Huskies in Sore Need of a (Road) Win
The Story: Can the men’s basketball team snap a five-game losing streak? That’s the deal when the Huskies (13-14, 4-10) play at Wichita State tonight (7 p.m., ESPN2). The Huskies will still be without Jalen Adams and have not won a game since Feb. 3 against East Carolina.
SETTING THE SCENE: The Huskies are limping to the end of their first season under Dan Hurley. Sure, they are young in many spots and short on talent, but they also have been hit by the injury bug with Adams, Kassoum Yakwe and Mamadou Diarra essentially out for the year. Include the injury to Alterique Gilbert and suspension of Kwintin Williams and it’s hard for Hurley to even field a team. No one wants to hear about injuries as an excuse for losing, even if that is the reason for losing. The goal now has to be getting above .500 for the season and perhaps making things interesting in the AAC tourney.
IS IT REALLY THAT HARD TO GET A ROAD WIN? We get that going on the road as a college student is difficult. The bed is different, you don’t have that delicious dining services food and there is no way hotel beds are nicer than what’s in the dorm room. But UConn is taking it to another level this year by not winning on the road. We get that they have a win at a neutral site, but there is only one more day left in February and the season ends in two weeks! The Huskies are 12-4 at home, 0-7 on the road and 1-3 at a neutral site. That’s a 1-10 record out of Connecticut, with a road win eluding the team since last year. Just FYI, Wichita State is 80-6 at home over the last six seasons.
CAN HUSKIES AVOID OFFENSIVE RUTS? UConn always hits a point in the game when it can’t score. That’s the common theme in its losses, including getting behind by double digits before rallying late. The Huskies aren’t a good offensive team with Adams, and certainly, they aren’t very good without him. Since Hurley has decided to give up on the full-court press this year, the Huskies’ offense has had its run of highs and lows. The Huskies are shooting only 42 percent in conference play and averaging only 69.9 points per game. First halves are also an issue as UConn is scoring only 31.7 points before halftime in AAC games.
RIDE VITAL: Christian Vital remains vital to any hopes of an upset (sorry for that). He is averaging more than 15 points per game in AAC play and is having an excellent year overall, shooting the ball at 45.6 percent and 41.2 percent from 3-point range. The rest of the team, without Adams, struggles to score. Gilbert hasn’t been the same since his injury and is shooting only 38.8 percent. The Huskies need Vital to score, and dare we say, shoot more if the Huskies are going to finish above .500 this season.
WHAT HURLEY SAID:”I’m coaching these guys for the next game, the next shootaround, but I’m also trying to coach them for the next 40 years of their lives,” Hurley said of the benching last game of Vital and Sidney Wilson, per Hearst Connecticut Media. “The habits these guys need to have have developed, in terms of being accountable, being responsible for the way they carry themselves [are important]. Obviously, my job here is to win games, but I also have to try to teach them lessons that these guys can take with him: How a strong organization carries itself, how you need to show up everyday, in real life, when scholarships are over. I’m sending messages every day. Some of them are public. Some of them are private. I don’t think the teaching or the learning ever ends.”
ABOUT WICHITA STATE: The Shockers (13-13, 6-8) were awful in Storrs earlier in the year and were thrashed by the Huskies 80-60. Markis McDuffie is scoring 18.2 points per game, though he had just nine points in the first meeting. Wichita State took Memphis to the wire on Saturday, losing 88-85 at home.
Could Collier Be Named Player of the Year?
The Story: Senior Napheesa Collier has emerged as the Huskies’ driving force this season and has played her way into contention to be honored as the best player in women’s basketball.
HER CREDENTIALS: Collier is averaging team highs of 20.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game and is third on the team with 3.7 assists a game. She and is shooting 61.1 percent, has not once scored fewer than 12 points and has 17 double-doubles this season, including one in each of her last six games. She also has been the reason why the No. 2-ranked Huskies (26-2) are second only to Baylor this season — and even in the loss to the Bears on Jan. 3, she had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
As of yesterday, she was tied for 22nd in all of Division I in points per game, 32nd in rebounds per game, 11th in field goal percentage and tied for 10th in double-doubles.
HER COMPETITORS: Baylor senior center Kalani Brown is considered the favorite at this point as she has averaged 15.5 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. She also had 22 points and 17 rebounds in the Bears’ 68-57 win over UConn. Also in the picture are Louisville senior guard Asia Durr (20.6 points and 3.4 rebounds), Oregon junior guard Sabrina Ionescu (19.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 8.2 assists) and Notre Dame senior guard Arike Ogunbowale (21.3 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists).
HER PREDECESSORS: A number of UConn players — Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Kara Wolters, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Tina Charles and Breanna Stewart — have been honored over the years by the various organizations that hand out the award. Geno Auriemma has said that she’s a different player than the rest, but he acknowledged last week that she should be considered to be the best among her peers.
“There can’t be anywhere a player that’s playing better or does more for their team than Napheesa Collier does. That’s not possible. I haven’t seen every game every week in every conference. There’s something about her that’s rare — you just don’t see it. You don’t see it at all.”
BOTTOM LINE: Collier has become nearly unstoppable and has been the lifeblood of the Huskies in a trying season. She’s one of only five UConn players to have reached 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career (which, yes, we know doesn’t matter in this conversation) and has been a dependable inside presence. The parity at the top of women’s basketball this season has been something else, and if she finishes the season strong or if Baylor falters, she could garner attention from one or two of the national organizations.
Morning Reads
HURLEY EXPECTED A TOUGH SEASON: Dan Hurley knew what he was getting into when he took the job and is getting exactly what he expected. (CBS Sports)
EARLY LOOK AT AAC HONORS: Who should be player of the year in the conference? We know it won’t be anyone on UConn’s roster, that’s for sure (Hearst Connecticut Media)
EL-AMIN PROUD OF CAREER: Having finally retired from a playing career spent mostly abroad, Khalid El-Amin can look back and acknowledge that he was the right player at the right time for UConn. (Hartford Courant)
DAILEY BETTER THAN GENO? Chris Dailey is 2-0 this season as head coach, and when Geno Auriemma misses a game, the Huskies are 9-0 in his career. Maybe it isn’t the coach who is the reason for UConn’s dominance? We can’t even write that with a straight face. (Hartford Courant)
SWAP MEET: UConn and Boston College have adjusted their football schedules, with the Huskies now hosting BC in 2022 and traveling north in 2023. (FBSchedules.com)
NEW BLOOD: Men’s hockey coach Mike Cavanaugh will give his underclassmen more of an opportunity during the Huskies’ final two games of the season. (Daily Campus)
