Huskies welcome Mustangs
Storrs — Every successful season has a turning point.
UConn reached its turning point after consecutive road losses to Houston and Southern Methodist to open the American Athletic Conference season.
“We took it for granted that we were just going to show up with UConn on our jersey and people were just going to lie down,” coach Kevin Ollie said.
The Huskies learned a valuable lesson and altered their mindset. They’ve embraced a sense of urgency every time they step on the court.
Since then, they’ve gone 10-2 and climbed into the top four of the conference standings.
No. 21 UConn ( 21- 5, 9- 4) hosts third place SMU (21-6, 10-4) today (2 p.m., CBSSN) at Gampel Pavilion.
“We definitely took those two games for granted,” senior Shabazz Napier said. “We wish we could have got those games back. But we understand it’s over with and done with and now we’ve got to move on. We’ve got a big
how many games you play that look great, there always going to be days where we can’t get into any kind of rhythm. We couldn’t connect with each other. There was no flow to the offense. There was very little going on. The second half was way better. It kind of started that way the first minute or two of the second half.”
Auriemma added that the Huskies aren’t playing against Houston or Southern Methodist, who the Huskies face Tuesday in Dallas, but they are trying to better prepare themselves for March and another title run.
“Win or lose, yeah, we want to win,” Auriemmasaid. “That isn’t the point. The point isn’t to see how much we can win by. The final score isn’t going to help you win in the NCAA tournament. We are trying to prepare for the NCAA tournament, so we didn’t come down here just to see what the final score is going to be, and sometimes, that’s what kids fall into. You have to be aware of that.”
Te’onna Campbell had 15 points, and Jessieka Palmer added 12 points for the Cougars ( 5- 22, 1- 15), who have dropped 18 of their last 20 games and four straight.
Houston, which never led, hung with Connecticut for the first 10 ½ minutes before the Huskies pulled away with a 21-3 run to end the first half.
“They were good; I thought they were good in the second half,” Houston interim coach Wade Scott said. “The first half I thought they were good. They are playing short right now with some kids that are injured. I know Breanna Stewart gets three fouls in the first half but they’re good, they’re legit.”
Connecticut’s winning streak is the fourth-longest in school history, one behind the Huskies’ 35- game run from Nov. 26, 1994-April 2, 1995.
After the Cougars closed to 19- 13 on Campbell’s jumper with 9:32 left in the opening half, Connecticut turned up the defense, scoring the next 11 pointsbeforeYasmeenThompson’s free throw and opened up a 40-16 halftime lead on Moriah Jefferson’s layup with 11 seconds remaining.
“The first half we did not have a great flow on offense,” Dolson said. “Defensively, we were letting them get too many rebounds, so the second half we buckled down and ran our offense and communicated on defense. We got a couple steals to start the second half that really set the tone.”
Houston did not hit a field goal for 8 minutes until Campbell’s layup with 1: 35 left in the half. The Cougars missed 15 of their last 16 shots to end the half and 12 straight before Campbell’s layup.
Dolson had 10 points in the run, and Hartley added six.
“They are a good team, like coach said they’re pretty legit,” Palmer said of Connecticut. “It’s not too many things that they don’t do well so playing them is a challenge but I felt like my team did the best they could.”