UConn women's basketball

Though the injury is hardly along the same lines as the season-ending knee injury sustained by UConn freshman Caroline Doty in the final minute of the first half Saturday against Syacuse, No. 2 North Carolina is also coping with an injury to one its starters heading into tonight’s showdown against the top-ranked Huskies. Coach Sylvia Hatchell said that Iman McFarland, a 6-foot-2 senior forward, is expected to miss her second straight game with a high ankle sprain she sustained in practice last week.
McFarland, who has started 14 games this season, is averaging 5.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 17.6 minutes. Martina Wood, a 6-2 junior post player, is in position to make her second straight start.
“Just a couple days ago she rolled it in practice pretty good,’’ Hatchell said. “Martina will start, but Chay Shegog will be in there after a couple minutes. The only reason Chay’s not starting is she has one conditioning requirement that she has not completed. So that’s why she can’t start. But we’ll have a lot of them playing there. But Chay will play in there probably more minutes, but (Christina) Dewitt will be in there quite a bit. We’ll play a lot of people. We’ll probably play 10, 11 at least.’’
Shegog, a 6-5 freshman who is North Carolina’s top reserve, is averaging 9.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 18.1 minutes off the bench.

Huskies’ freshman Tiffany Hayes will now have to step forward in an even bigger manner with Doty sidelined. And she did not distinguish herself against Syracuse, finishing with two points (1-of-4 FG), two rebounds, three assists and two turnovers in 16 minutes. Tiffany had both of her turnovers on consecutive possessions – a span of 25 seconds – in the first half before being pulled from the game by Geno Auriemma.
“Tiffany was in like a deep snooze,’’ Geno said. “The weather’s affecting her. Once it gets down to zero she said, `I can’t function any more.’ She wasn’t good at shootaround and she struggled a little bit (Saturday) morning. And when your brain gets cold they say you can’t think. She had some brain coldness. She was cold in the brain (Saturday).’’

Hatchell said she is hoping to take a shot at the ACC attendance record tonight at the 21,750-seat Dean Smith Center. The Tar Heels helped set the record on the road when they defeated Maryland 81-74 before 17,950 at the Comcast Center Jan. 28, 2007.
The Tar Heels have averaged 2,873 in 11 home games this season.
“I’m hoping we have a great crowd,’’ she said. “What a tremendous opportunity. You have two undefeated teams. We are in the Dean Smith Center. The ACC attendance record was set by Maryland when we played them up there two years ago, a little over 18,000. No one else in the league has an arena the size of the Dean Smith Center to even break that attendance record. So we have an opportunity here because of the Dean Smith Center and the capacity that it holds. I am hoping that we have a great crowd. I would love for us to break the ACC attendance record.’’

With a date for surgery still not set, Doty accompanied the Huskies to Chapel Hill.

UConn recruit Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, a 6-foot sophomore guard from Santa Ana, Calif., was on hand at the XL Center Saturday to take in the events that went down against Syracuse.

How ’bout them Steelers?!

