UConn women's basketball

Tina Charles had reached double figures in scoring in six straight games and was averaging 16.0 points in this stretch. She had posted two double-doubles, had nine rebounds in two other games and had been averaging 8.2 rebounds during this recent stretch too. And let’s not forget about the 2.0 blocks she was averaging.
There was no sign of a letdown coming Tuesday against Rutgers. Tina had been solid, exactly what the Huskies need from their starting center. But as unpredictable as her career has been, Tina reached her lowest point this season when she squared off against Kia Vaughn and the Scarlet Knights.
Her final numbers were stunning: A season-low two points on 1-of-6 shooting, a season-low two rebounds, one block, one steal and one turnover in 14 minutes. She sat out the final 8:17 of the first half and did not step on the floor in the second half until there was 10:08 left in the game.
Following practice today at Gampel Pavilion she discussed the problems she experienced in that game.
“Besides not making layups and not being aggressive and going after everything and just doing the things that Coach (Geno Auriemma) has been harping on since I was a freshman here ….,’’ Charles said. “You could say (it was everything). I don’t think there’s anything to be said. It’s just things to be done personally from me.’’
This performance came from the same player that finished with 29 points and 18 rebounds against Penn State at MSG Dec. 14. She followed that by scoring 29 against Washington four days later and had 21 points and 14 rebounds at South Carolina Dec. 28. And who could forget the 17-point, 12-rebound effort at then-No. 2 North Carolina. After witnessing these performances, the one against Rutgers just leaves you scratching your head.
At this point, Auriemma said he is hoping it was just an off-night.
“I thought during the Penn State game that that was maybe a real turning point for her that every game that we play there was a chance that something like that would happen,’’ Geno said. “Like a huge game like that. The Carolina game. I think Tina plays conservatively. I think she’s satisfied or content. I don’t know that she has in her mind the urgency every day to want to be at the end of the game looked at like we looked at her after that Penn State like, `Wow.’ And that’s the danger when you do it one time or you play those kinds of games like Penn State, like Carolina. And all of sudden you look up and it’s 16 points, nine rebounds pretty much every night. But I think the expectation level for what she could be was pretty evident during that Penn State game. And I think right now I’m hoping that the other night was just one of those things. You just don’t have it going. You struggle and you just don’t have it going.’’
Tina is averaging a career-high 15.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 23.5 minutes. She is also shooting a career-high 62.2 percent from the field.
The Huskies need Tina to be on more times than she not for them to truly be a great team. If she suffers through a game like she had against Rutgers against the wrong matchup in the NCAA tournament it could be dooming for UConn.
However, she did admit that she wasn’t surprised that she is still experiencing some inconsistency in her third season in the program.
“Surprised? I wouldn’t really say surprised,’’ Charles said. “I’ll just say that I am human. I’m not saying that I can’t be consistent, but I know I will be consistent. But there’s just times where I just can’t have games like this.’’
Geno said that the response that he’s seen from Tina and fellow post player Kaili McLaren, who had four points, one rebound, three fouls and two turnovers in 16 minutes against Rutgers, has been positive this week in practice.
“Obviously, they’re disappointed,’’ Auriemma said. “Sometimes it’s easy to say whatever you want to say. `Coach, this’ or `I didn’t feel this.’ You could look at a million different things, but when the stat sheet appears at the end of the game and the two of them combined for 30 minutes and they had three rebounds … That’s the same as Renee (Montgomery) got. So at some point you just say, `Look, guys, if you’re OK with that then we’ve got a problem here.’ So there’s got to be I think a higher expectation level than that. You get two guys play 30 minutes and you get three rebounds between the two of you … If they don’t recognize that, if they don’t know that then obviously it’s because they don’t want to. But I know they do. And I know they expect more of themselves.’’

Here’s some more reaction from Meghan Gardler’s inspired performance against Rutgers and what the Huskies need from her moving forward.
“More than anything we need her for her toughness,’’ said Maya Moore, who was named to the 2009 Academic All-District I University Division first-team Thursday.. “She comes in and she plays hard. She’s active. She knows she’s going to have to fight. She comes in almost like a wounded animal. Wounded animals are a lot more aggressive because they know they have a disadvantage. She comes in as a post with a height disadvantage, and she has to find a way to survive in there. As you saw against Rutgers, she got steals and forced turnovers. It might not show up so much in the stat sheet, but she got hands in passing lanes, an extra offensive rebound that leads to a 3 which sparks a run. It’s one more thing she can do that will turn the tide of the whole game that you might not see on the stat sheet.’’

