The price of youth
‘Immature’ UConn says they underestimated Arizona in Final Four upset, and Geno Auriemma wasn’t having it
SAN ANTONIO — Most of the season it felt like the UConn women’s basketball team was playing beyond its years. Despite not having any seniors, just three upperclassmen and seven freshmen, the Huskies had positioned themselves two wins away from bringing home Title No. 12 in San Antonio.
But in Friday’s semifinal at the Alamodome, the Huskies’ youth — and in Geno Auriemma’s eyes, their immaturity — finally caught up with them in a 69-59 loss to No. 3 seed Arizona, the end to an otherwise thrilling season.
Arizona, in the program’s first Final Four, owned the Alamodome all night, its suffocating defense keeping UConn’s touted offense frazzled and out of rhythm from the tip. But there were also self-inflicted wounds along the way: missed free throws, missed layups and, according to players, underestimating their opponent.
“I think we came out with the wrong mentality,” junior Christyn Williams (20 points) said through tears. “We thought it was going to be easy, I guess, and we got flustered. They had great ball pressure. And it wasn’t like anything that we’ve seen before this season. We just couldn’t get into a flow offensively.”
At the time, Monday’s UConn-Baylor Elite Eight game was billed by many as a championship-caliber game. That shouldn’t have meant UConn’s Final Four matchup against a No. 3 seed in Arizona would be easier.
“I think personally, we just didn’t come out with the same fire that we had against Baylor,” redshirt junior Evina Westbrook said. “In this point in the season, we have to come out like we’re playing the best team in the nation every night. And that’s not how we came out.”
Arizona looked closer to that best team in the nation than UConn ever did.
UConn’s two most experienced players, the only ones who’d ever played in a Final Four, weren’t playing in the game’s final minutes. Williams fouled out on a controversial call with 3:51 to play, while fellow junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa was so ineffective that she was benched for the final 3:22. The Huskies closed out their season with three freshmen, one sophomore and a redshirt junior on the floor.
With their tightness, unforced errors and inability to punch back, UConn’s youth and inexperience showed all night. Auriemma thought some immaturity did, too.
“You never know what’s in a player’s mind, or what’s in a team’s mind,” he said. “I’ve said all along this year to those that have followed us: We have a very immature group. Not just young, a very immature group. When we’re high and when we’re on top of the world, we think everything’s great. And when things don’t go our way, there’s a poutiness about us, there’s a feeling sorry for ourselves about us that you don’t win championships when you’re like that unless you get lucky.
“Believe me, the scouting report on Arizona and the game plan on Arizona was way more thorough and way more involved than the Baylor one was. So if that’s the case, then it’s bad coaching by us and it’s a sign of immaturity on our team. And we need to grow up if we expect to be back here in the future.”
This team’s energy, joy and silliness — driven by their seven freshmen — revitalized Auriemma and the rest of the program since they convened in Storrs over the summer, even though on the court the progress was slower with so many younger players. There’s no doubt basketball-wise those freshmen, especially Paige Bueckers, are a huge reason why the Huskies advanced to the Final Four in the first place.
But Friday, “You could see their inexperience,” Auriemma said.
Aaliyah Edwards had one of her tougher games with three field goals and three turnovers, struggling against Arizona’s interior defense. Bueckers, who was held to 5 of 13 shooting and committed three turnovers, only attempted four shots in the first half and ultimately lost the battle against standout defender Aari McDonald.
There was plenty of blame to go around. The team went 7-for-22 on layups, 14-for-20 on free throws and despite having a size advantage was outrebounded by two and lost the battle in the paint 22-18. Not even the juniors weren’t absolved: Nelson-Ododa finished 0-for-7 from the field with just one point, UConn’s post game neutralized. The sophomores played a combined eight minutes and made little noise.
UConn cut the deficit to five toward the end but could never claw back any closer. They faced a season-high 14-point deficit, trailed for all but 42 secondsand looked stunned about it.
“We got it back, I think, then we just missed shots that you got to make at this level at this point in time,” Auriemma said. “You got to make those shots. You got to make those free throws. You got to make those layups that you get. You have to make those open threes that you get. They’re not easy to come by.”
“I’m embarrassed, disappointed in ourselves for not playing UConn basketball,” Westbrook said. “I’m embarrassed for our alumni, our fans having to watch us play like that.”
Bueckers, the AP and Naismith Player of the Year, finished with 18 points, but it wasn’t enough. Neither were the contributions from those around her. Westbrook (10) was the only other player to hit double figures.
“Paige is another example that you’re only as good as your teammates. You’re only as good as the team around you,” Auriemma said. “You’re going to have to have players who are that good, who rise above it. Arizona proved that for sure.”
Auriemma promised he’d be coaching in next year’s Final Four, that the team will be back. With Westbrook the only Husky eligible for the WNBA Draft, most if not all of this year’s pieces will be back, too: Muhl, Edwards, Bueckers as experienced sophomores, surely eager to avenge their disappointing exit from this year.
And no matter how great Bueckers is by then or how many more individual awards she brings home, the Huskies learned they can’t fulfill their dreams of winning a national title on the shoulders of one individual.
“As good as Paige was this year, and she carried our team through most of the season, that’s not how you win championships, with one player having to do everything,” Auriemma said. “She needs to get a lot better. As good as you all think she is, and she’s really good, if we’re going to be here the next couple years with her at Connecticut, she needs to get a lot better. I don’t mean just on the court either.”