UConn counting on Aubrey Griffin to be a disrupter

UConn counting Aubrey Griffin to be a disrupter

With Aubrey Griffin back in the fold, UConn is finally at full strength — or at least as close as it will reasonably get this year. The Huskies have been in a holding pattern for much of the season while they waited for Griffin, Azzi Fudd and other injured players to return. 

Now, with 12 available players, they can start building towards March in earnest. 

UConn will count on Paige Bueckers, Sarah Strong and Fudd to carry the load each night. It needs Jana El Alfy to help establish a presence in the low post. 

As for Griffin, she’ll be tasked with a familiar role: Disrupter. 

“If we have the opportunity to get her into a game where we really, really need somebody to stem the tide or create something for us, certainly there's nobody on the team that has the skill set that she has,” Auriemma said. “So it's just one more one more thing you can throw at a really good team.” 

After all, Griffin has made a career from blowing up games. 

“Aubrey's history in the past has been that she would just erupt offensively and defensively and completely dominate a game,” Auriemma said. “Being able to stay in that moment for long periods of time, I think, is going to be the key for her.” 

Early in her freshman year, she helped erase a nine-point deficit at Seton Hall — her parents alma mater — with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Later on that season, Griffin’s defense affected Tennessee so much that it started launching passes into the stands. 

In 2022-23, she set a career-high against Princeton with 29 points in a game that the Huskies were already without Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd then lost Nika Mühl and Lou Lopez Sénéchal. That March, she played a central role in helping UConn past Baylorin the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 

“Aubrey scored four points and completely dominated the game,” Geno Auriemma said afterwards. “So that's a lesson to everybody that you don't have to go out there and shoot every time you touch it to impact the game.” 

Last season, Griffin finally found some consistency and began to emerge as a third scorer for UConn alongside Paige Bueckers and Aaliyah Edwards — only to go down with a torn ACL on Jan. 3, ending that progress in its tracks. 

The Huskies aren’t expecting her to pick up where she left off. Even though Griffin is back in action, she’s not ready to contribute yet. In two games since returning, she’s played a combined 19 minutes — most of which came in garbage time. UConn is still trying to figure out how much she can handle. 

The Huskies understood it would be a process, though. After all, they have plenty of experience bringing players back from long-term injuries. 

“It'll definitely take a couple of games under my belt just to get used to playing again,” Griffin said. “I mean, I haven't played in over a year, so it's to be expected.” 

“Last year, her injury came right in the midst of when she was playing her best basketball of her career,” Auriemma said. “Can she get back to that immediately when she comes back? Probably not.” 

Still, Griffin doesn’t have much of a runway to work with. There’s a little more than a month left in the regular season — not exactly much time considering she still has to get over the last physical hurtles, knock off any rust and integrate herself into the rotation. UConn can’t rush Griffin considering her injury history, but there also has to be a sense of urgency. It’s a delicate balance. 

“You have to kind of juggle this and increase her minutes because I think she needs it, because she hasn't played in so long,” Auriemma said. “Too many minutes too soon is probably not good, but getting enough minutes to get a feel for it.” 

Despite those question marks, the Huskies are counting on her. 

“I feel like Aubrey is that glue player,” Fudd said. “She does everything she needs to do, and she knows exactly what her role is. She's a great screen setter, a great cutter, she rebounds. She knows exactly what she needs to do and she does it.” 

The good news? Griffin has more experience than anyone ever to come through Storrs as UConn’s first sixth-year player. If she can get everything right physically, the rest will follow. 

“She's been a part of this program for a long time now, so she knows what it's all about,” Bueckers said.