The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Grew up a lot’
How UConn’s Shade has managed her first March Madness
STORRS — No freshman in the UConn women’s basketball team’s illustrious NCAA Tournament history has scored more points in her first two games than Ashlynn Shade.
That Shade and the Huskies will play a third tournament game is due to a play the freshman guard made on the defensive end on Monday.
With 50 seconds left and No. 3 UConn hanging on to a threepoint lead over sixth-seeded Syracuse, Shade tipped the ball away from Orange star Dyaisha Fair as she cut into the lane, and Paige Bueckers was able to grab it and call time out while on her knees, denying
Syracuse a chance to tie. KK Arnold nailed a 3-pointer on the Huskies’ ensuing possession and they went on to a 72-64 win at Gampel Pavilion to earn their 30th consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 berth.
“Definitely, it’s satisfying,” Shade said. “To get that little tip at the end there when she was coming down in transition definitely felt good. It was kind of like a little turning moment. They could have cut the lead even more and it would have given them momentum. It was really helpful, and Paige was
with me by my side. We handled it pretty good.”
UConn (31-5) will take on No. 7 Duke in a Portland 3 Regional semifinal game Saturday (8 p.m.) at the Moda Center in Oregon.
The steal was the second of the game and 36th of the season for Shade. She also has four blocked shots in her 35 games.
“I missed a shot so we were determined as a team to get it back,” Bueckers said. “Ash picked up the ball great trying to contain Fair and try to make her take a tough shot, and she ended up getting her hand on the ball. I saw it loose, and I wanted to do everything I could to get it back. I knew we had time outs left so I wanted
to get the ball and call time out to give us possession going the other way.”
Arnold’s 3-pointer with 27.9 seconds left doubled the lead to six. The Huskies got a stop and Aaliyah Edwards’ two free throws with 2.7 seconds to go accounted for the final score.
Shade’s impact has mostly been on the offensive end in her first season in spite of the encouragement from coach Geno Auriemma to improve and be more defensive-minded when she’s playing on that side of the ball.
“He probably doesn’t think my defense is the greatest,” Shade said with a smile. “You can’t really focus on what he says throughout the game or
else you’ll just dig yourself into a hole. If they shoot a 3 in my face, who cares? I’ll just get it back next time. It doesn’t matter. I just have to keep working on it and keep getting better. That’s what we practice for. That’s what we prepare for.”
Shade did have some issues chasing Syracuse’s Georgia Woolley. With so much attention on Fair, Woolley and teammate Sophie Burrows had 18 points apiece. The Australian pair, who came in shooting a combined 26.3 percent from behind the arc entering the game, were 9-for-19 shooting Monday with Burrows making six.
But when Shade needed to step up defensively, she did.
“We talk a lot about winning plays and impactful plays,” Auriemma said. “It’s not like it has to be a lot like they all came in the first quarter or the second quarter. Impact plays that you make in the last three minutes of the game, that says a lot about you and who you are. For those kids, Ash and KK, that make those plays, they have really grown up a lot. It’ been awhile since we’ve been in this situation where two freshmen in the starting lineup have been asked to do this much.”
After scoring 26 points against Jackson State Saturday, a UConn record for most points by a freshman in her NCAA Tournament debut, Shade added 19 points Monday including a 5-for-9 effort from 3-point land. Her first trey came off a pass from Nika Mühl and allowed the senior to break Moriah Jefferson’s UConn career for assists with No. 660.
The Big East Freshman of the Year’s 45 points tops by one the 44 Bueckers scored in her first two NCAA games in 2021 (24 against High Point, 20 against Syracuse). UConn legend Maya Moore holds the freshman record for points in back-to-back NCAA games with 49 as she scored 24 points in a second-round win over Texas and 25 in a Sweet 16 victory over Old Dominion in 2008.
“My teammates found me, and I was open when I shot them,” Shade said. “So I had to be confident, because my team needed me to step up and be able to knock down shots.”
Shade played all 40 minutes for the fifth time since Jan. 27 and was off the floor for only 27 seconds of the subregional. Going 10-for-19 from the floor against Jackson State and 7-for-12 from the floor versus Syracuse marked the first time since Jan. 7 and 10 that she had made more than 50 percent of her shots in back-to-back games. On the season, her numbers are still formidable at 49.5 percent from the floor, 36.5 percent from 3-point land, and 91.3 percent in limited attempts (23) from the foul line.
The Noblesville, Ind., native has played 1,093 minutes. The only Huskies to play more in their freshman season under Auriemma are Christyn Williams (1,217), Bria Hartley (1,209), Ann Strother (1,196), and Moore (1,121).
“We were talking with the strength and conditioning coaches and we got to a point where we said, ‘She has no legs,’ ” Auriemma said. “She’s played so many minutes, so many games, totally unanticipated, and you could see every shot was short. She struggled. I told her, ‘You have to get out of the gym and let the ball feel good again.’ The ball was feeling heavy and sluggish. At some point I think she got her second wind.
“When someone tells you, ‘I really don’t care how you feel. I don’t care, and neither does she and neither does she, and nobody really cares how you feel.’ This was a message to all of them right before the Big East Tournament. They’re like, ‘I’m not confident because I’m missing shots. I got a cold today.’ I don’t care because we’re all here and we’re all trying to win and we all have issues. We could all come here and look around and, ‘I can’t believe I have to play 40 minutes again. I can’t believe I have to practice.’ We could all feel that way, but that’s not going to help us win.”
UConn and Duke (22-11) have met three times in the NCAA Tournament with the Huskies winning the last two in 2011 and 2018. The Huskies and Blue Devils faced off in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament in Portland on Nov. 25, 2022 with UConn coming away with a 78-50 victory.
The UConn-Duke winner will take on either top-seeded USC or No. 5 Baylor Monday night for a spot in the 2024 Final Four in Cleveland.
Shade will try to build on her first two tournament games in her first Sweet 16 experience.
“We definitely grew up a lot this game,” Shade said. “It definitely gives you a taste of what March Madness games are really like. The Jackson State game we were up a lot more of the game. That felt like one of our usual regular season games. The Syracuse game you could really feel the pressure. You could feel the intensity. So it kind of puts you in a situation you can learn and grow from it, and we did that.”