Rich

It was an all too familiar scene for the UConn women’s basketball team Saturday. Freshman guard Caroline Doty was lying underneath the basket gripping her knee in obvious pain.
The top-ranked Huskies had been through this twice last season, losing starters Kalana Greene and Mel Thomas to season-ending knee injuries in the first 16 games. So it was only natural for the players and members of the coaching staff to fear the worst for Doty.
Sunday those fears were validated when it was announced that Doty has suffered a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee for the second time in just more than 16 months. She will miss the remainder of the season, and is ineligible to apply for a medical hardship waiver because she has appeared in more than 30 percent of UConn’s 30 regular season games.
A date for surgery has not yet been set.
Doty, who provided the Huskies with a deadly perimeter presence, had started the first 17 games, averaging 8.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 23.9 minutes. She was third on the team with 30 made 3-pointers and in minutes.
The injury occurred as Doty was attempting to control a pass from Maya Moore in transition with 27.9 seconds left in the first half. She grabbed her knee in mid-air on the play and fell to the ground underneath the basket.
Team trainer Rosemary Ragle helped Doty off the floor and into the UConn locker room. She was taken to a local hospital where an MRI revealed the tear. Doty, who had 17 points and five 3-pointers in 19 minutes against Syracuse, originally tore the ACL in her knee during a high school soccer game Sept. 7, 2007 before undergoing surgery that Oct. 23.
Junior forward Kaili McLaren started the second half against the Orange. UConn coach Geno Auriemma said that she will likely make her first start this season – 17th of her career – Monday when the Huskies meet No. 2 North Carolina in a highly anticipated showdown at the Dean Smith Center.
“It looks to me like that’s probably our best lineup for right now,’’ Auriemma said. “We’re going to have to change the way we play a little bit probably. We’re not going to be able to be as full court as much on defense and maybe not play as much man-to-man. I don’t know. But we’re a whole different team. You’ve got one less shooter out on the floor and one less ballhandler.’’
The loss of Doty also further shortens what has not been a long list for reserves for UConn. Aside from McLaren, only freshman guard Tiffany Hayes and sophomore guard Lorin Dixon had been logging at least 15.6 minutes off the bench.
Junior Meghan Gardler (10.9 minutes) and senior Tahirah Williams (10.0) may now be relied on to assume a more enhanced role.
“I can check the waiver wire, but it doesn’t work that way in college so you’ve got to go with what you’ve got,’’ Auriemma said. “We have some guys coming off the bench that can play. I thought Meghan played great (Saturday). She gave us a lot of good minutes. And Lorin and Tiffany are going to have to play better. We’ll see. March is going to come whether we adjust to it or not. So we’ve just got to be ready when March comes.’’
In the wake of losing Greene and Thomas last season, the Huskies still finished 36-2 and reached the Final Four. They scored 59 points and shot 57.1 percent from the field in the second half to blitz Syracuse Saturday. The response was pleasing to Auriemma, something he hopes continues.
“We’ll have to kind of adapt and go from there,’’ Auriemma said. “We might ultimately be a zone team. We’ve been trying to play man-to-man all the time. Maybe we’re a zone team. Maybe we were destined to be a zone team. With the two big guys inside, it gives us a whole different look.’’
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Today’s game was interesting enough before the postgame handshake lines were formed at the XL Center following the Huskies’ 107-53 beat-down of Syracuse. There were two technical fouls. There were numerous elbows thrown. And there were bodies hitting the ground with no call at all at some points.
All-American Maya Moore was on the receiving end of much of the rough play, including a sequence where she ended up on her back after a tie-up with Nicole Michael with 11:52 left in the game. Maya was later called for a block when she was run over by Michael in the lane with 6:26 left and Maya drew a charge on Michael with 5:56 left.
This rough stuff did not sit well with Geno Auriemma. He was hit with a technical foul with 6:08 left for voicing his opinion to referee Bryan Brunette. After the game he exchanged words with Michael after passing her in the handshake line. He then stumbled near midcourt as he passed Michael again. It appeared that she stuck her foot out in an attempt to trip the Hall of Famer.
Geno again turned in Michael’s direction before being restrained. Renee Montgomery would grab him by the arm to lead him toward the locker room. It was a wild set of events that capped a wild couple of hours.
“Kids do funny things when they lose, and everybody’s different,’’ Auriemma said. “They were (angry) that they lost by 50 so they didn’t want to have any part of shaking hands. None. Zero. They were not interested in it at all. I hope my players don’t do that. I hope my players, win or lose, if you’re going to be in line you need to do what you do when you’re in line, otherwise don’t be in line.’’
Geno did not go into further detail about the incident during his postgame comments. Montgomery wanted no part of it when she was asked.
“Renee was just aggravated the whole game,’’ Geno said. “She had this little chip on her shoulder the whole game. I think I stepped on somebody’s foot. I stumbled or something and she thought that somebody whacked me or something.’’
One thing was certain is that Geno’s postgame involvement with Michael did not go unnoticed by the Huskies. They already knew he had their back in situations like this. This was just another example of his admiration for them.
“He’s just a guy that takes pride in Connecticut and he takes pride in his program,’’ Tina Charles said. “He’s the type of guy that I know he’s not going to let anything get away. So the way he acted I wasn’t surprised.’’
“Coach is definitely someone who cares about his players,’’ Maya said. “He’s going to fight for us any way you can and he’s going to always be there for us.’’

