WICHITA, Kan. – In its first-ever trip to Wichita, No. 2 UConn kept its unbeaten conference record in tact with an 84-47 win in front of 6,156 fans Tuesday night in Charles Koch Arena.

Wichita State (11-16, 4-10) finished the game shooting 35 percent overall and converted 6-of-19 attempts from downtown. The Shockers committed 20 turnovers which led to 27 UConn points.

Carla Bremaud collected her 13th game in double-figures with a team-high 15 points.

UConn (26-2, 14-0) has never lost an American Conference game despite head coach Geno Auriemma missing his second straight game due to illness.

Take out the first quarter when UConn outscored WSU 27-5 and WSU kept within striking distance the rest of the way.

The Huskies hit 10 three-pointers and shot 58 percent overall – a season high for a WSU opponent. One of the nation's top team in assists, UConn dished out 23 assists on 30 made field goals.

Napheesa Collier finished with a game-high 32 points and 12 rebounds, while Katie Lou Samuelson added 18 points. Crystal Dangerfield chipped in 14 points and eight assists.

Wichita State opened the game with a Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage corner three and Raven Prince layup to take a 5-4 lead, but the Huskies scored 13 straight to force a Keitha Adams timeout at the 4:40 mark.

Out of the timeout UConn continued to build its lead with the run reaching 23-0 to give them a 27-5 lead after 10 minutes of play. The Huskies shot 66.7 percent and forced eight WSU turnovers in the quarter.

A Seraphine Bastin jumper at the 8:34 mark of the second quarter finally put an end to the nearly 10-minute scoring drought. Jaida Hampton scored on the ensuing possession to make it 31-9 UConn.

With 5:00 minutes remaining until halftime, the Huskies had upped their lead to 40-9. Prince stopped a 9-0 Husky run with a bucket plus the foul. She would miss the free throw, but Trajata Colbert was there to clean it up for a four-point possession.

Crystal Dangerfield's fourth trey of the half sent UConn into the locker room with a 46-19 lead. WSU hung with the Huskies in the period, only being outscored by five. Bremaud scored a team-high five points in the half, while WSU shot 32 percent from the field. WSU's 13 turnovers led directly to 21 UConn points.

Dangerfield and Napheesa Collier scored 14 points apiece in leading UConn to a 59 percent half from the floor, including 6-of-12 from long range.

The first five points of the half belonged to the Shockers courtesy of a Bremaud triple, steal and dish to Ambrosio in transition to cut the deficit, 46-24. WSU outscored the Huskies by seven over the first 4:30 to pull within 20.

WSU continued to hang with UConn six minutes into the quarter, but the Huskies closed on a 10-0 spurt to take a 70-36 margin into the final period.

Seven points from Bremaud and a Prince layup underneath keyed a 9-2 run to begin the fourth quarter for WSU, but UConn held the Shockers scoreless for the remaining 4:12.

Up Next
Wichita State makes its first trip to Philadelphia as a member of The American on Saturday, March 2 to take on the Temple Owls at 1 p.m. CST. The Shockers then have a quick turnaround when they host Tulsa in the regular season finale on Monday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. WSU will honor its two seniors following the game against the Hurricane.

Postgame Quotes

UConn Associate Head Coach Chris Dailey

... on the first trip to Wichita and the atmosphere:
"It was great, we had dinner last night at a steak house and the owner's wife was from Connecticut so that was a great connection for us. Then today just walking into the arena, we've seen it on tv, but it's nice to be able to come to the arena. Then we came to the game tonight and had a really great crowd and they are knowledgeable, enthusiastic and they appreciate good basketball."

...on growing the game when UConn goes to places for the first time:
"I think through his career Geno (Auriemma) has a willingness and desire to play in a lot of different places and to bring our team into different parts of the country we haven't been to before. Having Wichita State in our league is great and is an opportunity for us to come here and get a chance to play in front of these fans and it's something we put a lot of value into. We talk to our players about it, these people have never seen Connecticut play live and we want to leave here with the fans at Wichita State saying, 'They're a pretty good team and here is what they do and how hard they play, how unselfish they play.' We might not make every shot, we do dumb things just like everybody else but I think their effort level and intensity is something people that know basketball appreciate."

...on the young fans attending the game:
"I think Wichita State's team has an impact on their local youth as well. I think having the opportunity to get to meet our players and watch them play, to aspire to do what they do not only to get a college scholarship but to be on a team and to understand that you can play hard and you can be intense and get after it on the court and you can still be a young woman off the court, you can do both and they don't have to mutually exclusive. You can be an athlete and be demanding of yourself and of your teammates, you can be completive as a female and then when you're off the court you can be a lovely young woman to be around. Hopefully that is what the little girls and even boys see that being a competitor is great and then being a good person off the court is even better."

Wichita State Head Coach Keitha Adams

...on the difference in the final score compared to last season:
"I think when we played them up there at their place, I think they were a little ticked off from the game before, so we got a little bit of the brunt of that. I think there are some things we can take from tonight for our players, but obviously it shows us we have a lot of work to do. We've got a lot of work to do in our returning players getting better and we've got a lot of work to do with our staff and recruiting."

...on the benefits of playing a team like UConn:
"Tradition and confidence. It's interesting the psychology in sports, when you have a team that has won a lot of games, they always think they're going to win. When you have a team that struggles and hasn't won, there's a little bit of that, 'oh crap, here we go again.' For our team this year I think we're in the middle of that. We've won games, but we've lost games. I think we do have kids that are competitive and show a lot of heart and fight, so we've got something to build off what we've done this year. We still have some things to prove. We're just in progress of trying to build and get better. Tonight, I'm sure a lot of fans enjoyed watching UConn play. It's enjoyable to watch them. I do have a goal, that one day I want to give them a game. Let's give them a game."

...on the fans tonight and the goal to one day sell out Koch Arena:
"I think what I would like to say to Shocker fans and to the people in Wichita is, tonight it felt really good for us to come out and there not be as many empty seats. The thing I'd like to say is, we need you. We need you and we want you here. Don't wait for just this one game to feel like a Shocker fan and be apart of what we're doing. We've had some great, loyal supporters that have been great all year and it was fun for us to come out and have the place filled up, but I just want people to come back. I came back home to build this thing and I want people to definitely feel a connection to me and to our program. I appreciate that they came tonight, but what I'd really, really appreciate is they come back and March 4 be here for our Senior Night."

Wichita State senior forward Sabrina Lozada-Cabbage

...on playing a team like UConn with its history and tradition:
"With their tradition and culture they've always been a really strong program, but we don't have any pressure on us. We just have to go out there and play hard and compete. I think we got excited because we had a lot of fans come in and I hope they keep coming back because that is one of Coach Keitha's goals is to sell out Koch Arena. Hopefully one day they will sell out and come back for us."