Steady as she goes
Auriemma wants to see UConn shoot more consistently
STORRS — Third-ranked UConn was up 33 points on Creighton when Anna Makurat drained a 3-pointer with 8:17 remaining, her first after three consecutive misses to begin Thursday night.
The next trip down the floor, only 34 seconds later, she sank another.
“Anna loves to hit 3-run homers in the top of the ninth when we’re up 8-1,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said later, teasing the sophomore from Poland. “I need her to make some of those in the first half when the game’s still being decided.
“But she’s pretty good at, once we get up 20, 25, man, those babies start dropping like you wouldn’t believe.”
Auriemma would like to see more consistency from Makurat, who scored a season-high 12 points, but was stagnant at times, as well as the rest of the Huskies. Or, as
Auriemma called them during a halftime interview with SNY, the “worst shooting team in America.”
That’s a slight exaggeration, of course. Through three games — double-digit wins over UMass Lowell, Seton Hall and Creighton — the Huskies are shooting a healthy 55 percent overall, but just 28.6 percent from 3. They were 5-of-14 from beyond the arc against the Bluejays.
They’ll be back at Gampel Pavilion Saturday to host Xavier. Tipoff will be at 1 p.m.
“I’m guessing it’s going to get better, for sure,” Auriemma said. “I’m guessing it’s going to get better. I don’t think there’s a vaccine for it, unfortunately. I wish there was, but there isn’t.”
The Huskies led the nation in 3-point shooting at 39.9 percent last season, but their two most reliable outside scorers from that team — Megan Walker and Crystal Dangerfield — are now in the WNBA.
Their departures put a greater onus on the likes of Makurat and junior Christyn Williams to pick up more of the scoring slack, especially from the perimeter, but so far results have been mixed.
Makurat, a 41-percent 3-point shooter as a freshman, is off to a 5-for-15 start. Williams, despite averaging 15.3 points, is just 3-for-15 from long range.
Auriemma has been on them to be more aggressive.
“We’re not going to stop shooting (3-pointers),” he said. “You can’t. It’s not like Christyn, Anna, Paige (Bueckers), it’s not like they’re bad shooters. They’re not at all. They’ve got to play in more games and get in game mode.
“Making them in practice and making them in games are two different things.”
Makurat said it’s a matter of not thinking too much. At times Thursday, she said, she let her defense affect her offense.
“For me, everything starts with defense. I had a couple mistakes in the first quarter, and I wasn’t pleased,” she said. “I wasn’t happy about it. It was in my mind a little bit too much. In the second half … offense came naturally.”
SETON HALL BACK ON PAUSE
Three days after hosting UConn, Seton Hall announced it is pausing team activities for the second time in a month due to positive COVID-19 tests within its program.
According to a UConn team spokesperson, upon “discussion and review, medical professionals from Seton Hall and UConn have determined that the individual who tested positive for COVID-19 within the Seton Hall women’s basketball program was not in close contact with anyone from UConn.”