Junior All-American Maya Moore was named the Big East Player of the Week for the first time this season today. Stunningly, it is just the third time in her career that she has been honored by the conference in this manner.
Moore won the award once as a freshman (March 4, 2008) and once last season (Jan. 19, 2009) despite earning national Player on the Year honors. She was honored this time after finishing with 23 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks in 34 minutes in the Huskies’ 80-68 victory over No. 2 Stanford last Wednesday.
Looking back at the game against the Cardinal, one of Moore’s assists was absolutely ridiculous. You know the one. The bounce pass that she made to Kalana Greene for a layup with 8:06 left in the game. The bounce pass that she delivered after catching – and controlling – a pass from Kelly Faris with her back to the baseline and without both feet on the ground and defenders in the area. The bounce pass she delivered to Greene without completely seeing her path to the basket. Moore just sensed where Greene would be. Yeah, that one.
Here’s Moore’s take on the latest head-spinning play by the nation’s top player.
“I was running down the floor,’’ Moore said. “I love running. Kelly Faris is a great passer. She gave me a pass, just kind of leading me ahead, and I saw that I had two defenders kind running with me. So as I went up in the air to catch it I saw Kalana doing the same thing … running the floor. So I just tried to slash it in between. And it was kind of a high pass, but Kalana … She’s ridiculous. She can catch and finish in all kinds of ways. I knew once I got it through the defenders that Kalana was going to finish. So it was just one of those momentum plays that just … And the crowd went crazy so we love that.’’
The play was nothing new for Huskies’ coach Geno Auriemma. With Moore in her third season now, he’s grown accustomed to seeing her make plays that are out of the ordinary.
“I want to look at it on video and make sure it was a pass,’’ Auriemma said. “That she wasn’t trying to shoot it. But I’ve seen her make plays like that. I love watching her when she’s in those transition areas because she just has incredible instincts.’’
Rich