Rich

Huskies coach Geno Auriemma will appear on the 2009 Pride, Passion and Power show Sunday on CBS at 3 p.m. The segment will feature N.C. State coach Kay Yow and many other coaches and players as they reflect on Coach Yow’s life, her faith, her legacy and the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.
Yow, 66, is again battling Stage 4 breast cancer. It was announced Jan. 6 that she would not be rejoining her team this season due her battle that began when she was first diagnosed in 1987. The disease recurred during the 2004-05 season and she was forced to miss two games. She also missed 16 games during the 2006-07 season that ended with a loss to UConn in the NCAA regional semifinals in Fresno, Calif.
Associate head coach Stephanie Glance is serving as the interim coach for the Wolfpack.
“When someone is going through something like this, and it became a story around the country that Kay Yow was battling cancer and everyone rallied around the event and we tried to make it so that it
would generate awareness for it,’’ Geno said. “But in doing that sometimes, people forget the actual thing that we’re talking about – a person is fighting for their life. Now you get reminded it’s a very difficult fight to win. It’s hard to fight that battle and coach at the same time. I’ve known Kay for 30-something years now and you hope this is temporary. But you also knew it was probably a matter of time before this happened. Maybe not having that stress level and that responsibility will give her more energy and more opportunity to take care of herself.’’
Geno will also appear on the ESPN Sunday Conversation during the 11 p.m. SportsCenter.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, an ultra talented 6-foot sophomore guard at Mater Dei High in California, is making an unofficial visit to UConn this weekend. It will be a busy couple of days for Mosqueda-Lewis, who is also competing in the HoopHall Classic at Springfield College.

Rich

It is never hard to gauge the leadership value All-American Maya Moore has on this team. Just a sophomore, she is savvy with the media. She’s not afraid to expose what the Huskies did wrong in a certain game and what needs to be fixed. And she’s not afraid to criticize her own game as well. She is everything Geno Auriemma could ask for in a tri-captain.
Tuesday’s 15-point victory over DePaul was anything but pretty. It was filled with stretches where the Huskies looked like the best team in the nation and others where they looked like a team locked in a rebuilding season. And what it most puzzling about their collective effort was that most of the deficiencies came at the offensive end.
This is a team that entered the game leading the nation in scoring (88.2) and field goal shooting percentage (.543). DePaul was feisty and it battled throughout. But there were too many instances when UConn did not look like UConn.
The Huskies tied their season-low with 77 points. They committed 18 turnovers – six by All-American point guard Renee Montgomery. They shot just 46.7 percent from the field, including 35.5 percent in the second half. The second half shooting was their worst in any of the 32 halves this season.
And UConn also suffered through a scoreless stretch of 6:04 in the second half and went 4:33 without a field goal in the first half. Needless to say, Moore, who scored just two points in 16 minutes in the second half, was not pleased.
“You’re always going to have some error and something you want to work on,’’ she said. “But we just don’t want to see the same things over and over again. We want to be making improvement, and there are things that we should have mastered along the way. You’ve got to nip those things in the bud because this is January and we want to go ahead and move forward. Our offensive flow should have I think been a little smoother than it was (Tuesday). Just little things with screens. More on the mental side.’’
The Huskies had DePaul on the ropes once in each half where it could have turned the game into a rout. Each time it self-destructed. They opened the game 10-of-14 from the field and built a 25-14 lead with 12:04 left in the first half. But they missed their next five shots, committed three turnovers and were held without a field goal for thee next 4:33. DePaul closed to within 28-20 before the Huskies countered with a 12-4 run.
UConn later opened the second half with a 16-6 run to take a 63-38 lead with 15:04 left. Again, a lull ensued. It missed its next six shots and committed five turnovers in a scoreless spell of 6:04. It missed nine of 10 shots and had six turnovers during DePaul’s 15-3 run that cut the lead to 13 with 7:16 left.
The Huskies were never in any danger of losing. The differential in talent was too immense for that to happen. But come Monday at No. 2 North Carolina they could find themselves in some real danger.
“Our energy level, I think, can be responsible for picking up the amount of points that we’ll score,’’ Maya said. “I think it’s one of those points in the season where you have to continue to push and continue to not let up. And we’re not realizing that with one play, one defensive mistake, one offensive error, our momentum can leave that quickly and we have to fight to get it back. And it’s tough. We’re realizing that it is tough to maintain that energy level, but I’m pretty confident that the team will respond.’’
UConn has one more warm-up game – Saturday against Syracuse at the XL Center – before heading to Tobacco Road. It will be interesting to se how they execute against the Orange.

