If this was any other team in the country the lack of success from beyond the 3-point arc might be cause for great concern. But not with the top-ranked Huskies, who have simply found other means of generating offense and continuing what could ultimately evolve into a record-setting winning streak.
UConn is 15-of-66 from 3-point range over the last three games (.227), but it is still averaging 82.7 points over this stretch. And the Huskies are just 26-of-111 from 3-point range over the last six games (.234) since making a season-high 13 in 21 attempts against Richmond Nov. 29. Still, they are averaging 83.2 points over this stretch.
“We, obviously, want to be shooting better,’’ All-American Maya Moore said. “Like always, the competitors in us want to knock down every 3 we shoot. But we know we can’t rely on that and I think because they’re not falling we can become more confident in our overall game. And that’s really realistic too because down the road we have to be prepared for off nights and we have to know that we can fire it inside to Tina (Charles). I can post up. Kaili (McLaren) can get in there. Kalana (Greene) can drive it or Tiffany (Hayes) can get in there and we can still be effective. So it’s just kind of how you look at it. We’ve been getting good things out of it, but it’ll be really exciting when they do start falling again.’’
Caroline Doty is 3-of-15 over the last three games and 6-of-22 over the last six. Hayes is 3-of-17 and 5-of-31, respectively. Moore is 6-of-22 and 8-of-33, while Kelly Faris is 0-of-5 and 1-of-11, with a streak of seven straight missed 3-pointers dating back to the first half against Vermont Dec. 3.
“They will get better,’’ Moore said. “I’m not saying that `Well, if it happens … If it stays this way …’ It’s going to get better. We can’t stay in a slump forever.’’
If UConn’s accuracy does not improve it could face lot more zone defenses as the season progresses. Florida State is normally a man-to-man team. Yet, the Seminoles played primarily zone against the Huskies Monday when they finished 5-of-21 from beyond the arc.
“If they look at our 3-point shooting the last couple games they’re going to want to play zone,’’ coach Geno Auriemma said. “But I’ve got to believe any day now that’s going to change, especially since we stopped shooting them in practice. So you know we’re going to start making them. That’s kind of how it works. We shot more 3s leading into both the Stanford game and that (Florida State) game than we have in the last five years. And we didn’t make any of them. But we had 41 points at halftime against Florida State and we played, `eh.’ So I’m not worried about scoring points, whether it’s man-to-man or zone. I’m not worried about it.’’
The Huskies are ranked 10th in the Big East in 3-point shooting percentage (.318) heading into Saturday’s game against Seton Hall. But they are first in overall field goal shooting percentage (.537) by a wide margin over second-place Notre Dame (.459). This is largely due to their about to score inside and in transition.
UConn has amassed 290 points (48.3) in the paint and 97 points in transition (16.2) over the last six games.
“It’s easy to just come down and take the first 3 that you get,’’ Auriemma said. “And it’s a fine line. Do you tell Tiffany and Caroline and Maya, `Hey, don’t shoot that. Throw it inside.’ Yeah, there comes a point in time where you have to throw the ball inside. So we came up with a couple scenarios (Thursday) of when we need to shoot the 3, when we need to pass it inside, what we need to do. And we’re still going to shoot … One-third of our shots are always going to be from the 3-point line. It’s just you have to get them in a different fashion depending on how the game’s being played.’’
Rich
