The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
UConn blows out Temple
Huskies continue mastery of American Athletic Conference opponents, record reaches 1210
PHILADELPHIA — It was business as usual.
An American Athletic Conference opponent arrived at the right time on the calendar for No. 4 UConn and its sagging offense. The Huskies looked more like themselves in an 8354 rout of Temple Sunday at the Liacouras Center.
Christyn Williams scored a teamhigh 19 points on 8of12 shooting, helping the Huskies (30) turn in a more complete effort than the previous two games.
“We had stretches today where we were better than any time in the other two games that we played,” Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said.
Offensively, the Huskies exhibited better balance and were more in sync than in previous wins over California and Vanderbilt. They recorded 21 assists on 31 field goals, en route to their most lopsided victory of the young season.
“One through five, whoever was on the floor, everybody was out there being aggressive and moving from side to side,” point guard Crystal Dangerfield said.
Added Olivia NelsonOdoda: “This is definitely a great start to where we want to continue to rise.”
NelsonOdoda and Megan Walker contributed 15 points apiece and Dangerfield scored 14. NelsonOdoda also had 10 rebounds (seven offensive), five blocks and four assists, much to the delight of Auriemma.
“Today she was damn good,” Auriemma said. “She has 14 offensive rebounds in her last two games. That’s 14 possessions that we didn’t have that we got. She altered a lot of shots, blocked a lot of shots, made a couple shots on the perimeter. Today, she looked more like the player I want her to look like.”
Her effort helped the Huskies improve to 1210 alltime in AAC play. Remarkably still only one of those games has been decided by single digits.
The Owls trailed by 12 after three quarters before UConn put things away with a 152 run to begin the fourth. Altogether, the Huskies outscored the
Owls 269 during that final stanza.
“Today,” Auriemma said, “we were able to play through some of the lulls that we had. … It’s all about better ball movement, better people movement.”
This time around, the Huskies weren’t as dependent on the quartet of Dangerfield, Williams, Walker and NelsonOdoda. They got 19 points off the bench, including nine from Aubrey Griffin across 17 minutes. The freshman also collected eight rebounds.
“Aubrey gave us a tremendous shot of energy,” Auriemma said. “She’s just a little bit different than anybody else on our team. She was really instrumental in what happened today, as was Liv and Christyn and Meg and Crystal.
“The guys that are supposed to play great played really, really well.”
Griffin, a 6foot1 guard, said she was simply focused on playing hard.
“It’s a natural instinct just to go in and rebound every single time,” Griffin explained. “I see a shot go up, I go straight to the basket.”
The day both started and ended well for the Huskies. They shot 12 of 17 in the first quarter (6 of 10 from 3point range), and got out to a 3221 lead. They extended it to 4630 at halftime.
UConn will return to nonconference play Tuesday (7 p.m.) against Virginia at the XL Center in Hartford.
On the board: Freshman Anna Makurat converted a layup in the third quarter to snap an 0for12 skid from the floor to begin her career. Those were her only two points of the game, but she did record a teamhigh seven assists across 24 minutes.
“She’s a great passer,” Dangerfield said. “She’s able to find the open person and make a perfect pass.”
Auriemma was less effusive in his praise of Makurat, saying somewhat jokingly: “She’s a good player, she just can’t make any shots.”
On to the next game: Before heading back to Storrs, Auriemma planned to stop at Lincoln Financial Field to watch his beloved Philadelphia Eagles take on the New England Patriots.