UConn women's basketball

The wait seems like it will finally come to an end for junior point guard Lorin Dixon tomorrow against No. 2 Stanford. Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said following practice today that Dixon will play in the nationally televised showdown.
Dixon has missed the first nine games this season due to a strained left hamstring. The injury occurred in UConn’s exhibition finale against Vanguard Nov. 9.
“She’s practiced yesterday and today and she’s going to give it shot,’’ Auriemma said. “And we’ll see where it goes.’’

There are approximately 1,000 tickets remaining for tomorrow’s game at the XL Center at 5:30 p.m. And a limited number of tickets remain as part of the UConn’s special “Buy 1, Get 1 Free’’ on-line holiday ticket promotion.
Tickets orders can be placed by logging on to http://www.uconnhuskies.com/ and clicking on the “Buy Tickets’’ link in the Ticket Center. Fans can then click the “Promotion’’ link and then type in promo code (HUSKIES). This promotion will close on Wednesday at 1 p.m. or when the ticket supply is exhausted.
The XL Center box office will be open beginning at noon tomorrow for walk-up ticket sales. Fans can purchase tickets at the main ticket windows throughout the afternoon leading up to the game.
Aside from the game, UConn’s 1999-00 national championship team will be inducted into the Huskies of Honor during a ceremony at halftime. Svetlana Abrosimova Sue Bird, Marci Czel, Stacy Hansmeyer, Kennitra Johnson, Asjha Jones, Shea Ralph, Christine Rigby, Kelly Schumacher, Paige Sauer and Keirsten Walters are all expected to be on hand.

Click here to buy your UConn-Stanford tickets: https://ev9.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/evenue/ev69/se/DisplayPromoList.d2w/report?linkID=uconn&RSRC=&RDAT=&caller=PR>

Rich

The Worldwide Leader is stepping up its coverage for Wednesday’s marquee matchup between No. 1 UConn and No. 2 Stanford at the XL Center (5:30 p.m.).
ESPN has announced it will air a special 30-minute edition of the College Basketball Scoreboard show, which will be hosted by Trey Wingo, at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. Carolyn Peck and Kara Lawson will be in studio with Wingo.
The network has also switched the on-air talent for the game to Dave O’Brien (play-by-play) and Doris Burke (color). Rebecca Lobo will serve as a sideline reporter. Beth Mowins and Peck were originally slated to call the game.

Below are a few comments regarding the game from Lawson and Peck.

What are UConn’s keys to winning the game?
Lawson: “Success in early offense. Make Stanford guards be the playmakers and limit number of turnovers.’’
Peck: “UConn needs to be efficient with their transition offense. They should use their speed. Post transition will be key to watch. Defend the post 1-on-1, collapsing in on the post will leave too many 3-point shooters open. The Huskies will need to stay in the attack mode and get to the free throw line.’’

What are Stanford’s keys to winning the game?
Lawson: “Pound the paint and glass; control UConn runs (Transition D) and handle pressure.’’
Peck: “Defend the paint points. Tina Charles and Maya Moore can cause some trouble in that area, but also Kalana Greene off the dribble and rebounding. Force UConn to take MORE perimeter shots and limit 2nd chance opportunities. Limit transition points given up due to turnovers. Hit perimeter shots to keep things open in the paint.’’

Jayne Appel vs. Tina Charles
Lawson: “Appel is the most complete offensive post player in the country. She runs the floor hard every time. She is a great passer and has tremendous feel for the game. Appel is very, very physical. Charles is a game changer. She can control both ends of the floor with her presence, athleticism, and rebounding ability. She’s a very active defender. She must set the tone early in the game.’’
Peck: “Appel is versatile being able to use her left hand as well as her right. She is one of the best post passers in the game. She sees the floor extremely well out of double- and triple-teams. Charles has gained some meanness to her game throughout her career. She is quick and has tremendous footwork. She can also score in a number of different ways, expanding her game to the free throw line area, and taking it off the dribble.’’

