With Star Players Sidelined, the Rest of UConn’s Roster Proves Itself

Edwards, who is 6 feet 3 inches, has taken on a bigger leadership role while averaging close to a double-double with 16.9 points and 9.4 rebounds. Against Butler, she had 20 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals.

She said that the players had become somewhat “numb” to all the injuries in the program but that the healthy players felt “a bit of extra motivation for those who can’t play.”

It seems like everyone is pitching in. Lou Lopez Sénéchal, a Fairfield transfer from France, has averaged 16.7 points and made 47 3-pointers, and forward Dorka Juhasz, a graduate student from Hungary, has contributed 14.5 points and 11 rebounds a game.

The redshirt junior forward Aubrey Griffin, an Ossining, N.Y., native whose father, Adrian, is an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors and whose younger brother, A.J., is a rookie with the Atlanta Hawks, has put up 13.4 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Aubrey Griffin knows about injuries, having missed all of last season with a back problem.

“I wanted to come back and do everything I could possible to help my teammates, and the position we were in, I knew I could go out there and help them,” she said.

Anthony Bozzella, the Seton Hall coach whose team absorbed a 103-58 beating from Connecticut on Tuesday, and who faces Auriemma at least twice a year in league play, said Auriemma had elevated already talented players.

“I’ve always said this,” Bozzella said in a phone interview. “He’s not the best coach ever because he’s got the best players. He’s the best coach because he’s developed the best players. His players get better.”