Players reflect on USA experience

STORRS » As a five-time gold medalist with USA Basketball, UConn’s Katie Lou Samuelson is pretty comfortable around the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

However, there was a bit of a different vibe for Samuelson and her fellow UConn teammates on the most recent trip.

With UConn leaving for its scheduled tour of Italy on Saturday, there were no thoughts of Samuelson, Napheesa Collier, Azura’ Stevens and Gabby Williams being selected to the U.S. U-23 team competing in the inaugural Four Nations Tournament but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a successful and productive journey to the U-23 national team training camp.

“They knew they weren’t going to be selected to go to Tokyo so the point of going over there was just to get four days of competi-

tion,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “Every one of them was exactly what I thought they would be. They represented our program really well and my guess is that if they were eligible to go on the trip, they’d all be going on that trip. They learned a lot in a lot of ways. They learned how good they are, they learned some other things, it served a purpose.”

The biggest purpose was to show the selection committee, rival players and perhaps even themselves that they have put in the work to expand their games.

“I think the four of us played to the best of our ability and I think we represented our school in a really good way,” Samuelson said. “We were just happy to be able to go out there and be out there.

“I wanted to show that I’ve been working on my defense, I was trying to do more than just stand on the 3-point line, if I could drive or hit pull-up shots, I tried to do that.”

Samuelson missed some of the scrimmages due to a foot issue. She said it was not related to the injury she suffered at the 2016 Final Four. When UConn began practice in preparation for the four exhibition games in Italy, Samuelson was able to take part.

While Samuelson is eager to show that she is more than just a 3-point specialist, Williams is looking demonstrate that she has become more of a threat from the perimeter. She ended Monday’s practice at UConn firing up and connecting on her share of 3-point attempts.

“I have to work on shot selection and that kind of thing,” Williams said. “The one thing I took away from last week is you have to be willing to miss a lot. I think that is the biggest difference from last year. My shot has gotten a lot better but I think I have to get back into that mindset, improve my self confidence. It helps to have my teammates to have more confidence in me than I have in myself.”

The time in Colorado allowed Stevens, who sat out the 2016-17 season after transferring from Duke, to get used to playing in live game situations.

“I think I had a good balance of playing in and out,” Stevens said. “I think before I would either stay outside or play inside a lot more. I tried to do my best to run the floor hard.

“Being here has taught me a lot how to push myself to that next level. It is a work in progress definitely, I not anywhere near where I want to be but knocking down shots when I am tired and little things that we work on every day in practice, we can only do that when you are matched up against (other great players) so that was fun.”

Auriemma was out in Colorado for much of the training camp and he saw stretches where Stevens was absolutely dominant.

“She struggled a little bit getting her timing when they played over there but when she got it, you could tell that she was the best player on the floor,” Auriemma said. “Little by lit- tle that is starting to come back. I think some of the people who hasn’t seen her play, (Louisville and U-23 head coach) Jeff Walz obviously saw her play at Duke and he was quick to comment that is not the same player who played at Duke her sophomore year. I am anxious to see how it goes.”

Combine their experiences with what Crystal Dangerfield and Megan Walker learned about themselves playing in the FIBA U19 Women’s World Cup and it’s already been a productive summer for the Huskies even before the start of the trip to Italy.