Huskies hit road block in Oregon
Loss is 2nd this season to unranked team
EUGENE, Ore. — For the first time in 18 years, UConn women’s basketball has lost to two unranked teams in a single season. After losing a starter less than an hour before tipoff due to COVID-19, the No. 9-ranked Huskies had no answers for Oregon’s defense Monday, falling to the Ducks 72-59 in front of a packed crowd at Matthew Knight Arena.
UConn last lost to an unranked team on Dec. 9 at Georgia Tech. And before this season, the Huskies hadn’t lost to an unranked team since 2012.
“Our guard play is not good. Plain and simple. I guess that’s something that we’re not used to here in Connecticut. But right now our guard play is not good,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “And it’s been a real struggle to get some of these guys to understand how to take care of the ball, how to make better decisions. From a coaching standpoint, it’s been (expletive) coaching by far. The worst it’s ever been.”
Freshman Caroline Ducharme led UConn with 22 points, followed by Olivia Nelson-Ododa with 17
points and a team-high eight rebounds. Nika Mühl (three points, six rebounds) played the first full 40minute game of her collegiate career.
Oregon was led by sophomore point guard Te-Hina Paopao with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Sedona Prince followed with 14 points.
“UConn is the standard by which every program is judged over the last 25 or 30 years. To beat them anytime, regardless of the circumstances, is always a feather in the cap of your program,” Oregon coach Kelly Graves said.
Some takeaways from UConn’s loss to Oregon:
MAJOR LAST-MINUTE LOSS
UConn (9-4, 4-0 Big East) was hit with brutal news less than an hour before Monday’s tipoff: Senior starter Christyn Williams would miss the game due to COVID-19 protocols.
Auriemma said the team found out about Williams’ status Sunday. The program did not disclose whether Williams made the cross-country trip.
“It’s another unfortunate blow to an already challenging season, and especially when I thought Christyn’s game was playing at a real high level and she had put together a bunch of really good games,” Auriemma said. “It’s another punch in the gut for our team, for everybody.”
Williams’ absence (averaging 14.6 points per game) left UConn with just three guards and eight available players. Senior and Oregon native Evina Westbrook started in place of Williams.
Outside of Ducharme’s 22 points, Westbrook and Mühl combined for 11 points on 4-of-17 shooting and seven combined turnovers.
“That's not an excuse for us,” Nelson-Ododa said. “And you know, everybody else in the country is dealing with this. This is unfortunate timing. But really, again, it's no excuse. We just have to get tougher mentally, to be able to deal with things like this.”
ZONING OUT
UConn started Monday on a quick 10-0 run, however, it couldn’t keep pace with the Ducks, who took the lead in the first quarter’s final minute on a pair of free throws.
Oregon (10-5, 2-1 Pac-12) swarmed UConn on defense, blocking off and protecting the paint from any layups and easy driveins for the Huskies. UConn was forced to pass the ball around the perimeter until winding down the clock and firing off a last-second shot. Matthew Knight Arena erupted into a loud cheer when the Ducks forced UConn into a shotclock violation at 8:33 in the second quarter.
“We came out with the right defensive intensity and things were clicking (with) our offense, and then we just kind of got stuck and kind of like a standstill,” Nelson-Ododa said. “We can't have that happen, especially in big games like this . ... When things aren't going well, just pushing through that wall. I think that's our biggest struggle right now as a team.”
UConn went over six and a half minutes between the final minutes of the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter without making a basket. The Huskies’ first points of the second period came on a Nelson-Ododa layup at 5:53.
While the Huskies struggled offensively, Oregon found momentum and went on an 18-0 run. The Ducks led by 15 at halftime while UConn had made just six of its final 25 shots of the half.
“Our guards didn’t play well. Plain and simple, and you couldn’t take them out and put somebody else in to get them a breather,” Auriemma said. “Again the game is won or lost by your guards, and last year we had the best guard in the country and it was easy to win games. This year we don’t, and it’s hard to win games, and sometimes basketball is not that complicated.”
UConn didn’t make its first 3-pointer until a minute into the third quarter. The Huskies ended the game 3-of-18 from the beyond arc.
SLOPPY OFFENSE
Oregon’s defense found all the holes and weaknesses in UConn’s offense. Passes were intercepted and ripped from the Huskies’ grasp or thrown in the wrong direction altogether. Oregon finished with 21 points from UConn’s 19 turnovers. The Ducks also finished with 13 steals to UConn’s seven.
Of the six Huskies who played, all but two had three or more turnovers.
“We stopped scoring, turned the ball over, they scored. Now we’re coming down and throwing the ball away and missing shots. That’s a really, really bad combination. Really bad,” Auriemma said. “Nineteen times we crossed half court and didn’t get a shot at the basket. I don’t know how you beat really good teams doing that.”
UP NEXT: UConn returns to Connecticut to host Seton Hall on Friday at 7 p.m. at Gampel Pavilion.