UConnwomen'sbasketball's Nika Mühl 'super excited' for Croatia homecoming, game during European trip
Aug. 13—"Each day it's coming closer, I'm more and more excited," Mühl said.
The Huskies begin their 10-day European tour on Monday. They'll travel to three countries and play four exhibition games against local teams. It's because of Mühl that the team is beginning its trip in Zagreb and is scheduled to play its first game aboard in Croatia against Croatian All-Stars on Aug. 16.
Mühl has been looking forward to showing off her home country and introducing her family and friends in Croatia to UConn since arriving in Storrs three years ago.
"I'm super excited for just seeing my family, seeing my friends but also introducing my family here to my family there and the opposite. I feel like that's gonna be super exciting," Mühl said. "You know, my teammates experiencing a different culture, a different lifestyle, different people, different language; I feel like the whole trip is gonna be a lot of fun."
Mühl's parents, Darko and Roberta, try to watch every UConn game. Roberta will watch them live in the middle of the night despite the time difference, while Darko, Nika says, gets too stressed out and has to watch them a day later.
When Mühl first learned the team was going to be stopping in Croatia as part of its European tour, she thought they were kidding. But the more plans started to take shape, the more she got excited and offered to help organize parts of the trip.
"I'm super thankful to the coaching staff, everybody in the program to make this happen," Mühl said. "I'm sure this was, you know, it was hard to make this happen, like going all the way to Croatia with so many people. ... This is gonna be amazing for the people at home to just see, you know, where I've been for the past three years. They haven't had an opportunity to watch me in person, so that will be amazing."
In Croatia, the team is scheduled to tour Zagreb and nearby city Samobor. Azzi Fudd also said the team is also going on a "two-mile" zip-lining trip while in Croatia.
While the Mühl family apartment isn't big enough to host the team for a meal, Mühl hopes her teammates enjoy the traditional Croatian food. She's even tried to teach the Huskies a few Croatian words and phrases to help them get around.
"We'll see how they like the food, I'm nervous about that," Mühl said. "We have vegetarian stuff prepared for Aaliyah, Everything (is) prepared for Jana (El Alfy), so we'll be fine, but we'll see because I've been hyping up the food."
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UConn coach Geno Auriemma says he hopes the stop in Zagreb will help teach the team more about Muhl's background and how everyone comes from a different upbringing — especially on a team with such a heavy international presence.
"You realize it's why those (international) kids when they come over here are as driven and as focused and as determined as they are because this is their dream," Auriemma said. "And when you're there you can see why. Why it is a dream for them to come over here and why they are the way they are. So yeah, it's extremely humbling, I think, for kids to see that."
Per her UConn teammates, Mühl has already begun bragging about Croatia and its scenery.
"She always tells us how beautiful it is. I don't think it's as beautiful as Canada, but I'm ready to see what she's talking about," said Aaliyah Edwards, who's from Kingston, Ontario. "But I'm happy for her because, you know, stepping into kind of like her roots and where she grew up in so it's gonna be cool to see it from our perspective. ... She's super excited."
Mühl said she's already heard from a lot of people who will be coming to UConn's exhibition game on Aug. 16 at Srednje skole Jelkovec. She expects it will be the largest crowd she's ever played in front of in Croatia. The Croatian All-Stars will feature a handful of players Mühl is used to playing with on the Croatian senior national team along with some of the country's younger top players.
She hopes the Huskies can keep up with the level of physicality common with European professional basketball.
"I think we'll handle it great, you know, we've been playing against our practice players, playing against each other, beating each other up and playing with a different (FIBA) ball," Mühl said. "I feel like everybody's going to react really good. I hope so because it's really physical out there. And you know, not a lot of fouls are called as we already know, but I feel like we're gonna react to it well."
While the overseas trip is a homecoming game for Mühl, the senior said she's only counting UConn's game against Ball State on Dec. 6 as her homecoming game since her whole family will be in attendance.
Mühl's younger sister Hana, a sophomore at Ball State, will not be home next week when the Huskies visit, but will be in Connecticut during the December matchup.
