Auriemma wants Dangerfield to be more of a risk taker

BRANFORD — There are certain players who play to their personality. In the case of UConn’s star point guard, that means what, exactly?

“Her personality is very, very cautious. She needs to be more kind of free-flowing, take more chances, be a little more of a risk taker,” Geno Auriemma said Wednesday from the UConn Coaches Roadshow at Stony Creek Brewery.

Crystal Dangerfield is both mild-mannered and soft-spoken, the type who leads more by actions than words. While Auriemma finds that admirable, he wouldn’t mind seeing Dangerfield push the envelope a bit more on the court.

“You’ve got to be willing to take some risks, create stuff,” Auriemma said. “I think she can do more defensively. All the things that I’ve seen our great guards do is they’re really good at guarding their man when they have the ball, and they’re even better at guarding when their man doesn’t have the ball.”

Dangerfield was one of the country’s best point guards last year, averaging nearly six assists per game, but so much more is expected of her this year. With All-Americans Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson having graduated, the responsibility of leading the Huskies falls directly on Dangerfield’s shoulders as a senior.

Time will tell whether she’s capable of doing so.

“Some people are just born leaders, and some are not,” Auriemma said. “Sometimes, you try to impose things on some people. ‘Crystal, you have to be a great leader.’ Maybe she can’t be. I don’t know.

“There’s a lot of different ways to lead. Some people just lead by example. They say, ‘I’m just going to do what I need to do to make sure our team wins.’ And then other people are very emotional, very vocal, very demonstrative, blah, blah, blah.”

Dangerfield let her play do the talking in last year’s Sweet 16, scoring all 15 of her points in the second half of a wild comeback victory over UCLA. What came next, though, were two tough games against Louisville and Notre Dame, where she scored a total of 14 points on 6-of-19 shooting and committed five turnovers.

“I think what happened in the second half of that UCLA game has to be part of her regular game, her regular routine,” Auriemma said. “She’ll be the first to tell you that she’s not happy with the way she played in some of the bigger games that we had last year. She’s not happy with the way she led or some of the things she looked back and could’ve done, should’ve done.”

The good news, though, is this.

“I feel good. I feel great about her,” Auriemma said.

With 79 starts under her belt, Dangerfield will be the unquestioned veteran presence in the backcourt. Christyn Williams is supremely talented but is still only a sophomore, and Aubrey Griffin and Ania Makurat will both be learning on the fly as freshmen. Of course, the complexion of the backcourt will change if Tennessee transfer Evina Westbrook’s waiver is approved by the NCAA.

“I think she’s going to have a great year,” Auriemma said.