Griffin Emerges After Lost Season
The Story: Aubrey Griffin has come roaring back after missing last season with a variety of injuries and has been a big reason why the No. 5-ranked women’s basketball team has continued surging with everything else falling apart around it.
A LOST SEASON: Griffin, a redshirt junior forward, missed the start of last season with an ankle injury, but she injured her back at some point during her recovery and required surgery that left her not only off the basketball court, but away from her teammates for much of the school year.
• The uncertainty related to the injuries meant Griffin’s role was unclear entering the year, but the absences of Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Caroline Ducharme for long stretches of the season — or, in Bueckers’ case, all of it — means Griffin has been able to cement her place as a starter.
UNSTOPPABLE FORCE: Griffin is fifth on the team with 13.9 points per game and third with 7.2 rebounds per game. She has led the Huskies in scoring five times, including on Sunday, when she had 19 points in a win against Villanova.
• She’s also shooting 59 percent — and an astonishing 66.2 percent on 2-pointers, which puts her in the 99th percentile in Division I.
• The numbers can’t account for any number of plays she’s made because of her length, quickness and athleticism, especially on defense. She’s proven adept at chasing down long rebounds and taking the ball back to the basket and being in the right place at the right time.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “Her first couple of years here, something would happen on the court and she would hold onto it for a long time. And she’s gotten much, much, much better with that. Her confidence is more intact. She did a terrific job on [Maddy] Siegrist today — not easy. And with a few exceptions, that’s been pretty much the whole season. You still forget that she didn’t play for a year and a half almost, whatever it was.”
WHAT DID GRIFFIN SAY? “Definitely watching back on last year, it just goes to show how far I’ve come, not being able to play last year to playing this year and just making an impact any way I can to help my team.”
MUHL, EDWARDS HONORED: Junior Nika Muhl was recognized as one of the top 10 candidates for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which goes to the nation’s best point guard. Muhl leads Division I with 8.8 assists per game and has reached double figures in assists nine times this season.
• Junior forward Aaliyah Edwards was named the Big East Player of the Week for the second time after she averaged 20.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and three assists in the Huskies’ three wins last week.
HUSKIES STAY AT NO. 5: UConn remained steady in the Associated Press poll yesterday despite the three wins last week and then-No. 2 Ohio State tumbling to No. 10 after losing three times.
• The Huskies were leapfrogged by Indiana, which moved up to No. 4 as one of the teams that defeated the Buckeyes.
Morning Reads
• Alex Karaban and Donovan Clingan are leading contenders to be named the Big East Freshman of the Year and can continue to state their cases tonight when the now-No. 24-ranked men’s basketball team heads to DePaul for a game televised on FS1 at 8 p.m. (The Day)
• Shabazz Napier will finish the season with Olimpia Milano, a team based in Milan, Italy, that is in last place in the 18-team Euroleague. Napier had been playing for Mexico City in the NBA G League. (Eurohoops.net)
• The Sabres’ Tage Thompson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, meaning his availability for the weekend’s All-Star Game is in question. (Sportsnet)
• Matt Barnes was traded by the Red Sox to the Marlins for Richard Bleier after he was designated for assignment last week. (ESPN)
• Pole vaulter Travis Sander set a school record over the weekend when he cleared 5.47 meters (17 feet, 11 1/4 inches) in a meet at Columbia. (UConnHuskies.com)
Top photo: Aubrey Griffin drives for a layup against Texas. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)
