UConn breaks 100-point barrier for first time this season in rout of Xavier
STORRS — Two days after UConn coach Geno Auriemma called this squad “the worst shooting team in America,” his Huskies proved quite the opposite.
No. 3 UConn shot a season-high 64 percent from the field, and 56 percent from the 3-point arc, Saturday afternoon on the way to a 106-59 win over Xavier at Gampel Pavilion.
Six Huskies finished in double figures, with junior Christyn Williams (24 points) and freshman Paige Bueckers (19) leading the way. The well-rounded effort resulted in UConn (4-0, 3-0 Big East) cracking the 100-point barrier for the first time this season, and featured the most points the program has scored in a game since Feb. 2019.
“I thought today was the perfect balance of scoring in the lane, scoring from the free-throw line, scoring from the 3-point line,” Auriemma said after the game. “And it always looks great when the ball goes in. Whatever else you’re doing, it doesn’t matter if the ball is going in the basket.”
UConn, which had made only 14 of 49 3-point
scoring a season-high 24 points as UConn rolled, 106-59. Puffed up numbers for a Huskies shooting guard aren’t the most difficult thing to come by in games like this, portions of which belonged on Comedy Central or the Cartoon Network instead of SNY.
She stood out for the way she put those numbers together, for the way she operated, the choices she made, the maturity she showed with and without the ball.
She shot well, making 8 of 11 from the field and 4 of 5 3-pointers. As importantly — because hot and cold streaks will come and go for anyone — she planned well and chose well. She drove to the basket when the Xavier defense was over-extended. She led the fastbreak at every opportunity. She took a breath and flicked her wrist when a jump shot was uncontested.
Williams, in short, paired all her how-to with a when-to wherewithal sometimes absent in her first two seasons. If that continues, we’ll be talking years from now about how great she was back in that totally bizarre 202021 season and beyond.
“I know stuff now that I didn’t know my freshman and sophomore year,” said Williams, as economical in her postgame press conference as she was in 30 minutes against the Musketeers. “Just watching a lot of film and working on it in practice, it’s becoming more consistent, and I’m doing things that ya’ll haven’t seen before because I have more responsibility this year.”
Williams, a junior, is at a critical point in her development. She’s one of those we’ve-seen-flashes players, dominant at times but also mercurial.
She exploded for 28 points in a road victory over Notre Dame in 2018, meeting the first big-stage moment of her career as a freshman. Primed to reach All-America status as a sophomore, she was only OK. She probably wasn’t as bad as she thinks — “The worst season of basketball I’ve ever played in my life,” she has called it — but she certainly wasn’t outstanding.
She is on a different team now, though. Players around her have either markedly improved (Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Anna Makurat) or have just arrived (Paige Bueckers, Evina Westbrook). Williams is in a comfortable place, with less pressure to try to take over a game because others can, with an ability to settle in as one of the main weapons in a team of depth and versatility.
“The thing you have to be able to do — which I think Christyn is hopefully doing now and will continue to get better at — is become really efficient on offense,” Auriemma said. “It doesn’t matter whether you get 15 shots or 20 shots. You have to be efficient. You have to shoot a high percentage. The way you shoot a high percentage is you take great shots. You take the appropriate shot at the appropriate time. And that’s the sign of a good offensive player who is starting to figure out when to and when not to. … I think [with] Christyn, as we play more games and she stays aggressive, that’s only going to get better and better.”
UConn opened Saturday’s game on a 19-0 run, and Williams contributed 12 points to a 38-7 first-quarter lead. She had five more points in the second quarter, seven in the third. Nothing was forced, and that’s an early sign of encouragement for this team: that nothing really has been.
The Huskies shot 75 percent in the first half.
The ball moves better than it did last season.
The team looks more together. There are more options and trustworthy players.
“The one thing that is significantly better than last year is a we’re a much better passing team,” Auriemma said. “That creates more opportunities for everybody.”
If Williams isn’t hot, Bueckers can find space for herself or others. Nelson-Ododa, showing the same growth demanded of a junior, has owned the inside. Westbrook is going to be invaluable. Makurat’s jump shot is dependable. Off the bench, Aubrey Griffin and Aaliyah Edwards are physical forces, adding to all the frenetic energy that Williams appears capable of harnessing in responsible ways. She had three assists without a turnover.
Williams is averaging 17.5 points and shooting 49.1 percent by fitting into the offense, finding different ways to contribute — at the right time. Auriemma won’t think of the Huskies as the worst shooting team in America, as he did Thursday against Creighton, if players like Williams choose to attempt the type of shots they did Saturday.
Gone are the days when Williams had a very specific role in a lineup featuring Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson. Run and shoot it when you happen to get it. She has managed to make advanced responsibilities look no more complicated.
“As you progress and get to your junior year, your role has to be bigger,” Auriemma said. “You have to be able to do more, and you have to be able to score more ways because [opponents] have had a chance to watch you for three years and they know exactly what your tendencies are. It does become about being smarter and more efficient.”