Despite widespread injuries, Husky reserve players have not seen much court time this season. UConn Athletics photo.

To say UConn has gone through it this year is an understatement.

They have played the nation’s most demanding schedule while battling a steady stream of injuries that have been unceasing since last summer. First, All-American Paige Bueckers tore her ACL, after which star guard Azzi Fudd hurt her knee – twice. Starter Caroline Ducharme missed 12 games in concussion protocol. Starter Dorka Juhasz broke her thumb.

Only two players – Aaliyah Edwards and Lou Lopez-Senechal – have started every game. Pre-season Naismith candidate Fudd (still their leading scorer) has played just nine games. She may or may not return to play this season. Ducharme played her first game of 2023 just this week.

The team was so injury-depleted that they had to postpone the Jan. 8 game against DePaul because they could not dress seven players, as required by the Big East Conference.

Despite all that, the Huskies looked great up and through their close loss to South Carolina on Feb. 5, a game which could have finished differently with better officiating.

But everyone has known for a month that the team was exhausted. After a stretch of five games in 12 days spanning January into…