Kudos go out to Geno. He recently informed former walk-on Jacquie Fernandes that she will be on scholarship again next year in her final season with the Huskies. That makes her 4-for-4. Congratulations.

Rich

Maya Moore has had many coaches throughout her decorated career who have left a footprint on her progress. She ran into one tonight at Gampel Pavilion when the Huskies faced DePaul. Blue Demons coach Doug Bruno was the head coach of the USA U-19 team in 2007, of which Maya was a member.
Maya had nothing but fine comments to say about Bruno and her experience playing for him just months before she made her debut at UConn.
“I love Coach Bruno,’’ Moore said. “He’s a great guy. I think he’s similar to Coach Auriemma in that they’re both really passionate about the game. They both have very high expectations. They’re just very competitive guys. I think he helped prepare me to come in to the University of Connecticut. Just his toughness and playing for him was fun. He gave us a lot of opportunity I think more than anything, just to go in there and dominate like we knew we could. With that 3-4 spot that (Stanford’s) Kayla (Pedersen) and I both play. He put a lot of demands (on us). He’s going to expect us to defend on the perimeter. He’s going to expect us to rebound no matter what position that we’re playing. But I like demanding coaches because you have to provide for them or otherwise they’re not going to be happy.’’
Maya made the most of her time with Bruno, leading Team USA to the gold medal and a 9-0 record at the FIBA U-19 World Championship in Bratislava, Slovakia. She averaged a team-high 16.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She scored in double figures in every game and also led the team in minutes (23.2).
Maya followed that performance with an All-American freshman season with the Huskies. And she’s continued to dominate.
“The impact that a coach can have on a player in that limited amount of time that they have it depends on the player and what they take from it and it’s mostly a matter of confidence,’’ Geno said. “And I think Doug’s the kind of coach that gives you confidence. He gives his players confidence. He coaches from a player’s standpoint and he allows his players to play with a sense of freedom. When I watch him work with players he’s just one of those guys that encourages you to do what you’re really good at it and gives you the freedom to do that. He put a lot of responsibility on Maya’s shoulders even though she may have been young and a very experienced international player. I think from an early point he put a lot of responsibility on her shoulders and Maya likes that. And Doug did that.’’

My prayers go out to the family of Angelo and Meghan Culmo. Angelo lost his mother, Kay, last Friday following a five-year battle with cancer. Calling hours will be held tomorrow at the Jenkins-King Funeral Home in Ansonia from 4-8 p.m. A funeral service will be held Thursday at the Holy Rosary Church in Ansonia at 10 a.m., and a burial will ensue at the Pine Grove Cemetery in Ansonia.