ESPN Radio is currently collecting votes for the Connecticut Coach of the Decade on its two websites. Log on to http://www.espnradio1410.com/pages/jox/back_page.html or http://www.espnradio1300.com/pages/jox/back_page.html to place your vote.

Also, Huskies’ sophomore guard Caroline Doty will be a guest of Jason Page on The Back Page on ESPN Radio AM 1410/1300 Tuesday at 4:45 p.m.

Rich

Meghan Gardler will not earn the national acclaim that is showered on her All-American teammates Maya Moore and Tina Charles. The only game Gardler likely will start in her career is expected to be on Senior Night.
But what Gardler, a 6-foot forward, lacks in star power she makes up for it with hustle, grit and determination. She has been one of the most pleasant surprises to date this season for the Huskies. And just days away from this season’s most anticipated regular season game between UConn and Stanford at the XL Center, she delivered her best performance of the year in a win over Iona Sunday.
Gardler finished with 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting, six rebounds (two offensive), one assist and two steals and 26 minutes. She established career-highs in scoring, minutes and made field goals.
“Right now I’m really excited because I had a hard summer, a hard beginning of the season,’’ Gardler said. “And I just really tried to focus and step into the role that Coach (Geno Auriemma) wanted me to fill. Our bench isn’t very deep so I’m just trying to give us as many weapons as possible going into the games when it’ll the matter most.’’
Gardler is averaging 6.7 points and 4.1 rebounds in 19.7 minutes. Her previous career-bests were 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds as a sophomore in 2007-08 and 10.5 minutes last season.
She had reached double figures just once – 14 at Purdue Jan. 6, 2008 – in 93 games over her first three years. Gardler has three such games in nine games this season.
“I always hoped that she would be what she is right now,’’ Auriemma said. “That’s why I took the chance I did. I took the chance because I’ve known her all her life. I know what her strengths are. I know what her weaknesses are. I know every bad thing about Meghan there is to know and I know every good thing about Meghan there is to know. And I always hoped when I first talked to her about coming here that at some point in her career she would get to this point. It’s not a surprise to me what she’s doing. I’m just happy that it’s happening right now. I wish it would’ve happened earlier and more often. But it’s here and I’m happy for her. And I’m going to reward her for it and I’m going to take advantage of it.’’
Gardler had also played at least 20 minutes in six games this season, including in each of the last four games. This bump in playing time comes after she had played as many as 20 minutes in a game just four times the past three seasons.
The only other reserve currently averaging more minutes than Gardler is freshman Kelly Faris (22.3).
While the Huskies have hardly faced the most daunting teams on their schedule, Gardler has reached a point where Auriemma has confidence using her in various situations. Arguably, her biggest test will come against Stanford Wednesday.
“I’m not going to hesitate to put Meghan in any situation at any time,’’ Auriemma said. “She’s a coach on the floor at this point. Without her some of those other guys out there would be lost. She does the thinking for all of them because some of those guys just play. They don’t necessarily think about (things). Meghan’s playing a lot of minutes for a reason. Trust me.’’

The Huskies set a team record today when they were ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press national poll for the 31st straight week. They were ranked No. 1 for 30 straight weeks Nov. 9, 1999- Jan. 15, 2001.
Louisiana Tech holds the record of 36 weeks at the top (1980-82). Don’t expect Auriemma to begin a countdown to the all-time mark.
“That’s the kind of stuff you guys probably keep track of because it’s part of what your job entails I guess,’’ Auriemma said.` `If you asked anybody on our staff or anybody on our team I don’t know that they’d be aware of any of that. We have six national championships. That’s easy to remember. The other stuff is hard. So I try not to think about the other stuff.’’

