UConn's Geno Auriemma Provides Injury Updates Before Exhibition
It seems like it has been forever since the Huskies defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks way back in April to win the National Championship. It feels like it has been forever since Huskies fans have seen their team take the court for an actual game, as it was a very long and slow summer.
But head coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies are going to be taking the court again on Monday as they will host the Boston College Eagles for an exhibition game. And as it is every year, usually when the first game or so rolls around, there are injury updates to find out about.
For the Huskies, there are two injury updates that Auriemma provided to the media recently as the Huskies get to set to play their first game in quite a long time. He updated the media on the statuses of guard Ashlynn Shade and center Jana El Alfy.
Geno Auriemma says Ashlynn Shade (hamstring) will be available for Monday’s exhibition
— Maggie Vanoni (@maggie_vanoni) October 10, 2025
He said he’s still unsure on Jana El Alfy’s (calf) status but that she’s doing more and more in practice
For the Huskies, being able to get Shade back for this exhibition game, will really help them as they get ready to begin their season after this game, when they play the Louisville Cardinals on November 4 from Ramstein Air Force Base in Ramstein, Germany. Shade is going to have to play a bigger role this season as the Huskies do not have Paige Bueckers to fall back on anymore as she graduated to the WNBA.
Shade was somebody that always played side-by-side with Bueckers and fans could tell that they loved playing together. But now with Shade fully healthy and ready to get going again, fans should expect her to ramp back up and have a bit of a bigger role in the offense in the upcoming season.
As for El Alfy, she was also somebody that played a big role in the offense for the Huskies last season. She was the starting center for the Huskies always playing that role of being able to keep up with opposing teams' tall players. She is somebody that is really good at using her size to her advantage and helping set screens and really helping with the pick-and-roll.
Good thing for her even though coach Auriemma was unsure of her status of the current moment, is she still has a couple weeks to get fully healthy. When she gets fully healthy, she will definitely be needed and play as big of a role as she had last season for coach Auriemma.
Tyler is a 25 year old Journalism graduate from Georgia Southern University. Tyler is a big fan of hockey, baseball, basketball, and football, and also is a staff writer for Fansided.