Williams and Nurse will be feted tonight
Storrs — When Kia Nurse and Gabby Williams make their way to greet UConn coach Geno Auriemma before their final regular season game, a list of their accomplishments over the last four seasons will resonate through the sound system at Gampel Pavilion before tonight's contest against No. 18 South Florida.
Certainly the fact that Nurse is in the top 10 on UConn's career charts in games started and 3-pointers made and that Williams is in the top 10 in rebounds and steals figure to be among the list of their accomplishments. However, the rattling off of individual statistics won't fully capture what Nurse and Williams have contributed to the UConn program.
The duo has helped UConn set NCAA Division I women's basketball records for longest overall winning streak, longest regular-season streak and most consecutive true road wins with a relentless style of play at both ends of the court. They've also done the work off the court as Nurse is a three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District selection and Williams a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award recognizing excellence on the court, in the classroom and in the community.
Certainly replays of Williams soaring above the crowd to snare a rebound or Nurse racing in alone for a layup will be
shown during their introductions. The images that might capture the essence of the two seniors probably were filmed far away from the basket the Huskies happened to be shoot at.
Williams is the reigning national defensive player of the year thanks in large part to her willingness to defend everybody from 5-foot-5 point guards to 6-foot-6 centers. Nurse could be among the best off the ball defenders to ever play for the Huskies. Whether it was holding Louisville's Asia Durr off the scoreboard for the first quarter earlier this month or shutting out USF's Kitija Laksa for the entire game in the team's first meeting of the season, Nurse's ability to shadow some of the nation's top perimeter scorers has been her calling card at UConn.
"I always pride myself on being one of the players who plays as hard as possible whether it be offense or defense," Nurse said. "I have been a player throughout my life and coming here, I knew defense was the one thing I could be a staple in, this year it is a matter of continuing to be a lockdown defender and best way to keep a really good player from getting a lot of points is not let them catch the ball."
The connection between Nurse and Williams is evident during the UConn games but also following the home games when they take the microphone, head down to the UConn student section and hand out prizes to their fellow students.
"We have been playing with each other for so long and we have this trust between each other and it works," Williams said.
There could be as many of five more games in Connecticut during their UConn careers so tonight won't really be a farewell, but it will still be an emotional evening not only for the team's two seniors but their teammates as well.
"We have been on this journey together, they are the ones who really help you because the class above you, it is fresh in their mind," UConn junior forward Napheesa Collier said. "When we were freshmen, they had just gone through that, they talk to us about how to get through the best way and they have been people we have looked up to.
"I've seen them grow these past three years I have been with them, so it is definitely going to be a bittersweet game."
Quite a legacy
UConn is 140-2 since their arrival and if the Huskies were to win the American Athletic Conference tournament and Division I national title, they would become just the fourth class in UConn and NCAA Division I women's basketball history to win 150 games. UConn is 140-1 in games Williams has played, so there is a chance she could tie former UConn All-Americans Moriah Jefferson and Maya Moore for the Division I women's record of 150 victories by a player. The task of being a class to carry on the Huskies' winning ways following the graduation of All-Americans Jefferson, Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck could be their legacy.
"It is not just you having a good year, it is you not letting down the 30 years before," said Williams, who will join the aforementioned trio when she is inducted into the Huskies of Honor. "You never want to be that team where that tradition ends, that reign, the empire kind of falls so that is kind of what is on our shoulders."