Undefeated And It Feels So Good
The Story: A win is a win, and even though it was a bit of a slog at times, the women’s basketball team survived the Big East undefeated for the umpteenth year when it beat Marquette 63-53 last night at Gampel Pavilion. Olivia Nelson-Ododa had a double-double and Aaliyah Edwards scored 16 points in the win for the Huskies, who finished the regular season 21-1 and 18-0 in the conference.
STEPPING UP, BIG: Nelson-Ododa finished with 19 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high six blocks in 35 minutes, but the most eye-opening number is that she took 18 shots, which tied a career high. It was good to see Nelson-Ododa be so active, because between her height and her talent, when she puts it together (as she did last night), she’s virtually unstoppable. Case in point: Last night was the first time this season the junior had more than three blocks in a game, which she did 11 times last season. Granted, she’s been trying to expand her range the last few months, which she should do because that will be expected of her regularly in the WNBA, but she’s gotten away from what made her such a force a year ago. It was an encouraging performance from someone whose individual success will be crucial to what the Huskies accomplish later this month, and we demand to see it more often.
MORE POWER IN THE PAINT: Edwards, who has similarly turned a corner in the last few weeks, had another dominant performance against the second-best team in the Big East. (We’d love to remind Marquette that second place is first loser, but the Huskies played too poorly for the joke to land.) She has now scored more than 15 points in three of her last four games, and she had eight rebounds last night, including five on offense. Marquette has a respectable frontcourt between Camryn Taylor and Lauren Van Kleunen, each of whom are 6-foot-2, and Edwards looked more comfortable last night than she did in the previous meeting against the Golden Eagles — especially on the boards, as she only grabbed one rebound in Milwaukee last month.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “They put a lot of pressure on our perimeter players and I thought Liv, and and especially Aaliyah as well, gave us some great, great moments. And they were physical and they were tough and, you know, that’s March. You’re not going to come down here and shoot a bunch of wide-open jump shots and think you’re going to win March basketball, so it was a grind-it-out, tough game and our two big guys were great.”
PAGING PAIGE: It was a relatively quiet night for Paige Bueckers, who scored 13 points and had just one assist and three rebounds. Bueckers was named earlier in the day as a finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given to the nation’s best point guard, and followed up with that performance, so good luck getting some votes after that snoozer, champ. Seriously, though, it was good to see the Huskies be able to gut out a win without Bueckers shouldering so much of the load; it has happened now a few times late in the season, and though we’re not particularly concerned, she can’t truly be expected to do it all. … Right?
UP NEXT: The Huskies will get a few days to put their feet up and relax, with the Big East Tournament not set to start until Friday. UConn will play either St. John’s or Xavier, teams they beat by an average of 43.8 points during the regular season, in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Final Week, Plenty to Play For
The Story: The final week of the regular season is here in men’s basketball and there is plenty for all Big East teams to play for. As for UConn? It looks like it is headed to the NCAA Tournament, but it isn’t by much, and with Seton Hall needing to win tomorrow to feel good about its chances, it’s going to be a big week.
WHERE THE BIG EAST STANDS: Villanova (15-4, 10-3 Big East), even after an embarrassing loss to Butler (9-13, 8-11 Big East), is a lock for the NCAA Tournament. So is Creighton (17-6, 13-5 Big East). Those two are locked into the top two seeds in the Big East tournament. After that? The Huskies are No. 3 and likely in the NCAA Tournament. After that, it is Bubble Mania, with Seton Hall (13-10, 10-7) and Xavier (13-5, 6-5) needing to do work to get in. The Pirates desperately need a win heading into the Big East tournament and would claim a high Quad 2 win by beating UConn.
ANY DARK HORSES? Outside of UConn? The Huskies will be a sexy pick next week and in the NCAA Tournament if they close strong. Who do we like as a dark horse in the Big East tournament? Our money is on St. John’s, which has some quick perimeter players and plays that energetic and frenetic style that suits teams well in tournament play. The Big East figures to get five teams at most in the NCAA Tournament, but if St. John’s makes a run, we think they could sneak in. And, obviously, they are there to win the entire thing. Right now, if the standings hold, UConn would face either St. John’s or DePaul.
COLE THE PLAYER OF WEEK: We don’t really pay much attention to Big East Player of the Week awards, but our man R.J. Cole was given the honor after averaging 19 points per game in two wins. James Bouknight is on the honor roll after averaging 22 points per game last week. Here’s something funny: Bouknight has never been the player of the week. LOL. He’s also the best player in the conference and probably among the top five in the country. He won’t win Big East Player of the Year, either. Bouknight will get his reward for his play in June. We think he will get over it.
Morning Reads
ACTION JACKSON: It’s been a heck of a debut for Andre Jackson, who has looked good since returning from a broken wrist early last month. (Hartford Courant)
REID TAKES LEAVE OF ABSENCE: Longtime men’s soccer coach Ray Reid is taking a leave of absence to attend to family matters, per UConn. The team will be coached the rest of this spring by assistant Mike Miller. (UConnHuskies.com)