Rich

There has been some talk around the country concerning UConn’s early season schedule. The Huskies have played just one ranked team through their first nine games. And after dispatching Iona 90-35 tonight at Gampel Pavilion, their margin of victory is 45.9.
However, coach Geno Auriemma doesn’t care much about what others are saying regarding the Huskies’ schedule. All he knows is that it will get more challenging in the coming weeks.
“When we don’t guard people very well that bothers me,’’ Auriemma said. “When we don’t rebound the ball very well or we miss guys that are wide open that bothers me. You play who you’re scheduled to play. I’m not worried about it. When the NCAA tournament comes around, everybody will be playing the same schedule.’’
Despite the lopsided outcomes UConn was ranked fifth in strength of schedule and second in RPI by CollegeRPI.com prior to the start of play Sunday. And beginning with Wednesday’s nationally televised showdown with No. 2 Stanford at the XL Center, the Huskies will play eight of their final 21 regular-season games again teams currently ranked in the Top 25 in The Associated Press national poll, including six against those ranked in the Top 10, and five against teams that are receiving votes.

Auriemma said that he expects all but two players from the 1999-00 national championship team to be present Wednesday when they become the second team inducted into the Huskies of Honor program during a halftime celebration. The unbeaten 1994-95 team was inducted last season.
Swin Cash and Tamika (Williams) Raymond are not expected to be in attendance. Cash is playing professionally in China. Raymond, who is an assistant coach at Kansas, has a game at Houston Tuesday night.
“I think they’re the only two,’’ Auriemma said. “When we put this thing together, we didn’t know which game it was going to be possible. We had a couple of different scenarios. And because a lot of them come home for Christmas that seemed to be the one that worked the best. There’s very, very few times when you can get all those people in the same country it seems. Now, when we have the reception for the 2002 team that’ll be a hoot.’’
Auriemma is hosting a get-together for the team at his house Tuesday night.

There are approximately 1,500 tickets remaining for the game against Stanford. The last sellout at the venue was in what was likely the final regular season game against Tennessee Jan. 6, 2007.
As part of a holiday promotion, fans have the opportunity to purchase tickets on a “Buy 1, Get 1 Free’’ basis. For each ticket purchased (up to a maximum of 8), fans will receive an additional ticket free of charge.
Orders can be placed by logging on to www.UConnHuskies.com and clicking on the “Buy Ticket’’ link in the Ticket Center. The next step is to click on the “Promotions’’ link and then type in the promo code (Huskies).
A limited number of promotional tickets remain.

Rich

Iona trailed by 16 with 5:17 left before dropping a 64-56 decision to Georgia State Friday at home to fall to 3-6. The Gaels, who have lost two straight games and five of six, shot just 34.4 percent from the field and were 3-of-17 from 3-point range.
On the season, they are shooting 35.4 percent and averaging 60.4 points and 23.1 turnovers. Only one healthy player averages more than 7.9 points. Iona has already suffered an 80-45 loss at No. 4 Notre Dame Nov. 22 and Gaels coach Tony Bozzella said that leading scorer Thazina Cook (13.4) will miss her second straight game tonight against UConn due to plantar fasciitis. He also said that he does not expect the game to be remotely close. His honesty is entirely refreshing.
Bozzella is not the least bit pleased with how the Gaels are playing at this point. And he did not hold anything back when summing up where they stand.
“It’s going to be a very ugly game,’’ Bozzella said. “I’m not going to lie to you. I’m not very happy with how we’re playing. I’m hoping this environment will put us into a better mind frame to where we can play better together. Once we get thrashed like we are going to this will wake them up and say, `Listen, it’s great that you have a lot of close losses, but now you have lost by 70. And the reason is you aren’t playing well together.’ It will be a good lesson for us. We need to get our kids to understand, `As good as you are as individual players at our level, you still need to play better together.’ We’re going to have a tremendous amount of problems because our team chemistry and our ability to play together has been so poor. To be competitive, and by that I mean only lose by 40-50, you have to make shots. We are the worst shooting team in the league right now. We have confident players, but they aren’t making shots. We’re going to be in a real difficult situation on (tonight).’’
Bozzella has taken his lumps before at Gampel Pavilion. He was on the wrong end of a 101-29 loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament March 17, 2001 when he was the head coach at Long Island. Like virtually every other coach that has come in and been administered a beating at the hands of UConn, this is a game he wants to play because he truly hopes it will help his team.
“When UConn inquired about playing we thought it would be great,’’ Bozzella said. “It’s great to be able to play the best especially in that environment, and Geno (Auriemma) is a wonderful man. I played UConn in the NCAA Tournament when I was at LIU, and Geno has treated me with tremendous respect. He is one of the few big-time coaches who will say hello to you and talk to you and talk to you like another coach rather than how some of the other big-time coaches treat you like (garbage).
“I wanted to play them for a lot of reasons, but more than ever this is important to us. When UConn is up 45, you watch how hard they play and how well they play together. Their kids aren’t trying to get their own and be selfish. We just aren’t like that right now. We have a great group of kids, but in terms of basketball togetherness we are terrible. That’s why I’m looking forward to (tonight) because hopefully it will wake us up a little bit. The score is going to be 60, 70, 75… it is what it is. But watch how they play together. When they are up 52-11, they are still diving on the floor for loose balls. They are still making the extra pass. There is no one shooting just because she hasn’t scored yet. They don’t play that way. That’s what we are going to learn from this.’’

