Breakthrough Coming For UConn Men?
The Story: The men’s basketball team (11-8, 2-4) returns from a rare week-long hiatus to take on Wichita State tomorrow at Gampel Pavilion (6 p.m., CBS Sports).
NOTHING LIKE HOME COOKING: UConn is 10-2 at home this season and is coming off a much-needed win over Tulane one week ago. The Huskies received perhaps the best game of Jalen Adams‘ career as he scored 31 points in the victory. UConn is back to scoring more than 80 points again, having reached 82 points and 87 points in its last two games, and would like to continue to keep the pace against the struggling Shockers.
WHAT HAPPENED TO WICHITA STATE? Here’s the thing with the Shockers: The reason the AAC added them two years ago was because the team became one of the top mid-major programs in the country, including a run to the Final Four in 2013 and going 35-1 with a No. 2 ranking in 2014, when they lost in the second round to Kentucky. The Shockers are 31-5 in their first two years in the AAC and have made seven straight NCAA tournaments.
Unfortunately, the Shockers (8-10, 1-5) are having their worst season in a decade, and although their lone conference win was over UCF at home, they have lost their last two and are 11th in the 12-team league. Markis McDuffie leads Wichita State with 19.2 points per game. The Shockers, as a team, are averaging an uncharacteristically low 68.7 points per game.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Can Adams continue to score efficiently? The UConn Blog posted a terrific graphic on Adams’ play this season. In all but one of UConn’s eight losses, Adams’ points per play was less than 1, which is an optimal number. It isn’t a coincidence that when Adams’ efficiency falls, even on lower volume, UConn struggles. The Huskies need Adams to score, but they also need him to do it efficiently to win against the better teams. He can’t turn into a volume scorer and eat up shots.
WILL POLLEY’S SHOT EVER RETURN? We are waiting for Tyler Polley to snap out of it. He is too good a shooter to continue to misfire on his jumper. Since going 3-for-3 from 3-point land against Drexel, Polley is 3-for-25 (12 percent) from 3-point range and 11-of-38 (28 percent) overall. He is starting every game and averaging over 23 minutes a game in that span. He’s an excellent shooter and the struggles remain mind-boggling. We can’t pinpoint the struggles. He is in the right place and his taking the right shots and not forcing it. Shooters need to shoot and he has to get a little Rashad Anderson in his game and fire away with unreasonable confidence.
BOTTOM LINE: The Huskies could use a boost heading to UCF on Jan. 31. They have a tough schedule coming up with UCF, Temple, and Memphis all on the road with a home date against East Carolina in between. If UConn is going to stay above .500 and stay above water in the conference, the Huskies will have to come away with a win against Wichita State at home.
Women Ready for Rare AAC Challenge
The Story: The women’s basketball team (17-1, 6-0) will be back in action on Sunday when it hosts steadily improving UCF (17-2, 6-0) at the XL Center (4 p.m., ESPN2).
A UNIQUE TEST: The Huskies have won all 94 regular-season AAC games they have played by an average of 42.4 points — including six by 30.7 points this season. With that dominance, it’s hard to say that anyone but the elite opponents will put up a fight, but UCF should provide one this weekend.
UCF has the best scoring defense in the conference and is holding opponents to 52.7 points per game, which is half a point better than UConn and good for sixth in the nation. It is holding opponents to 34.4 percent shooting, second in the AAC, and is averaging 10.7 steals per game. The Knights’ biggest weakness, though is that they are scoring just 64.2 points per game, and much of that is through junior guard Kay Kay Wright, who is averaging 18.7 points. If the Huskies stop her, as ECU did in overtime on Wednesday, UCF’s chances of winning will plummet.
SEEKING CONSISTENCY: There are three minor blips that UConn has been working to fix in recent games: Crystal Dangerfield‘s distribution, Katie Lou Samuelson‘s shooting and Christyn Williams‘ scoring.
