The Big East battle for UConn continues as the Huskies face off against the Villanova Wildcats on Sunday afternoon. Riding high on the first win of the year against Marquette, the team is looking forward to maintaining the momentum in their second Big East game of the season. But while Geno Auriemma’s squad is looking better than what the team was before the holidays, there might already be an injury bug roaming the compound.

UConn women’s basketball reporter Emily Adams just posted on X, “All available Huskies warming up ahead of UConn-Villanova, but Aubrey Griffin is not dressed or going through her routine today. I believe this is the first time she hasn’t warmed up since the Bahamas.”

Griffin had not started the season due to a torn ACL incurred last January and was expected to be a late joinee. Per CT Insider, the redshirt senior is expected to join back the Huskies later this month. Auriemma had said something similar last week, highlighting the pure impact Griffin has on this lineup usually led by the combi of fellow redshirt senior Paige Bueckers and UConn freshman Sarah Strong.

“We’re still waiting on Aubrey so that’s going to impact the lineup somehow. The way it looks right now at the earliest middle of January,” Auriemma said, per The Uconn Daily. Before the injury, the Huskies guard had been averaging 9.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.5 steals per game.

The Marquette game was the original goal for Auriemma to put in Griffin so that she could slowly adjust to the pace of the game before March came calling. But with Azzi Fudd finally back in the game, who had also torn her left ACL and then suffered a sprain in the same knee in the game against Louisville, the Huskies are looking better than they have all season long.

And the head coach plans to continue switching things up.

Geno Auriemma makes it clear that the more players contribute, the more they’ll see game time

With the powerful duo of Sarah Strong and Paige Bueckers covering the back-court, Geno Auriemma has been rotating whoever fits into the rest of the roster, guards to help get the ball moving and getting it to their top scorers. Although there have been games where it has seemed like this year’s projected No. 1 pick Bueckers is carrying the game by herself, January and the post-holidays mood has finally gotten things going with the rest.

“There are some lineups that work very efficiently together. There are some that need some work, and then there are some that don’t work at all,” Auriemma told CT Insider. “There isn’t really a ‘one over the other.’ I just think that each player has to go into practice every day and figure out, ‘What are my contributions going to be?’”

“And the more those contributions are evident, the more you can see them, then the more you find space for them in games, the more you find time for them in games.”

The Huskies did make it to the Final Four last year with injuries having depleted most of their roster and just seven players playing on rotation. While this year’s squad is much better, it might still take time to figure itself out. The question is, can they do it before March arrives?