Huskies tip off Paradise Jam with rout

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands — Mississippi used what Geno Auriemma figures will be a common strategy against his team this year.

The Rebels made things messy. They roughed it up in the paint, hoping to force UConn into foul trouble.

It didn’t work.

After an uneven first couple minutes, the Huskies pulled away to crush Mississippi 90-50 on Thursday at the Paradise Jam before a crowd of 2,162 at the University of Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center.

“That’s what every team is going to do,” Auriemma said of Mississippi’s strategy. “Every team is going to try to … physically beat us, beat us up. They know we don’t have any subs that are as good as the guys that are starting. What they’re trying to do is get us into our bench. So we have to be really, really tough physically and mentally. That’s just the way it’s going to be.”

And that was no problem for forward Napheesa Collier, who overcame two early fouls to jump-start the Huskies. She scored 18 points, including 11 in the first quarter, and pulled down 10 rebounds for her second

straight double-double.

“When the other team is going to give Pheesa that many touches, something good is going to happen most of the time,” Auriemma said. “She looked like right from the beginning of the game that she was kind of dialed in.”

“I didn’t know I had a double-double,” Collier added, smiling. “It just felt good tonight, especially in that third quarter. I felt we played really well as a team. [We were] just getting out and doing what we were supposed to do.”

It was in that quarter that the Huskies outscored Mississippi 27-10, ballooning their lead to 42 points. The Huskies’ largest lead of the night was 46.

All-American Katie Lou Samuelson scored a gamehigh 22 points to go along with six rebounds and five assists. Megan Walker added 12 points and nine rebounds. All five starters finished the game in doublefigures.

“We generally don’t have a big problem getting open shots,” Auriemma said. “As long as we get good shots, we’re going to be fine. Today was a perfect example of that.”

Mississippi, a last-place finisher in the Southeastern Conference a year ago, didn’t stand a chance for the Huskies’ fluid offense. Whether it was in the half-court or in transition, the Huskies (3-0) got the shots they wanted — again, again and again. There was no letdown from the No. 2 team in the country. They shot 50 percent and hit 11 3-pointers.

They will need to make a quick turnaround, as former Big East rival St. John’s awaits in the second game of

the eight-team, round-robin tournament on Friday (7:30 p.m.). Led by Stamford native Tiana England, the Red Storm beat Purdue 68-62 on Thanksgiving.

“I thought today was a great test because tomorrow night against St. John’s is going to be the exact same way,” Auriemma said. “These are two games where, yeah, they’re going to come at us and try to drive it right through us and rebound the hell out of it. It’s going to be tough.”

The Huskies have now played seven games in the Paradise Jam spanning three separate tournaments (2007 and 2012). They’ve won all of those by at least 12 points.

More of the same for ODO: While there were a few head-scratching moments, freshman Olivia Nelson-Ododa overall had another productive night. The 6-foot-4 forward chipped in 11 points and two rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.

“You watch her and you go, there’s so much that she can probably do down the road,” Auriemma said. “You watch her make that little 15-footer and you go, ‘Wow, for a big kid like that.’ And then she airballs the next two 10-footers. … She has days where she’s really, really good and then she has days where it gets away from her.”

Auriemma said that Nelson-Ododa is still trying to adjust mentally to the college game.

“She has to catch up. She has to get into the college game mentally,” he said.

ON THE REBELS: Crystal Allen and Shannon Dozier led Mississippi with 11 points apiece. The Rebels shot only 32 percent from the floor and fell to 3-2.