Dangerfield broke out of her slump against Temple last weekend, scoring 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting after scoring just seven points in her two previous games. Samuelson, who went 4-of-13 against Temple, made half of her shots against SMU on Wednesday, but her 3-point shooting has taken a dip in recent games. The career 42.1 percent perimeter shooter is just 7-of-27 (25.9 percent) from distance over the last four games. And Williams, who has acknowledged a freshman funk, scored only four points over three games before putting up 12 against SMU.
LOUISVILLE LOOMING: This may be the Huskies’ toughest two-game stretch of the season, as they’ll move on from the game against UCF and prepare to face No. 4 Louisville (18-1, 6-1) on the road on Thursday.
Football Adds Second Strength Coach
The Story: Randy Edsall added Marcus Wasilewski as assistant strength and conditioning coach yesterday, rounding out an overhaul of the strength and conditioning program.
WHO IS WASILEWSKI? Wasilewski comes to UConn after serving in the same capacity at Minnesota the last two years. He also spent a season working with Western Michigan in 2016, the year the school won the league and advanced to the Cotton Bowl. Wasilewski is a former quarterback at Maine from 2009-13 and was an all-CAA QB and all-academic team member. He also earned the New England Gold Helmet Player of the Year and CAA Scholar Athlete of the Year in his final season playing at Maine.
OVERHAUL COMPLETE: The Huskies turned over their strength and conditioning football staff after a 1-11 season with Matt King joining the staff as director of football strength and conditioning. King and Wasilewski will be tasked with developing a team that was not strong enough nor fast enough to compete a season ago. Edsall remarked on several occasions that his young defense lacked the strength to compete and he made good on his promise of changing that by hiring new fitness and conditioning coaches.
Morning Read
WALKER A STARTER: UConn legend Kemba Walker was named an NBA All-Star for the third consecutive season but will be a starter for the first time. (Charlotte Observer)
A MOMENT IN TIME: Walker found out he was starting by watching TNT’s pregame show and the Charlotte Hornets captured his reaction. (Charlotte Hornets on Twitter)
TERRY TRANSFERS: Junior Marshe Terry, who has received his undergraduate degree, will transfer as a fifth-year grad student. Terry had 100 tackles in three seasons, including 37 this past year when he moved to linebacker. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
REYES BEGINS COACHING: Former defensive end Kendall Reyes, who played five seasons in the NFL, has been named the defensive tackles coach at New Hampshire. (UNHWildcats.com)
DIACO TO LA TECH: Bob Diaco, who was a defensive assistant with Oklahoma this past season, will take over as defensive coordinator at Lousiana Tech. It will be Diaco’s third gig since being fired by UConn two years ago. Another former UConn coach, Skip Holtz, is the coach at LA Tech. Let’s just say that dynamic could get interesting. (LATechSports.com)
CONFRONTING MORTALITY: Although Geno Auriemma has said for some time he wishes the Huskies could be more normal, he has learned this season to be careful what he wishes for. (SNY)
GRIFFIN AN ALL-AMERICAN: Geno may have missed out on his top recruiting targets, but the one player he snagged in Aubrey Griffin is headed to the McDonald’s All-America game. (Westchester Journal News)
RALPH FEELS FOR VOLS: Tennessee has lost its last six games, its longest losing streak since 1970, and Shea Ralph said the Lady Vols’ loss of dominance in recent years has been hard to watch. (Journal Inquirer)
INTO THE WILD: The men’s hockey team will host New Hampshire tonight in the opener of a home-and-home series that continues on the road tomorrow night. (UConnHuskies.com)
BEAR DOWN: The women’s hockey team heads to Maine, looking to right the ship in a two-game series today and tomorrow after a pair of losses last week ended a six-game win streak. (UConnHuskies.com)
HOFER HEADS TO ITALY: Former starting goalkeeper Courtney Hofer, who graduated last summer, has signed a professional contract with Empoli. (UConn Women’s Soccer on Twitter)
LANDERS HONORED: A junior at Glastonbury High School, Chloe Landers, who was named the Courant Girls’ Soccer Player of the Year, has already decided she will play soccer at UConn. (Hartford Courant)
