2 thoughts:
1. Last year's ugliest game (not the closest, but the ugliest), by far, was against TX in the Elite 8. They play an extremely physical style and it's like quicksand to UConn's finesse motion offense. So, rather than "grade" UConn on this game, maybe let's call it getting the necessary experience in playing that sort of ball and say that it was a required course on the pass/fail system: UConn passed. Even Geno seemed exceptionally relieved in the presser, suggesting that he appreciated that they had got through something they needed to get through.
2. Lou's flagrant foul is related to that. Clearly, she had already felt beat-up before throwing that elbow. Lou isn't a superfast learner (it takes a couple of times for her to "get" something), but she is an extremely good learner (once learned, it sticks). This is an early lesson for her for how she's going to be played the rest of her career, esp. in the pros. We all know that she's tough to the core, and she will learn soon enough to exact her revenge, not with elbows, but in the scoring column.