Former Quinnipiac star Ashlee Kelly is in her first season as an assistant coach with the Gaels. She spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Mercy.

Rich

Junior point guard Lorin Dixon never anticipated that she would be sidelined for up to six weeks when she suffered a strained left hamstring Nov. 9. She said following practice today that the current plan is for her to make her season debut is Sunday against Iona.
Dixon said she did not want her first game to come against No. 2 Stanford Wednesday. She participated in some halfcourt drills today.
“The plan is for me to play tomorrow,’’ Dixon said. “So whatever game I do come back in and play, whether it be tomorrow or whether it be Stanford or maybe not until January. But I think the plan is for me to actually play tomorrow.
“I honestly didn’t think I’d be out for more than a week and a half to two weeks. So for it to be dragging on for this long it’s kind of irritating. It bothers be a lot. But you’ve just got to sit back and watch. It’s a healing process. You don’t want to come back too soon and get hurt and be out for the season.’’
Dixon thought a return against Iona would be more definitive. She was a full participant in practice Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before suffering a setback Friday.
Dixon saw limited action Friday and Saturday.
“She actually did a couple halfcourt drills today and she actually did a couple things during the week,’’ Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “I think there wasn’t any improvement on it so she’s just worried that she might have tweaked it again. But she did halfcourt stuff today and she said she felt pretty good. So we’ll see at shootaround tomorrow and then we’ll go from there.’’

Freshman Kelly Faris sustained broken nose playing defense in practice Friday and will be wearing a protective mask Sunday.

The UConn coaching staff was busy recruiting this week. A source said that Marisa Moseley went to check out Brianna Banks, a 5-9 junior guard from Newnan, Ga. who also played in the same AAU program as Tiffany Hayes. Chris Dailey went to see Breana Stewart, a 6-4 sophomore post player from North Syracuse, N.Y. And Auriemma went to see UConn-bound guard Bria Hartley and Betnijah Laney, a 6-foot junior wing from Smyrna (Del.). Shea Ralph went to the Tournament of Champions in Arizona.

Rich

The ticket supply for games against two Top 10 teams at Gampel Pavilion next month is growing short.
UConn announced today that there are less than 200 tickets remaining for the game against No. 9 North Carolina Jan. 9 and less than 500 tickets remaining for the game against No. 4 Notre Dame Jan. 16.
Fans can purchase tickets to see these games by logging on to www.UConnHuskies.com or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

Click here to buy your Notre Dame tickets: <http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D00433ECA683F20?artistid=848112&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=7>

Click here to buy your North Carolina tickets: <http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D00433ECA0D3F09?artistid=848112&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=7>

Rich

Here’s the link for today’s one-hour chat: