UConn women’s basketball: Caroline Ducharme undergoes successful left hip surgery

UConn women’s basketball announced Friday that rising sophomore Caroline Ducharme underwent successful left hip surgery on Thursday. The procedure fixed an issue that predated her time in Storrs. Ducharme will start a rehab program on Friday and is expected to be ready for the 2022-23 preseason.

Exactly what the injury and operation were wasn’t released. However, the recovery timeline means Ducharme will likely miss the Huskies’ summer workouts, which typically begin in late May or early June.

On Thursday night, a handful of Ducharme’s teammates visited her.

Ducharme is coming off a strong freshman campaign in which she earned All-Big East Second Team and Freshman team honors. She averaged 9.8 points and 3.2 rebounds in 31 games, starting 11. However, between Dec. 9 — UConn’s first game after Paige Bueckers’ knee injury — and Feb. 2 — when she sustained a head injury at Creighton, Ducharme led the Huskies with 16.3 points per game.

She missed four games with the injury and afterwards, struggled to regain her previous form.

“Caroline hasn’t been the same since she got hit (in the head) three games in a row really bad. All the tests came back negative (for a concussion) but that didn’t mean Caroline was fine,” Geno Auriemma said following the national championship game. “After those collisions, I think she got a little bit skittish about going in the lane, about attacking more.”

While Ducharme will lose valuable time to improve during the summer, Auriemma often says that the offseason is the time to get lingering injuries fixed. Considering she suffered the injury that required surgery before coming to UConn, it’s better to have Ducharme at full health entering the 2022-23 campaign.