore. Samuelson finished with five 3-pointers and now has 316 in her UConn career. Diana Taurasi is next on the list, with 318. Samuelson could pass her on Saturday at home against Seton Hall.
Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis is the Huskies' all-time leader, with 398. Samuelson has 23 3s this season. With 83 more, KLS can pass KML. Samuelson's season high while at UConn is 119, which she achieved as a sophomore.
When it was pointed out that all three of the Huskies' top career 3-point shooters are from California, Samuelson laughed.
"Hey, well, we Californians might be lazy, according to Coach, but we can shoot the ball," Samuelson said. "It's amazing to be a part of that group. I've been shooting my whole life, and I take pride in it. To see it come along and be able to do that while I've been here is pretty cool."
Auriemma, though, pointed out that Samuelson is impacting games beyond her shooting. Even though she didn't score in the first half of the victory at Notre Dame, Samuelson contributed in other ways and finished with 15 points.
"She's grown up, obviously," Auriemma said. "There's still some things I'm harping on her about, but she sees the value of doing other things than shooting the ball. Tonight, she had the ball in her hands up top and called two separate things, and we got a bucket out of both of them. That was probably the happiest I've seen her. She's starting to see how much fun basketball is besides just scoring the ball."
Of course, scoring is still pretty fun, too. Thus far, the 8-0 Huskies are averaging 86.5 points and shooting 52.3 percent from the field. They're back in the top spot in the polls, which they are accustomed to, and their freshmen are progressing well.
It's all good news, especially considering that after Saturday's game, UConn won't have another home contest until Jan. 9, with games at Oklahoma, No. 13 Cal, No. 4 Baylor and Houston.
"I think we really pushed through tonight. You could see in the first half we were tired," Collier said. "We tried to stay as focused as we could, and I thought we did a pretty good job."