A Dominant Return to Form
The Story: The women’s basketball team destroyed No. 11 South Carolina last night in Hartford, winning their final nonconference game 97-79. Napheesa Collier dominated with a season-high 31 points, 16 rebounds and six assists while Katie Lou Samuelson added 29 points on 10-of-19 shooting. The Huskies and Gamecocks have now played each other eight times, with UConn winning each matchup.
CLOSING IT OUT: The Huskies (22-2, 10-0 AAC), ranked No. 4 in the latest Associated Press poll, struggled early but put it together late. Although South Carolina (17-6, 9-1 SEC) took a 22-12 lead after making 10 of its first 12 shots, junior guard Te’a Cooper, who finished with 20 points, was called for her second foul and was forced to the bench.
That spurred a 16-5 second-quarter run by UConn, which took a 44-43 halftime lead and then blew the Gamecocks out of the water in the third quarter, 29-12, with Samuelson scoring 14 of those points.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Collier became the first UConn player in 20 years to have more than 30 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in a game, falling one rebound shy of matching the career high she set against Oklahoma earlier this season. She went 15-of-23 and did not commit a turnover, and just about the only thing she didn’t do last night was make a 3-pointer — though she tried, missing all three.
Collier has now scored more than 20 points in her last eight games, including back-to-back 30-point performances. Jeff Jacobs of Hearst Connecticut Media rightfully argued that while Collier isn’t Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore or Breanna Stewart, she is cementing her legacy as one of the program’s best players and certainly should be in the conversation for national player of the year.
WILLIAMS STEPS UP: Freshman Christyn Williams scored 19 points, matching her second-highest scoring output of the season behind her 28-point performance against Notre Dame. Williams, who has had her ups and downs as of late, only reached double figures in two of her previous nine games, including six with fewer than five points.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: In addition to a 39-27 edge in rebounding, the Huskies held a 50-30 advantage in the paint, even though South Carolina entered averaging 43 points inside in their last three games.
“They junked it up,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “They played a lot of zone. I think they were really concerned about our speed and our ability to drive the paint.”
UConn shot 56.9 percent but went just 6-of-18 from 3-point range and had four blocks — three by Olivia Nelson-Ododa, who played just nine minutes and was practically the only player off the bench. The Gamecocks shot just 28.6 percent as they fell apart in the third quarter.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “We obviously didn’t feel too good after the Baylor game. We didn’t feel good after the Louisville game. Today, not only did we win, which obviously is the goal, I think we came out of there feeling pretty good about how we won the game.”
BACK TO ONE? Baylor, Louisville, Oregon and Mississippi State would earn No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament if the field was finalized yesterday, with UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford and N.C. State being chosen as No. 2 seeds. Another update will be made public on March 4 before the field is set on March 18.
UP NEXT: Back to the doldrums of conference play, with UConn set to head to Orlando to face UCF (20-3, 9-1) on Sunday. The Huskies beat the AAC’s second-best team 93-57 at home on Jan. 27.
‘Baby’ Sidney Wilson Grows Up
The Story: We waited more than a year for Sidney Wilson to debut at UConn, and now we are seeing what the athletic redshirt freshman can bring to the table. The future is now for the men’s basketball team.
WILSON AIRS IT OUT WITH HURLEY: Wilson, of course, wasn’t used to coming off the bench and laying sporadic minutes, so he went to Dan Hurley and complained. Hurley called Wilson a baby for doing so, but acknowledged he has lived up to his promise.
“We had a great meeting and his whole practice mindset has changed. Now, two of the last three games, he’s looked like a good player with a good future.”
OPPORTUNITY OPENS: Wilson began to work harder in practice, and with injuries to Alterique Gilbert and Jalen Adams, he started to see more time. It all came to a head against Memphis on Sunday when he scored a career-high 16 points. Wilson also had career highs in minutes, field goals made, attempts, free throws and rebounds in his first career start.
HARNESSING ATHLETICISM: Wilson’s shot is the least developed part of his game, but the athletic potential is undeniable. He’s an athletic 6-foot-5 wing and has a penchant for spectacular blocks. His shot is the issue as he is shooting only 35.1 percent and 26.7 percent from 3-point range while averaging 3.5 points per game.
He joined with another young wing in Tyler Polley, who scored a career-high 20 points on Sunday, to form a different look for the Huskies. Wilson and Polley, at 6-foot-8, give the Huskies a different look after they played three guards for much of the year.
BOTTOM LINE: Wilson is a big part of the future and has taken a step the last week to become a serviceable college player. Wilson’s development has been slow. He spent all of last year sitting out and we expected him to be further along in his development, but it hasn’t clicked this year. The last week, and especially Sunday, are just a glimpse of what he has to offer, and if his skill can match athleticism, UConn has a player on its hands. He’s going to get plenty of opportunity with the injuries to Adams and Gilbert, and what he does in February and early March will be a sign of how quickly UConn can return to being a top-25 program.
Hope Springs Eternal as Practice Begins
The Story: The football team reconvened yesterday for its first team meetings of the spring, with on-field workouts set to begin at the Shenkman Center this afternoon. Remember, there will be no spring game this year after the university decided to stop hosting one.
NEW APPROACH: Randy Edsall said last week that the Huskies won’t scrimmage much this spring and will instead focus on fundamentals and technique, which, yeah, the jokes write themselves after they went 1-11 last season. Edsall’s point is valid, though — with the first game not until Aug. 29, when UConn hosts Wagner, there’s no need to provide players with an injury risk in February.
Besides, it’s not like they’re working toward getting in game shape anyway. Time in the weight room with the new strength and conditioning staff, and time in the film room with a revamped on-field coaching staff, will set a solid baseline for training camp in mid-summer.
MOSTLY HEALTHY: Only four players will be held out of workouts entirely: running backs Zavier Scott and Khyon Gillespie, defensive back Jeremy Lucien and, of course, linebacker Eli Thomas, who suffered a stroke in the fall but has since resumed taking classes. Running back Donevin O’Reilly has also not been cleared for contact after tearing an ACL in August.
FIVE FULL WEEKS: The spring practice period is a bit earlier than it usually is, as previous periods usually went from mid-March to mid-April. It will still last five weeks, with meetings and lifting on Monday and Wednesday and practice on Tuesday, Thursday and Wednesday, until players depart for spring break.
Morning Reads
SPOTLIGHT’S ON: Future coaching battles between Dan Hurley and Memphis’ Penny Hardaway should be full of excitement and attention in the future. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
THREE FOR COLLIER: The AAC recognized Napheesa Collier as its player of the week for the third time this season after she averaged 25.5 points and nine rebounds in wins over ECU and Temple. (TheAmerican.org)
HUSKIES HONORED: Hockey East named freshman left wing Ruslan Iskhakov its rookie of the week and goaltender Tomas Vomacka its defensive player of the week after the Huskies picked up a pair of wins. (UConnHuskies.com)
UPHILL CLIMB: The S&P+ projection, a statistical analysis of football teams’ relative strengths, further illustrated UConn’s struggles when a preseason compilation was released yesterday. (SB Nation)
OLSON PRAISED: Sophomore pitcher Marybeth Olson was part of the AAC’s honor roll after she struck out 11 in a three-hitter against Bryant on Sunday. (UConnHuskies.com)
HINDS HEADS NORTH: Former defender Liana Hinds, who played at UConn from 2012 through 2015 and has represented Trinidad & Tobago internationally, has signed a contract to play for Sundsvall in Sweden. (UConnHuskies.com)
