Team embraces challenge of shorthanded reality
Playing a top-10 team in the nation any time of year is tough as it is, but for the No. 7 Uconn women’s basketball team, Sunday’s matchup against No. 6 Louisville certainly isn’t coming at the best time.
The Huskies are down to eight healthy players with sophomore Paige Bueckers (knee), sophomore Nika Mühl (foot), freshman Azzi Fudd (foot) and junior Aubrey Griffin (back) still out, and sophomore Mir Mclean joining freshman Saylor Poffenbarger as mid-season transfers from the program. While Griffin has been out all season and Fudd hasn’t played since the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament, losing the team’s true point guards in Bueckers and Mühl at the same time has made for a tough go the last two games: In their loss to then-unranked Georgia Tech, the Huskies looked out of sorts offensively, though they finally found a groove a quarter and a half into their UCLA win.
Louisville, with a pressure defense that will test the Huskies’ inconsistent offense, offers the toughest challenge Uconn has faced in this shorthanded stretch. But even without the reigning national player of the year and three other key pieces, the Huskies aren’t backing down.
“We just have to figure it out. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. No one else is feeling sorry for us,” redshirt senior Evina Westbrook said Friday. “Lucky for us, no one expects us to win anymore. Even though we’re still Uconn, it’s like, ‘OK, this is going to be easy game for us.’ Everyone wants a piece of us now. And we like that. I think we like that little edge, like, ‘OK, you guys want a piece of us, but we’ve still got some people.’ So I think we’re just excited to showcase that.”
The Huskies demonstrated growth between the Georgia Tech and UCLA games. While Westbrook carried Uconn early against the Bruins, things started to click offensively toward the end of the second quarter, allowing the Huskies to pull within two by the break after trailing by as many as 11. They then really kicked things into high gear in the second half.
“I think we just found our sense of offensive rhythm,” Westbrook said. “For it to happen in the second half was huge. We’ve always kind of had a drop in the fourth quarter, and that’s been a big emphasis at the end of practice, like we can’t just drop off our energy. So for us to get a rhythm, get a flow going into the second half was great, and I think it gave us the energy that we
needed on defense as well.”
Auriemma wasn’t expecting it to look pretty as the Huskies adjust to playing without Bueckers and Mühl, but they have an opportunity to build off those two games and a full week of practice to prepare for Louisville. And if all goes to plan, the Huskies will get back Fudd and Mühl after the holidays, replenishing their depth.
Auriemma said last week that a team’s maturity largely determines how it responds to losing star players due to injury. How the Huskies handle the challenge of a top-10 matchup right before an enticing holiday break may reveal more about this team than the previous two games did.
“It’s good that we have adversity right now,” senior Olivia Nelson-ododa said. “It’s good that we have that type of pressure on us. No matter what people in media might say or blogs, it helps. The favorable circumstance is to not have people injured and have everybody playing, but what we’re dealing with right now and the way we’re handling it, I’m proud of this team, and I think we’re going to do well coming up.”
Injury updates
The Huskies will remain shorthanded against Louisville, but things are looking up for their long-term health.
Fuddandmühl are“coming along great,” Auriemma said he was told by team doctors. Both are out with right foot issues and were seen at practice Friday watching from the sideline wearing boots. Auriemma said “this last break[ for the holidays] will be really good for them,” offering hope that they could make a return int imefo ru conn’ s first game after Christmas, Dec. 29 against Marquette, or soon after that.
On the other hand, Griffin is still dealing with a nagging back issue, and Auriemma was unable to give a timeline on when she may finally make her season debut. She underwent more tests this week to try to get to the bottom of what’s going on (Auriemma said on the Uconn Coaches Show this week that it isn’t skeletal). She tried to practice for a day or two, but her back didn’t respond well.
With Bueckers given an eight-week recovery timeline by the school following her surgery to repair a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus tear, Auriemma was asked to clarify whether that figure reflects when she could actually return to game play.
“I don’t know anything about anything,” Auriemma said. “I’m not a doctor. I have no idea.”
Napheesa Collier stops by
The Huskies had a special guest stop by practice: Uconn great Napheesa Collier (201519), who just finished her third season with the Minnesota Lynx, was working with the scout team on Friday.
The reunion was all the more special for the Huskies given that Collier recently announced she is pregnant and expecting a daughter in May.
“I think Phees just wanted to break a sweat,” Auriemma said. “You could see obviously that she has certain special qualities about her. The players were pretty impressed and pretty amazed that someone could do some of the things that she did given what state she’s in. But I don’t think there’s anybody that has anything but an incredible amount of respect for Phees. And I think the kids were pretty pumped to see her.”
Nelson-ododa joked that she didn’t know whether to box out Collier, but she was thrilled to see her former teammate nonetheless.
“That was great,” Nelsonododa said. “I haven’t seen her in like two years. So it’s awesome for her to come back and just see her again and also I’m really happy for her because she’s expecting, so that’s awesome, too.”