Rich

Geno Auriemma stuck with Tina Charles for as long as he could in the first half Tuesday against Rutgers. He tried to give her a quick rest to possibly shake her from her funk with 14:25 left in the first half when he inserted Kaili McLaren into the post to battle Rutgers’ rugged 6-foot-4 center Kia Vaughn. That didn’t work either as Charles simply did not have it last night.
Auriemma finally put Charles on the bench again with 8:17 left in the half. She totaled two points (1-of-5 FG), two rebounds, one block and one turnover in 10 minutes, 19 seconds. McLaren was even worse for the Huskies in the half, generating two fouls, one turnover and missing all three shots she took in seven minutes, 57 seconds.
At this point an 11-point lead was down to 22-20 with 6:28 remaining before halftime. Associate head coach Chris Dailey and assistant coach Jamelle Elliott had told Auriemma that this was a game he had to find meaningful minutes for 6-foot junior forward Meghan Gardler. Gardler, who somehow regularly finds herself around the ball, has been producing in practice all season. But she had only been averaging 10.4 minutes in 14 games to this point.
Looking for someone to provide a spark, Auriemma turned to Gardler. And Gardler turned in the type of performance that Maya Moore would later say earned her team MVP honors for the game. She provided a boost the Huskies desperately needed, helping them take a 34-28 lead at halftime and then open a 20-point lead in the first 9:30 of the season half.
“I’m so proud of the way Meghan came in and was there for us,’’ Moore said. “She was undersized, but you couldn’t tell because she played at another energy level than everybody else. She came in fighting. She battled and got her hands on a lot of loose balls and deflections. I think when you have somebody that comes out there that just sets the tone for toughness it spreads to the rest of us. We needed that (Tuesday) and she came through for us.’’
Gardler, who started the second half in place of Charles, did not attempt a shot or score a point during the 14 minutes, five seconds she spent on the floor at the XL Center. She didn’t have to score to make an impact. She finished with two rebounds, three assists, three steals and zero turnovers.
In the final 6:28 of the first half, she had two steals, one assist, two offensive rebounds and battled Vaughn in the paint defensively. Gardler would generate two assists, a deflection that led to a turnover and a steal in the opening 6:16 of the second half as the Huskies pulled away.
“Meghan did (Tuesday) what she does every day at practice,’’ Auriemma said. “It’s just that nobody sees it. But she does that every single day in practice. I guess when you’re not tall enough and you’re not quick enough and you’re not fast enough and not athletic enough you have to do all the little things that help you be a good player. Meghan did that. But again, that’s nothing she hasn’t done every day in practice all year long. The way Meghan plays the game is the way it used to be played in the old days. When you’ve got four scorers out there and you out her out there she’s a great complement at times to what everybody else is doing. She made a couple great passes (Tuesday). But again, it is what she does. She’s used to doing that. In high school there were five Division I players on her team except her. So she’s used to not being the go-to guy. She’s used to being the guy who does all the dirty work, plays defense and makes the right pass at the right time.’’
Gardler walked off the floor to a loud ovation when she was replaced by McLaren with 13:44 left in the game. UConn led 48-35.
Following the game, she said that she didn’t have any idea that Auriemma was going to turn to her Tuesday.
“Sometimes the post players struggle,’’ Gardler said. “Sometimes they do great. And even when they have struggled he really hasn’t looked my way. So I was just waiting and waiting and I’ve just tried to believe that when he’s ready he’ll put me in. Now that I’m a junior I trust his judgment completely. He knows when he can use me and when he can’t. Against quicker teams like North Carolina and Louisville maybe I wouldn’t be as effective. But you never know until you go in there and you prove it. So I think I did prove it (Tuesday).’’
Gardler certainly did prove that she deserves some minutes in a Huskies’ rotation that is hardly deep. Charles has been prone to suffer through off days throughout her career. McLaren too. Gardler doesn’t have to provide scoring when she’s in the game. Not with Moore, Renee Montgomery, Tiffany Hayes and Kalana Greene on the floor with her.
She simply as to dig in at the defensive end, be smart with the ball offensively and make plays. It’s everything she did in what was a feel-good performance against Rutgers Tuesday.
“I think her confidence is really high right now,’’ Auriemma said. “Once you get to be a junior you’ve been through the program enough you kind of have an idea what the coaches are looking for and you go out and do those things. But confidence comes from practice, and that’s where she’s been great.’’
Said Greene: “We trust each other. That’s the one thing you need when there’s two minutes to go in the game and say, for instance, Tina’s not playing well. We’ve got to trust Meghan to go in the game. We know she can play in the spotlight against someone who is clearly almost a foot more taller than her it seems like – Kia Vaughn – and she’s going in there and holding her own, battling. She’s scrappy. So I think this gives our team confidence to know that when we put guys on the floor in clutch times that they’ll produce.’’

