The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies roll past Albany in NCAA opener
Junior guard hits on 6 of 7 3-pointers helps UConn roll 16th-seeded Albany
STORRS » There was a part of Kia Nurse’s fiery personality that wanted to disregard doctor’s orders and get into the gym to fire up some shots before the UConn junior guard was cleared to return to practice.
As trying as it was on her basketball soul, Nurse followed all the orders and just counted down to the time when she could shake the rust off with some of her marathon shooting sessions in the gym.
Nurse connected on 6 of 7 shots from 3-point range in the Huskies’ 116-55 victory over Albany in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday before a crowd of 5,670 at Gampel Pavilion.
The forward tandem of Napheesa Collier (24 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots) and Gabby Williams (20 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, five steals) did most of the heavy lifting as UConn extended its NCAA all-division basketball record winning streak to 108 games. However, seeing Nurse play the most minutes since she injured her right ankle last month might
be the most noteworthy thing to come out of the first-round victory.
Nurse finished with 24 points in 24 minutes. Had it been a more competitive game, she could easily have played 30 minutes which was not a possibility in the three games in the American Athletic Conference tournament when she was limited to 15, 21 and 22 minutes.
“Having Kia back puts our rotation back in place so everybody feels comfortable for where they are,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “It allows the other players to know that we are going to be in the right offense, we are going to be getting the ball to the right places at the right time. Saniya (Chong) and Crystal (Dangerfield) have been great, but they have never been in these kinds of games and played in these kinds of games. One of them was in high school and the other one really didn’t play much last year. Kia gives them confidence, she gives the entire team confidence, but she especially gives Crystal and Saniya a tremendous amount of confidence.
“If you put Kia out there with the other four starters and you are one of the other teams that are playing against us, you start looking at your scouting report and who do we want shooting the ball? She is probably somebody who is going to be open more times than not. You saw today that when Kia gets it going from the perimeter, she makes everything.”
While both Auriemma and Nurse had their game faces on, there was a light moment after Nurse made a layup early in the third quarter on a bit of an awkward looking shot.
“She shoots layups the Canadian way, they taught her how to shoot layups over there,” Auriemma said. “She doesn’t know if she should shoot it backhand or slap shot so I was trying to show her yesterday how to shoot it the American way and when she (nearly) missed, I was just shaking my head and she started laughing because she knows what I am talking about. She goes so hard to the basket she forgets to shoot it. That is why I am a great coach, I am taking the starting point guard n the Canadian national team trying to show her how to shoot a layup, who’s better than me.”
Nurse doesn’t identify herself or her game simply by the number shots that she makes, but after going 1 for 10 from 3-point range in the conference tournament, she was glad to be back in rhythm.
“There was no thinking, it was ‘you are in rhythm, shoot it,’” Nurse said. “I was getting in the gym this weekend getting some shots up trying to get that feel back, that helped.”
UConn recorded its eighth 100-point game in the first round since the 1995 season, the most of any women’s Division I team. It also marked the 13th time since 1997 that the Huskies’ margin of victory was greater than the opposing team’s scoring output.
Katie Lou Samuelson had 15 points and nine assists while Crystal Dangerfield had 16 points and six assists for UConn (330), which will meet Syracuse in a rematch of the 2016 national championship game.
When the game started, Samuelson missed a 3-pointer ending her streak of consecutive 3-pointers made at 10. UConn would make its next six shots en route to scoring 37 points in the first quarter.
The last time UConn lost in the first round was in 1993. The following year the NCAA expanded the field to 64 teams and not only have the Huskies advanced out of the first round every year but have advanced to the regionals each time.
Samuelson and Dangerfield each recorded their 100th assists of the season in the first half. Williams, Nurse and Chong had previously hit triple digits making it the third time in program history that UConn had five players with at least 100 assists in a season. Maya Moore, Kelly Faris, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley and Lorin Dixon accomplished the feat during the 2010-11 season. Two seasons ago Moriah Jefferson, Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck, Nurse and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis all surpassed 100 assists.
When Samuelson recorded her 100th assist on a deep pass to a sprinting Nurse, she joined fellow Mater Dei High School alum Mosqueda-Lewis as the only Huskies with 100 3-pointers and assists in the same season.
Imani Tate had 19 points and Jessica Fequiere added 16 for Albany (21-12).
Freshman Gabby Cooper had five of her eight 3-pointers in the first quarter as Syracuse jumped out to the 33-8 lead. The Orange would coast to an 85-65 victory over Iowa State to set up the national championship rematch. It will be the seventh time in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history that the teams which played in the national title game will meet in the following tournament but first game before the Final Four.
“Every game is a big game,” said Syracuse senior Brittney Sykes, who have a game-high 28 points. “It doesn’t matter who we play, today was a big game against Iowa State. Monday is a big game against UConn. We just have to come out, play hard, work on our formula and how we win.”