Rich

The Huskies returned to Gampel Pavilion today for practice. That was nothing new. They have made their way into the gym to get some work in several times over the past few weeks. But when they host DePaul, and Geno’s good friend Doug Bruno, tomorrow night it will have been a long time since the nation’s top team played on its true home court.
UConn has not played a game at Gampel since routing Holy Cross 96-37 Dec. 3. That will a span of 41 days since the Huskies have been able to simply exit their own locker room, hang a right and burst through the doors and onto the court. They had a 33-day break between games at Gampel last season, a 55-day break in 2005-06, a 34-day break in 2004-05 and a 39-day break in 2003-04. So this is not highly unusual.
Maya Moore said following practice today that the Huskies are looking forward to getting back on their court again.
“It will be nice to come back home and be on our familiar court,’’ she said. “I think we have to take pride in our home court and defend it. So it’s going to give us a little extra motivation to defend our home court. I think we’re back used to it. Practice today … We’re familiar with our home court again. I know it’s been a while.’’
Any relief of playing at Gampel won’t last, though. UConn will face Syracuse at the XL Center Saturday before traveling to No. 2 North Carolina next Monday and to Cincinnati Jan. 25. Its next game at Gampel will be against No. 7 Louisville Jan. 26.
The schedule has been choppy for the Huskies. They played five of their first six games at home before embarking on a five-game road trip to NYC, Mexico and South Carolina. Two home games were then followed by two road games. The same will apply this week, and it will lack flow until UConn plays four of its final six games at home to end the regular season.
“Sometimes I don’t understand the Big East portion of the schedule and how it falls,’’ coach Geno Auriemma said. “But it does seem kind of awkward. I don’t know what the flow is. I guess with the new TV thing when you play that Tuesday night (Big East Game of the Week), that’s kind of changed everything. I liked it when it was Wednesday-Saturday, Wednesday-Saturday, Wednesday-Saturday and you were good with that, and it kind of flowed. Now it’s Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday. You’re all over the map and it makes it a little more difficult. Not as bad now because you’re on break, but once the school year starts again and because we have two buildings … Not many people have that issue. So we haven’t played here since Dec. 3. Now we’re going to play one game and then we’re right back to the (XL) Center. So you don’t even get to have any continuity there. So there’s challenges built in to our schedule and our situation. But, like I tell the players all the time, everybody’s got some issues. Every team’s got something that they’ve got to overcome, something that they’ve got to deal with on a regular basis.’’

