March 5, 2025
BIG EAST notebook: UConn wins again, season superlatives
By Tee Baker
Which players distinguished themselves this season?
For the fifth consecutive season, the BIG EAST Tournament will take place at Mohegan Sun Arena (March 7-10), about a 45-minute drive from tournament-favorite UConn’s campus. The Huskies (28-3, 18-0 BIG EAST) enter the tournament as the overwhelming favorite after clinching the No. 1 seed with a demanding 72-53 win last Thursday over the conference’s second-best team — nationally-ranked Creighton (24-5, 16-2 BIG EAST).
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“The one thing that I did bring up was that we had to be a team — that if we hadn’t won [against Creighton], we would share a title. … So it wasn’t like we were playing the eighth place team … we had to do it the hard way — we had to be a really, really good team,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said following his team’s regular season-clinching victory.
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The title is UConn’s 31st regular-season conference championship and 24th as a member of the BIG EAST. It’s also UConn’s 12th consecutive regular-season title. Although winning the regular-season conference championship may be routine for the Huskies, each one represents a distinct journey taken by a specific group of players who’ve teamed up for a moment in time across the UConn dynasty.
“I think it’s unique every single season, especially like you have a new freshman class coming in, so you want to win it for them, have them be a part of that. … This is something we’ve worked for for the entire season, so it’s great to be able to celebrate that amongst everybody else,” said UConn redshirt senior Paige Bueckers.
Paige is right — it’s always the first time for newcomers to the program, and the achievement comes with its own celebrations and new experiences. For UConn’s superstar freshman Sarah Strong, the championship t-shirts distributed to UConn players and staff following the victory were an unexpected surprise.
“I thought it was after — like, at Mohegan [for the conference tournament]. That one, not this one,” Strong said.
For Bueckers, now in her final season as a Husky, the win is a reason for celebration, but the trophy (and t-shirt) represent just a fraction of what she hopes to collect before the sun sets on her UConn career. The Huskies also want to bring a conference tournament title and national championship home to Storrs. They have a chance to clinch the second of three at next week’s BIG EAST Tournament and hope to carry that momentum all the way to Tampa to cut down the nets on Final Four weekend.
“We’re trying to get three championships,” Bueckers said.
Superlatives
Although the BIG EAST won’t announce its postseason awards until later this week, it’s not too early to dish out some unofficial regular season superlatives. Which players distinguished themselves? Who dominated on the boards or shut down opponents each night on the defensive end? Before official awards are handed out, let’s recognize some of the conference’s players with less traditional superlatives.
Swipe Queen: Lashae Dwyer
After using her first three seasons of collegiate eligibility in Miami, 5’7 guard Lashae Dwyer chose to spend her final year at St. John’s. She made a tremendous impact in her year in Queens, emerging as the squad’s leading scorer (13.6 ppg) and landing on the BIG EAST honor roll six times this season.
Where Dwyer has had a historic impact on the program, however, is on the defensive end — specifically stealing the ball from opponents. Her 88 steals are the most of any BIG EAST player this season, more than any St. John’s player over the past 30 years, and good for 10th nationally. For those reasons, Dwyer is this season’s Swipe Queen, in recognition of her defensive intensity and ability to swipe the ball from right under her opponents’ noses.
Rapid Riser: Skylar Forbes
Last season, Marquette forward Skylar Forbes was the freshman mentee of veteran Liza Karlen. Karlen, who spent her freshman through senior seasons in Milwaukee as a Golden Eagle, chose to spend her extra year of eligibility at Notre Dame, opening a path to the starting lineup for Forbes. Carrying the weight of a majorly expanded role under the direction of first-year head coach Cara Consuegra, Forbes has exceeded expectations.
The Toronto native’s minutes (30.6 per game) have nearly doubled from last season’s 17.9 minutes per game and she’s risen to the top 10 in the BIG EAST in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.9 rpg). She leads the conference in blocks per game (1.9) and has been named to the conference honor roll on three occasions. The 6’3 sophomore earns this season’s Rapid Riser award, and the coaching staff at Marquette thinks she has even further to ascend.
“She’s going to be a professional somewhere if she continues to develop in the way she’s developing right now,” Chaz Franklin, the team’s director of player development, said. “The sky’s the limit.”
Marathoner: Kelsey Ransom
Kelsey Ransom does just about everything for Georgetown. She’s team captain and leads the team in scoring (19.9 ppg) and assists (3.7 apg). Her points per game average also happens to lead the entire BIG EAST conference. Hoyas head coach Darnell Haney believes she’s “etched her name on the wall” of Georgetown greats for her stellar five seasons in D.C.
The stat that really tells the Kelsey Ransom story is her conference-leading 36.1 minutes per game, earning her this season’s Marathoner award. Kelsey Ransom rarely sits on the bench and embodies stamina and nonstop fight. From the opening tip to the final buzzer, she never lets up and her body language always exudes poise and confidence — her stamina is her superpower.
A college basketball season (and career) is a marathon, not a sprint, and Kelsey Ransom understands that better than most.
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Spark Plug: Jada Eads
Freshman Jada Eads‘ first collegiate start was on Dec. 6, earning the role following some teammate injuries. Since then, she’s a permanent fixture in the starting lineup and has emerged as one of the elite players in the conference. She’s scored in double figures in all but two games she’s started, eclipsing 20 points on six occasions.
Teammate Faith Masonius said, “Jada is not a freshman,” and she makes a solid point — the 5’7 swaggy guard hardly plays like one in her first season in college. The five-time conference Freshman of the Week and the BIG EAST’s best player for the week of Dec. 30, Eads has made an immediate impact.
Eads is this season’s Spark Plug because since entering the starting lineup in the second month of the season she has ignited the Pirates. Selected No. 7 in the BIG EAST preseason poll, Seton Hall (21-8, 13-5 BIG EAST) has exceeded expectations with a third-place finish. The Pirates enter the conference tournament with a first-round bye and, should they make a run, may earn their way into the NCAA Tournament. Eads is a major reason that Seton Hall is in this position, and this spark plug’s future is bright.
Double Doubler: Ariel Jenkins
Georgetown center Ariel Jenkins has had a breakout year in her final season in D.C. The 6’3 post from Piscataway, who across her first three seasons averaged just 5.6 ppg and 2.5 rpg, transformed herself into a double-double machine as a senior. Stepping in as the team’s post presence as senior Brianna Scott was sidelined all season with an ACL injury, Jenkins is the only BIG EAST player to average double-digit points and rebounds this season (11.4 ppg, 10.1 rpg).
While the program (11-18, 4-14 BIG EAST) fell short of expectations following last season’s 19-10 regular season record, it’s not wise to count them out. The program’s Cinderella run to the BIG EAST Tournament championship game last season surprised everyone. With Double Doubler Jenkins contributing double-double points and rebounds on a nightly basis, can the Hoyas again make a postseason run?
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Written by Tee Baker
Tee has been a contributor to The Next since March Madness 2021 and is currently a contributing editor, BIG EAST beat reporter and curator of historical deep dives.
