Pushing tempo key for long postseason run
Picking up pace could separate Huskies from the competition
The UConn women’s basketball team has looked re-energized and NCAA Tournament-ready over its last few conference games, a positive sign for Geno Auriemma with March right around the corner.
It’s helped that, after a brutal stretch of six games in 13 days, UConn got a break and was able to fit in some work on the practice court. Auriemma said his team has grown up a little bit, too, and has come to embrace that practice time.
But the No. 1 Huskies, who next play Thursday at Creighton, have also clarified what kind of team they want to be, and a large part of that identity is their ability to play fast.
At the beginning of the season, UConn did a pretty good job of pushing the pace and getting out in transition. With so many good passers — Paige Bueckers, Evina Westbrook, Anna Makurat when healthy, Nika Muhl — and great rim-runners in Olivia NelsonOdoda and Aaliyah Edwards, the team really seemed to thrive in that phase of the game.
It helps when you have a player in Bueckers whocan throw touchdown passes three-quarters of the length down the court.
It also allowed a fairly young team learning the ins and outs of the UConn playbook to still get easy baskets.
For the last few weeks, Auriemma said that his team strayed away from his ideal pace, but he feels better about where they’re at as the regular season comes to a close.
“We’ve made a concerted effort to play faster,” Auriemma said. “We always want to play fast but some years what [the players] think is quick and what I think is quick are two different things. And we’re starting to come to an
knew that we could win this game,” said JamesBouknight, who had 20 points and 10 rebounds. “We talked in huddles, we stayed positive throughout the whole game, we weathered the storms. They went on runs, we went on runs, but we just knew that wecouldwinthis game.”
The Huskies shot 56 percent in the second half, as R.J. Cole heated up and Bouknight began finding his shots. They each scored 14 in the second half, as the Huskies outscored the Hoyas 30-16 over the last 13 minutes.
“Our first half was really tough,” Cole said. “We couldn’t get anything going for anybody, so I hadto figure out how to step up in different ways, for myself and for my teammates.”
Not the prettiest of wins, but UConn’s first go-around in the new Big East should have driven home the point by now: this conference is not going to lend itself to easy, artistic wins. Theteamsatthe bottom can beat the teams at the top at any given time.
So the Huskies grinded and escaped Georgetown, a sub-.500 team that had recently beaten Creighton andSeton Hall, andare better for it. Their NCAANetRanking improved from No. 55 to 46, their KenPomeroypower ranking from No. 36 to 35. The path to the NCAATournament is open; win the last three regular season games against Marquette, Georgetown and Seton Hall to get in for certain, win two and retain a reasonably good chance. The Huskies are 7-2 with Bouknight, 4-4without him, and those are both laudable achievements.
“When Bouk is in rhythm and has had some games to play, the team gels,” coach Dan Hurley said.
\“We’re obviously a team that has shown it can win a lot of games. We’re excited about the Big East Tournament, having the band back together again.
“We’re a really good team when we’re fully loaded and healthy, so relative to the selection committee, these are really, really smart people that understand that he missed several games and while he was out, it’s not like our season completely tanked. We went .500 in one of the best leagues in the country when he was out.”
UConn can finish as high as third in the Big East, which is a spot ahead of where it was picked in the preseason poll. In this way, the win Tuesday night was typical of the season. The Huskies are on track to get where they want to go, but the process has sometimes been painful to watch. Here are some other takeaways:
Turnovers
The Huskies turned the ball over 11 times during that miserable stretch of offense, but only three in the second half.
“It wasafunction of learning to play with Bouknight, after having to learn to play without him.
“We just stopped doing bizarre things with the ball,” Hurley said. “I think with James, when you’re just returning a starter, or a piece, that’s an easier transition for a team.
“Adding such a big piece with James, of the piece, it takes some adjustment. It’s not like instant coffee like he’s going to just hit the court after 45 days and we’re going to be a well-oiled machine.”
Rebounding
The Huskies got back to the way they were rebounding earlier in the year, especially on the offensive end.
They had 46 total, to Georgetown’s 30, and 18 on offense, though they didn’t cash in with enough secondchance points (nine). Georgetown, with some very good front court players coached by Patrick Ewing, is not an easy team to out-rebound. These stats reflect pure hustle and determination.
Minutes watch
As the game dictated, Hurley tightened his rotation a little further playing only six players more than 13 minutes, though Josh Carlton, who didn’t play at Villanova, got in for 10 and Brendan Adams, who hadn’t played in twogames, got in for three. Akok Akok didn’t play, and Hurley said his role is going to be a game by game proposition, based on how he feels and how practices go.