Rich

The Huskies boarded their chartered flight home Saturday night feeling pretty good about themselves. Sure, there were some lapses in their 85-55 victory over West Virginia. Sure, they gave up as many as nine 3-pointers for the third time this season. But nobody’s perfect on this earth, and these are issues that Geno Auriemma will address in practice as the Big East portion of the schedule grinds on.
But for what minor warts this team possesses, UConn is 15-0 for the second straight season and for the seventh time since 1994-95. They are getting sensational contributions from Renee Montgomery and Maya Moore. Tina Charles is enjoying the best season of her career. Kalana Greene continues to progress from three off-season knee operations. And freshmen Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes have made an immediate impact.
Geno said the worst thing about this two-game swing to Tampa and Morgantown was that the new wedges that he brought with him to Tampa weren’t up to par. He said before the team left that he wanted to get some things accomplished this week. And he did. Mostly at the defensive end. UConn held South Florida, who had been the nation’s top scoring team to 37 points, 24.6 percent shooting and forced 26 turnovers. Saturday, it held West Virginia to 30.3 percent shooting in the second half.
“You know what was good? Because you don’t have a game Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and you don’t have class you do get a chance to spend a little extra time on certain things,’’ Geno said. “So we did some spend a little extra time on Thursday and Friday, and most of it was on the defensive end working on some of our rotations and our press and that sort of thing. And that was good because I think before that we were spending way too much time in our offense and as a result … the week of exams before we went and played Penn State each kid probably shot about 500 shots a day and then we go down there and we’re like 6-for-50. I don’t understand it sometimes. That’s why I don’t worry about it. As long as we’re playing good defense and rebounding the ball pretty well and playing pretty smart the other stuff will take care of itself.’’
Renee said she is pleased with the team’s focus right now. The Huskies are clearly the favorites to win the national championship at this juncture. They are shooting 54.3 percent from the field, which would be the best in team history. They are averaging 88.2 points, which would be third all-time. They are allowing an average of 53.3 points, which would be fourth all-time, and they are holding teams to 33.7 percent shooting, which would tie for sixth all-time.
Geno and his staff continually evaluate this team. He doesn’t look at it as if UConn is 15-0. He looks at every game as its own entity. It’s that “what have you done for me lately’’ type of thinking. And it’s this type of thinking that keeps the players striving to improve following each game. DePaul is next Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion.
“It’s important that you just play the games that you’re playing and you play the style of play that you’re playing against,’’ Geno said. “I think we’re getting better in some areas. I don’t like the fact that we gave up nine 3s (Saturday). So that’s kind of an issue that we need to keep addressing because that’s one area that could hurt you. But overall this is a great group of guys. It’s a great group of teammates. They enjoy each other’s company. They play well together. We’ve got great leadership. Our freshmen are really good. This is a really good group. Where they go from here, though, I don’t know. Tuesday’s a new day. Tuesday’s a new game against DePaul and then we reevaluate after every game. The way I look at it (this) morning is we won last night. Alright, now what did we do and what do we have to do better? So it’s like a series of evaluations after every single game. One thing we made a point of is we showed them some stats of the last four games. So sometimes we’ll take a block. But we don’t usually look at the whole 15 because sometimes with the competition early on it’s not really relevant. But if we keep it in short term, short blocks we can self-evaluate it. And so far I kind of like where we are.’’

Here are a couple of things Geno discussed in his postgame comments last night that was interesting.
Renee was 4-of-9 shooting from 3-point range (9-of-17 overall), but she passed up a couple of open 3s to instead drive to the basket.
“I hate when Renee passes up open 3s,’’ Geno said. “And I think when she has to pass them up I would like for her to make a good decision. Either pull-up and take like a 15-footer or when the opportunity is there take the ball to the basket. But Renee … Her confidence level has been since her freshman year and is now so high that she’ll just take the ball to the basket regardless, whether there’s an open 3 there or not. She just wants to get to rim sometimes and she makes up her mind to do that and that’s what she’s going to do. And we’re trying to make sure that she understands when to and when not to. But I’d like for there to be a balance. Some drives. Some pull-ups. Some 3s. She took nine 3s out of 17 shots. That’s probably a good ratio for her.’’

Caroline (eight points, three rebounds, two assists) played 23 minutes and did not start the second half. Tiffany (10 points, five rebounds, three assists) played a season-high 27 minutes. Tina (eight points, nine rebounds) played a season-low 14 minutes. Kaili McLaren (five points, five rebounds, two steals) played 20 minutes.
“With Tina there was no one out there that she could matchup with,’’ Geno said. “I don’t know that she took advantage of some of the situations that I think she had. And I thought that Kaili would be much more difficult for them to handle. And Tiffany … I just felt like defensively and in some other areas I thought she matched up better than Caroline did. And that’s probably what’s going to happen during the year. You’re going to have some guys who are going to matchup better than others and I’m glad we have the flexibility to be able to do that.’’

How about this stat: West Virginia had four assists and 17 turnovers. What?

As far as the doubleheader in San Antonio next season … UConn will play Texas and Tennessee will play Texas Tech. Team spokesman Randy Press took the time this weekend to officially clear up some confusion regarding Tennessee’s opponent at the site of next year’s Final Four. The Lady Vols will play Baylor at another event.

Rich