STORRS, Conn. — *The Associated Press contributed to this report*
The UConn women's basketball team's upcoming game against DePaul has been postponed due to a lack of available players.
The game was slated for Sunday, January 8 at Gampel Pavilion but the Huskies are currently under the conference minimum of seven available scholarship student-athletes.
UConn also was expected to be without head coach Geno Auriemma, who announced Thursday that he is taking some time off to recover from an illness.
Junior Aaliyah Edwards and freshman Ayanna Patterson were injured in UConn’s game at Xavier on Thursday. They joined sophomore Caroline Ducharme, sophomore Azzi Fudd, junior Paige Bueckers, and freshman Ice Brady as UConn’s inactive players.
Edwards sustained what was described alternately as a right foot or ankle injury in the first half of the Huskies' 73-37 victory, diving over some courtside seats for a loose ball. It was not immediately clear when or how Patterson was hurt.
“At UConn, the health and wellbeing of our student-athletes will always be our top priority,” director of athletics David Benedict said. “Our women’s basketball program has unfortunately been affected by an unprecedented number of injuries this season. While it’s unfortunate that we need to postpone Sunday’s game, it’s the right call to protect the safety of our student-athletes. We will work with the Big East and DePaul on options to reschedule the game.”
“The wellbeing of our players is first and foremost,” associate head coach Chris Dailey said. “We look forward to rescheduling the game with DePaul.”
The Huskies currently available to play include guards Nika Mühl, Lou Lopez Sénéchal, Inês Bettencourt and forwards Aubrey Griffin, Dorka Juhász and Amari DeBerry.
According to the Big East game cancellation policy, the conference office will try to reschedule the game within the parameters of the policy.
Ticketholders to the DePaul game will be able to use their tickets for the rescheduled game.
UConn is next scheduled to play at St. John's on Wednesday, while DePaul is scheduled to host Villanova that evening.
Daniel Dashefsky is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at ddashefsky@fox61.com.
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