The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A strong response
Nelson-Ododa redeems herself after quiet start
HARTFORD — Olivia Nelson-Ododa spent a long stretch against Tennessee in an all-too familiar spot — the bench.
Geno Auriemma pulled his sophomore center off the floor after she picked up her second foul with 46 seconds left in the first quarter. He kept her there until well into the third quarter, allowing enough time for his message to sink in.
“He had his reasons for that,” Nelson-Ododa later said. “I clearly wasn’t doing something I needed to do.”
It didn’t sit well with Nelson-Ododa, but she redeemed herself. Protecting the paint, gobbling up rebounds, and even diving for loose balls, she brought a different energy to the floor during the second half of No. 3 UConn’s 60-45 victory over No. 23 Tennessee at the XL Center.
“My main focus was just coming in, whatever he needed, just try to do that as best as possible,” said Nelson-Ododa, who finished with 10 points (all in the second half) and seven rebounds in 22 minutes.
“You always want somebody to respond whenever there’s a challenge put in front of you,” Auriemma said. “I think there was a huge challenge in front of her today. The best defensive player is guarding you — the bench.”
For all the hype surrounding her coming out of high school, Nelson-Ododa has been somewhat of an enigma to her coaches. She’s close to averaging a double-double and, at 6foot-5, she’s one of the premier shot blockers in the country.
But two weeks earlier, against defending national champion Baylor, NelsonOdoda struggled miserably. She didn’t score and was
benched in the fourth quarter of a 74-58 loss.
Her second-half performance against another tough (literally and figuratively), ranked team in Tennessee was encouraging. The Huskies, undersized and undermanned, need her to build on it.
“If you would’ve told me that we’re going to get 30 minutes of that every night from now on, from Liv, then we’re a whole different team, we’re a completely different team,” Auriemma said. “That was a great snippet of what I hope she can do going forward.”
Coming into the season, there was talk of NelsonOdoda expanding her offensive repertoire. She even attempted two 3-pointers in the opener against California, but has now resorted to being a back-to-thebasket player. Auriemma would like for that to change.
“If you’re Liv, you have to say to yourself, ‘It’s embarrassing that no one will guard me outside 3 feet. So I need to be really, really good at making that little 15-foot jump shot, or when I set a ball screen, they just kick it back to me. I’ve got to be able to make half of those. … And I have the ability to foul a kid out,’ which she did tonight,” Auriemma said. “So, can we build on that? I hope so. I hope so.”
For Pat: When Auriemma and Tennessee coach Kellie Harper convened at halftime to present a $10,000 check to the Pat Summitt Foundation, Auriemma became emotional. TV cameras caught him wiping away tears.
The legendary Summitt stepped down from coaching in 2012 after being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She died on June 28, 2016 at the age of 64.
Auriemma said honoring Summitt was “kind of the only reason” why he agreed to renew the rivalry in the first place. The teams will meet again next season in Knoxville, Tenn., but no games are currently scheduled after that.
“For me, it was more about, nobody needs this game, but if we can raise some money and if we can bring some awareness to that, then I think it’s a good thing to do,” Auriemma said. “Same with the black uniforms. The only reason we wore them is so we can auction them off, get rid of them, and make some money.”
Interestingly, Auriemma said he originally pushed for neutral sites for the home-and-home, such as New York (Madison Square Garden) and Nashville, Tenn., but both schools preferred to play on campus.