Smothering the Wave
The Story: Freshman Anna Makurat ended her skid last night by scoring 18 points and the women’s basketball team secured a share of the AAC title for the seventh consecutive season with a 74-31 win over Tulane at the XL Center. Megan Walker also scored 18 points and Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 10 points and 11 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season.
VINTAGE UCONN: It was another emphatic win for the Huskies (22-3, 12-0 AAC), who held just a 19-13 lead after the first quarter but then held the Green Wave (12-14, 7-6 AAC) to eight, five and five points over each of the following three. UConn led 44-21 after the first half, when they shot 52.9 percent overall and 53.8 percent from 3-point range. And though their shooting wasn’t as crisp in the second half — they went just 1-for-10 from beyond the arc — their defense was smothering, holding Tulane to an incredible 4-for-35 overall, a lousy 11.4 percent, and 1-for-14 from 3-point range.
KEEPING IT GOING: Nelson-Ododa had eight points and five rebounds in the first half en route to her double-double, which was remarkably her first since Dec. 22 against Oklahoma. We mentioned the other day how she’s finally starting to turn it on after a midseason slump, and it’s coming at the right time for the sophomore, who has a unique skill set and just needs to learn how to be a more polished post player. She’s not particularly strong around the rim offensively — she missed a bunny with four minutes left in the third quarter, collected the rebound and then missed the putback — but that will (hopefully) come with time. The way she has played in February is a good sign entering crunch time.
POLAR OPPOSITE: After scoring two points in her previous three games, coinciding with her return to the starting lineup, Makurat went off last night, going 7-for-12 for those 18 points, her third-highest output of the season. She made four of her first five shots, including three of her first four 3-pointers, all from the top right of the arc, before cooling off a bit in the second half.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “We still have to move the ball better. I always think that we can be more efficient on offense. That’s the hardest part of the game to coach: moving the ball, because there’s a ball involved and the ball has to change hands and the ball has to go into basket and it’s not the easiest thing in the world. So we keep working on it and keep trying to get better at it, keep streamlining what we’re going to run, shrink it down a little bit.”
UP NEXT: Even though the Huskies have four regular-season games remaining, they’ll hold senior day on Saturday afternoon when they host UCF at Gampel Pavilion.
Never Sunny In Philadelphia
The Story: The men’s basketball team, down to only eight players, will play at Temple tonight as it looks to build upon Sunday’s win over Memphis.
WHALEY TO START? Akok Akok is out for a long time after surgery, though he did enter the basketball complex yesterday on crutches to a standing ovation. We are thinking Isaiah Whaley starts with Josh Carlton upfront and we see a lot of Sidney Wilson and very small lineups out of Dan Hurley.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: Of course UConn wants to, at minimum, get an NIT bid, and we think that’s going to happen. Still, it also would like to get a decent AAC tournament seed because that is the first step toward a run in March from the NIT into the NCAAs as an automatic qualifier. UConn is 14-11 and tied with Temple at 5-7 for seventh place. Memphis is one game ahead of UConn in sixth. The Huskies are only 1-6 on the road this season but have played all their games tough. UConn is a 1.5-point favorites and obliterated Temple earlier this season, 78-63.
CAN BOUK KEEP IT GOING? In his last six games, James Bouknight is averaging 18.2 points and been one of the most dynamic players in the AAC. Yes, we hear NBA whispers too, but right now we don’t think that is something worry about.
WHAT ABOUT TEMPLE? The Owls are coming off a blowout loss to Big 5 rival Villanova on Sunday and are struggling down the stretch. The Owls are paced by Quinton Rose, who is averaging 16.2 points.
Morning Reads
HOCKEY GETS COMMITMENT: Cassidy Bowes, a former Michigan hockey commitment, is coming to UConn and the third member of its class. (The UConn Blog)
