Lorin Dixon has not practiced or played in a game since suffering a strained left hamstring against Vanguard Nov. 9. Kaili McLaren was forced to miss the season opener against Northeastern Nov. 14 with an injury to her right foot. This week Jacquie Fernandes missed several days of practice and Friday’s game against Hofstra due to an illness.
This is hardly a pity party for the top-ranked Huskies. Yes, they have yet to be at full strength this season. But they have still managed to win their first five games by 48.4 points. And, frankly, Geno Auriemma thinks that not having a full complement of players in practice has proved to be beneficial.
The Huskies have had no choice but to pay attention to the things Auriemma is implementing and to make sure that the execution is at a high level. Another benefit for the players is that Auriemma has not buried them with grueling three-hour practices due to the lack of numbers.
Entering today’s game against Clemson in the finale of the WBCA Classic, Auriemma said he is very pleased with the focus of this team right now. Of course, it varies day to day. But, generally speaking, it has been right where he hoped it would be at this point as the Huskies take aim at a second straight national championship.
“For me I have to make sure it’s the kind of practices that kind of feed into that kind of focus because like any other kids today I don’t know that they lock in for a whole season or for a whole month,’’ Auriemma said. “To me, with kids today it’s like day to day. You might have them today and if you’re not careful you won’t have them tomorrow. So so far they’ve been really, really good about that. They pay attention. They listen. They’re picking things up pretty quickly. We don’t have them all in practice. We don’t have real long practices. We get done what we have to get done and then we’re off of there. So they know that they have to get it and they’re getting it. It’s been a pleasure so far.’’
Richmond coach Michael Shafer said after the game last night that he did not want to give the Huskies layups. He wanted to force them to make shots from the perimeter. It was a pick-your-poison type of thing, and the strategy didn’t work as UConn set a team record for a half by making 10 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 13 in the game on 21 attempts.
Caroline Doty was 5-for-7 from 3-point range. Maya Moore was 3-for-5. Tiffany Hayes was 2-for-3. Kelly Faris was 2-for-4. And Meghan Gardler was 1-for-2. The final total tied for fifth-most all-time in team history.
“We did not want them to get layups,’’ Shafer said. “I felt if we could make them shoot the ball from the perimeter as opposed to shooting from the inside that the odds were in our favor. We did not intend to give them open shots, and I thought that’s exactly what happened. We didn’t contest their shooters and they hit them. When we did contest they actually missed a couple, which was shocking in the first half.’’
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