Montgomery has been named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award. The other finalists are: Jada Frazier (New Orleans), Rachel Galligan (Eastern Illinois), Shalee Lehning (Kansas State), Courtney Paris (Oklahoma), Koren Schram (Dartmouth), Takia Starks (Texas A&M), Kristi Toliver (Maryland), Abby Waner (Duke) and Christina Wirth (Vanderbilt).
The finalists will be placed on the official ballot for a nationwide vote beginning today and concluding March 22. Votes from coaches and media will be coupled with fan balloting to determine the recipient of the award.
Fans can vote online at www.seniorclassaward.com. And for the first time in the basketball division, text voting will also be available. To vote via text, fans can send the text code corresponding with the player of your choice to 839863. Renee’s code is WB4.

Rich

Geno Auriemma has decided to start freshman Tiffany Hayes tonight against Rutgers in place of sophomore Lorin Dixon. Dixon has a combined four points (1-of-8 FG), seven assists and six turnovers in the last three games since exploding for a career-high 14 points in her first start of the season at North Carolina Jan. 19.

Rich

On paper tonight’s UConn-Rutgers game does not have the same appeal as it did in recent years. Both teams are not ranked in the Top 5 or the Top 10. Both teams aren’t undefeated in the Big East.
The Huskies are unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the country. Rutgers is 12-7 overall and just 4-4 in the conference. But if you ask any of the Huskies this is still UConn-Rutgers and they are expecting a stiff challenge at the XL Center.
“I asked the players that,’’ coach Geno Auriemma said. “I said we can’t let their record decide how we approach the game. Usually when we play Rutgers the last four, five years it’s whoever wins those two games have won the Big East championship for the most part. And now they’re coming in here 4-4 and there’s a certain element of desperation on their part because I’m sure they don’t want their season to start slipping away. But we’re not focused on what their record is. It’s still Rutgers-Connecticut and regardless of what the records are, regardless of who’s doing what it’s still Rutgers-Connecticut and it’ll still be the same kind of game.’’
This is a rematch of last year’s NCAA Greensboro regional final, which UConn won 66-56 to advance to its first Final Four since 2004. The teams have split the last 10 games, with the Scarlet Knights busting up UConn’s 21-0 start last season at the RAC when Epiphanny Prince dropped in 33.
This the first time Rutgers is not ranked entering the game since Feb. 14, 2003 – snapping a string of 11 straight games in the series.
“No matter how their season’s been going they still have a really good coach and they have players on the team that have been to the Final Four,’’ Kalana Greene said. “And I’m pretty sure they don’t like the way things are going and they’re going to try to turn it around some time soon. So there’s loads more pressure on us because everyone’s expecting Rutgers to lose and if we don’t perform the way we want to it could be a big problem for us. So they’re desperate and they know how to get things done at certain times. They have players like that so we have to stay focused and stick to our game plan.’’

Former Rutgers star and current Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is expected to be in attendance tonight. But here’s the kicker: Renee Montgomery says that she believes he will be rooting for the top-ranked Huskies and not his alma mater.
“I’m thinking he’s rooting for UConn,’’ she said. “I assumed he was. He’s getting tickets from me so I’m thinking he’ll be cheering for UConn.’’
Renee said that her and Rice met through mutual friends. Rice is also friends with Rutgers senior Kia Vaughn. Renee and Vaughn were teammates on the 2006 U.S. U-20 national team.

Rich

Tiffany Hayes was named the Big East Freshman of the Week today. She helped the Huskies to wins over then-No. 6 Louisville 93-65 at home Jan. 26 and at Georgetown 80-61 Saturday.
Hayes averaged 18.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Hayes shot 50.0 percent from the field (12-of-24), including 9-of-18 from 3-point range. She recorded a season-high 23 points, while shooting 8-of-13 from the field and 6-of-10 from 3-point range against Louisville . In the Georgetown win, Hayes added 14 points and six rebounds. She has posted double-figure points in nine games this season, including the last three straight.
“I’m honored to win something like that,” Hayes said. “I never even knew it was coming.”

Geno Auriemma will auction a game-worn Brioni tie following each home game this month to benefit the Kay Yow Foundation. Fans can place a bid at www.genoscancerteam.com. Each auction will last six days.

Rich