The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Huskies hope to set pace against unpredictable DePaul
STORRS — Things may be a bit chaotic for Geno Auriemma and Co. Monday in Chicago.
At least, that’s how life normally is for anyone facing DePaul.
The Blue Demons’ playing style is unconventional, to say the least. Offensively, they play at a frenetic pace, chucking up 3pointers at a rate that hardly anyone in the country can match. Defensively, they press, trap and try to create chaos.
“There’s nobody else in the country, I think, that plays like this,” the UConn coach said Saturday.
The Blue Demons are so unpredictable that preparing for them is a difficult, sometimes even impossible, task.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to what they do. … They will press you in many different ways, and there’s nothing you can do to prepare for it,” Auriemma said.
It tends to work in DePaul’s favor — just not against UConn. The Blue Demons have won two straight and four of the six Big East titles since the Huskies landed in the American Athletic Conference. This season, they’re off to a 91 start that has them ranked 16th in the country.
However, No. 2 UConn is 161 alltime against DePaul. The Blue Demons’ only victory in the series came way back in 1983, when both Auriemma and his friend, Doug Bruno, were assistants at other schools. Monday’s matchup at Wintrust Arena (8 p.m.) will be the Huskies’ first against a ranked opponent this season.
Teams that are successful against DePaul are patient and able to exploit mismatches, Auriemma said. The Blue Demons don’t have a lot of size — their two tallest players, Kiara Dallmann and Nadege Jean, are both 6foot2 — but they are extremely deep. Twelve players are
averaging at least 10 minutes per game, led by Chante Stonewall, who is also the team’s No. 1 scorer (17.1).
“Are they going to impose their will or are we going to be able to stay and say, ‘No, this is who are we, this is what we do,’ and not get caught up in that?” Auriemma asked, rhetorically. “How many 3s are they going to get? As many as they want. What kind of 3s they get, that’s going to be the challenge.”
Only one team in the country has attempted more 3pointers than DePaul (353). The Blue Demons hoisted 44 attempts from behind the arc against the Huskies last season — a record for a UConn opponent — and 43 the year before. UConn won those games by 36 and 34 points, respectively.
“DePaul is unlike any other team in the country,” senior point guard Crystal Dangerfield said. “You have to focus on what they want to do a little bit more.
“I remember going down there my sophomore year, and the first five minutes of the game I’m like, ‘What are we doing, all this running?’ We want to make sure that we go down there playing our game and not get too whacked out about the pace of it.”
Coming off a sevenday break for Thanksgiving, the Huskies (80) are wellrested, which should benefit them if Monday turns into a track meet. Obviously, they’d prefer if it didn’t.
“They’ll play that way, and they’ll play that way the whole entire game” senior point guard Molly Bent said. “It’s a test of our stamina too because they play that way every game, so they’re in great shape. They’ll be up in your grill the entire game. It should be fun.”