Huskies are still trying to find the right pace
They aren’t a run-andgun team, nor do they operate on the opposite end of the offensive spectrum.
And therein lies what UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma calls a quandary.
“We’re in a little bit of a situation where if we go too slow, that means we really have to execute our halfcourt offense, and when you have this many young players, that ain’t the winning edge,” Auriemma said this week.
Eleven games into this disjointed season, Auriemma is still trying to find a speed that best suits his third-ranked Huskies.
Sunday’s opponent, No. 17 DePaul (1 p.m.), will try to speed up the Huskies on both ends of the floor, just as No. 19 Arkansas did on Thursday. The Blue Demons operate at a dizzying pace. They rank 29th in 3-pointers made, and only one team is averaging more possessions per game (82.2). Overall, they’re seventh in scoring (85.2).
“If we try to play too fast, we’re playing right into their hands,” Auriemma said prior to facing Arkansas.
The Huskies kept pace offensively with the Razorbacks, but were a step slow on the defensive end and got burned. Arkansas hit 13 3-pointers — nine combined from Amber Ramirez and Chelsea Dungee — and shot 51 percent, dealing the Huskies a 90-87 loss.
“When you have a team that shoots from the 3-point line as well as they do, there’s a tendency to extend
your defense because you don’t want to get caught late getting to a shooter,” Auriemma said. “What ends up happening is if there’s a drive, you can’t rotate down there fast enough. They caught us a bunch of times on those.”
Auriemma doesn’t want to be running up and down the floor with DePaul for 40 minutes. But he also doesn’t want to slam on the brakes.
He’d like to see UConn become more adaptable, able to react better to the different ebbs and flows within a game.
“I think if you only play one way … it’s going to be hard for you to win a national championship,” Auriemma said. “You’ve got to be able to zig and zag. You’re like a boxer. If all I do is come out, put my fists up and start punching for 12 rounds, I don’t know that I’m going to win a heavyweight title bout.
“I think you’ve got to be able to be flexible. You’ve got to be able to juke and jive, zig and zag.”
Historically, the Huskies
have owned DePaul. They’ve won 18 of the 19 meetings, most recently a 75-52 victory in Storrs on Dec. 29. The Blue Demons shot a season-worst 25 percent from the floor, and 52 points were their fewest in four years.
“I think the biggest emphasis is just going to be keeping people in front of us, whatever the game plan is to execute that every time, not just once or twice,” UConn guard Evina Westbrook said. “We’ve played them before, and they love to shoot 3s as Arkansas did. We’re going to have to really contain that. Those are going to be the key components.”