Freshman Shade Breaks Out vs. Butler
The Story: Freshman Ashlynn Shade scored a season-high 22 points and senior Aaliyah Edwards had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds as the No. 17-ranked UConn women defeated Butler 88-62 in their Big East opener at the XL Center last night.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Shade burst onto the scene with her best performance of the season as she played 38 minutes — including all 20 in the first half — and showed poise and comfort for the Huskies (8-3, 1-0 Big East).
• Shade went 9-for-15, and shot 4-for-10 from 3-point range, and also had four assists. She scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, when she went 4-for-5, and joined Aubrey Griffin in powering the Huskies’ second-quarter surge.
• Shade is from Noblesville, Indiana, which is 20 miles north of downtown Indianapolis. She scored 17 points in the Huskies’ win over Ball State two weeks ago.
WHAT WE LIKED: Aside from Shade’s performance, we were again enthused by Griffin, who finished with 14 points, four rebounds and four steals.
• Griffin shot 5-for-6 and, as mentioned, helped UConn turn a six-point second-quarter deficit into a 22-5 run into halftime that gave the Huskies a 45-34 lead and end any chance of Butler pulling off the upset.
• We also were excited by Ice Brady, who played 11 minutes but made a difference late in the second quarter. After taking a pass from Nika Muhl in the low post and scoring on a textbook turnaround past her defender, she calmly knocked down an open — yet very deep — 2-pointer in the left corner. At this point, it’s all about getting Brady, who finished with just those four points, comfortable with the speed of the game.
• We were also pleased Paige Bueckers had a relatively quiet game with 16 points and seven assists. Bueckers played 28 minutes and, not surprisingly, played well. But for once, she didn’t have to hoist the offense or defense onto her shoulders.
WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE: Butler likes to shoot 3-pointers, and UConn seemingly forgot that part of its scouting report early. The Bulldogs went 7-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half, and that success was the only reason why they were ever in the game.
• Geno Auriemma was also displeased with Edwards’ first-half performance, as she had just one point on three shots (though she had seven rebounds). Geno was particularly upset that she couldn’t escape a double-team, though she redeemed herself in the second half.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: UConn had just eight turnovers and turned Butler’s 18 turnovers into 14 points.
• The Huskies shot 55.9 percent, including 44.4 percent (12-for-27) from 3-point range. And Butler, after its early barrage, went just 3-for-7 from beyond the perimeter in the second half.
• UConn had the 32-21 edge in rebounds, the 32-20 advantage in points in the paint, and didn’t allow a single second-chance basket on Butler’s paltry two offensive rebounds.
WHAT DID GENO SAY? “The more aggressive Ash gets, the more of these nights she’s going to have. I think she wants to do the right thing so bad, and sometimes, the right thing to do is go score. That’s what she’s good at. That’s what we recruited her, and this is what I saw her do all summer long and in high school and on her team. I’m thrilled her for because this has got to give her a lot of confidence.”
UP NEXT: UConn will travel north of the border for a game against Toronto Metropolitan tomorrow night. That game, scheduled in September and unique in that it pits a U.S. school against a Canadian one, will be Edwards’ homecoming game.
Morning Reads
• Even though it beat a second top-10 team in as many weeks on Friday when it toppled Gonzaga — in Washington, no less — the men's basketball team remained at No. 5 in the Associated Press poll.
• Maddie Fried, a midfielder who was the Connecticut High School Girls' Soccer Player of the Year in 2019 while at St. Joseph's High in Trumbull, will transfer to UConn after three seasons at Villanova.
Top photo: Ashlynn Shade looks to pass during the Huskies’ game against Dayton. (Courtesy of UConn athletics)
