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The schedule is not ideal for the Huskies with Big East games at South Florida Thursday and at home against Marquette Dec. 9. They haven’t played two conference games in December since the 1998-99 season. No other Big East team will play more than one conference opponent in December. And Syracuse won’t play one at all.

But in the high-profile neighborhood where top-ranked UConn resides, TV plays a big role when high-profile non-conference games are played. And the Huskies will play three such games in January and February on ESPN2.

They will travel to No. 14 North Carolina Jan. 17. They will host No. 5 Duke Jan. 31 and No. 11 Oklahoma Feb. 14. UConn’s total number of non-conference games after Jan. 1 is also the most in the Big East. In fact, No. 10 West Virginia is the only other team with two non-conference games scheduled after New Year’s Day – vs. Central Connecticut Jan. 2 and Marshall Jan. 19.

Cincinnati, No. 16 Notre Dame, Rutgers and Villanova are the only other conference foes that will play one non-conference game in this timeframe. And all of these games will be played no later than Jan. 12.

“That’s not ideal, obviously,’’ Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said today following practice. “Ideally, you’d love to play all of these (Big East) games in January or February. But given what we’re trying to do non-conference there’s really no way to avoid it. Especially when you’re trying to finish in time for the Big East tournament (March 4-8), there’s just not enough weeks in the calendar to be able to do it all.
“But, again, I think the problem lies in what we’re trying to do non-conference-wise. Hey, listen, nobody in their right mind would rather play Duke, North Carolina, and Oklahoma after the conference season has already started. So if I could I’d rather have those games this week. But it just doesn’t work that way. Nobody’s making us do it. That’s something we chose to do.’’

Rich

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Full-session packages for the 16-team Big East women’s basketball tournament will go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets. The event will be at held at the XL Center in Hartford March 4-8.

Packages are $99, discounted by nearly half of the face value. They may be ordered by phone at 1-800-745-3000, on-line at http://www.xlcenter.com/ or http://www.ticketmaster.com/and at the XL Center ticket office. For group sales (10 or more) information and discounts, contact the XL Center at 860-548-2000.

Rich

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Below is a brief Q & A done by sports information director Pat McKenna with Huskies’ coach Geno Auriemma regarding today’s announcement that TCU will join the Big East in all sports July 1, 2012.

Q: What was your initial reaction when you heard TCU would be joining the Big East?
A: “I had heard about the possibility of this happening a little while ago so I wasn’t that surprised,’’ Auriemma said. “I was surprised that it happened this quickly though. From a football and basketball standpoint I think it makes great sense. I don’t know enough about the men’s side, but I obviously know how good the football program is and know the women’s basketball team has consistently been a Top 25 program. I think it adds a lot to our conference.’’

Q: How do you think this affects the Big East from a women’s basketball standpoint?
A: “From a women’s basketball standpoint it’s made our league, which is arguably the toughest league in the country, even tougher,’’ Auriemma said. “We are bringing in another NCAA tournament caliber team to our conference. That’s another tough road game and I think it strengthens and expands the top of our league. And maybe, now that we are going down to Texas every other a year, a Texas kid thinks `hey, maybe I’d like to play in the Big East.’ The college athletics world is changing and this is another example.’’

Rich

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A look back at Sunday’s UConn-LSU game:
No. 1 UConn 81, LSU 51

TURNING POINT – Leading 46-36 at halftime, the Huskies opened the second half with a 12-2 run to open a 20-point lead with 15:43 left in the game. Tiffany Hayes opened the half with a 3-pointer. She later scored in transition and assisted on a three-point play by Stefanie Dolson that capped the run. LSU went scoreless for 6:09. UConn coach Geno Auriemma said afterward that he did not think the Lady Tigers overcame that stretch. He was right.

UNSUNG HERO – Samarie Walker. She finished with five points and a season-high nine rebounds (four offensive) in 19 minutes. She continues to do the dirty work in the lane for the Huskies, establishing herself as a reliable cog in the rotation. She is averaging 7.7 points and 6.8 rebounds in 21.7 minutes through the first six games.

BEST ‘X’ AND/OR ‘O’ – The Huskies were having difficulty defending the Lady Tigers in the first half, especially LaShonda Barrett (12 pts), Adrienne Webb (9) and Destini Hughes (8). Some adjustments were made in the locker room and UConn held LSU to 15 points in the second half on 24 percent shooting from the field. Webb (1-of-4 FG) had two points in the half. Barrett (0-of-5) and Hughes (0-of-1) were scoreless.
“Geno must have gone in at halftime and jumped after them pretty good,’’ LSU coach Van Chancellor said. “We scored 36 points in the first half, and their defense in the second half was really good. We just couldn’t get into our offense. They did a great job of taking us out of it. They just switched every screen, and we didn’t adjust. The second half got really, really physical. They just denied the ball and got every rebound.”

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS – Maya Moore finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds. She became the third player in team history to tally 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. Tina Charles (2,346/1,367) Rebecca Lobo (2,133/1,268) are the others. Moore, who is averaging 26.0 points this season, needs 23 to break Charles’ team scoring record. Chancellor compared her to Cynthia Cooper and Diana Taurasi. “She reminds me of Cynthia Cooper and the attitude of her toughness and just the ability to play every night,’’ he said. “Cooper would play every night. And then her skill level reminds me a lot of Taurasi. When I was with the (Houston) Comets, Taurasi got 47 on me at home one night and the only reason she didn’t get 67 was she got two of the worst calls known to mankind. They called two offensive fouls on her that she fouled out. We couldn’t do anything to stop her. This kid reminds me of that. There’s no defense on this kid. She’s the best player out there right now.’’ … Four players scored in double figures for the Huskies for the second straight game. “Those are the best wins,’’ Moore said. “You feel more satisfied when people who have the ability to score do it. We share the ball. We have a lot of assists. You generally know when you have a good feeling after a game it’s because a lot of people have been involved. We need that and we know that we can be that team. So now that we’ve shown that we have to maintain it.’’ … Auriemma improved to 56-21 all-time against seven coaches currently in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (Leon Barmore, Chancellor, Jody Conradt, Sue Gunter, C. Vivian Stringer, Pat Summitt and Kay Yow). … Huskies’ trainer Rosemary Ragle was the only person at Gampel Pavilion Sunday with national championship rings from both UConn and LSU. She was the athletic trainer for the champion LSU women’s outdoor track team in 1997. … Bria Hartley was named the Big East Freshman of the Week for the second straight week Monday. She averaged 14.0 points, 2.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists in wins over Howard, Lehigh and LSU at the World Vision Challenge. Hartley also shot 52.9 percent from 3-point range (9-of-17).

LOOKING AHEAD – The Huskies will face South Florida in Tampa, Fla. Thursday in their Big East opener at the Sun Dome (7 p.m.; CPTV). It will be the earliest UConn has opened conference play since meeting Boston College in the Reebok Classic Nov. 24, 1996.

BY THE NUMBERS
122 – Career games played by Maya Moore
1,009 – Career rebounds for Moore
2,324 – Career points for Moore

Rich

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Geno Auriemma has been called a lot of things during his Hall of Fame tenure at UConn. Many of them are not fit for print, but “master motivator’’ certainly is. He did it again this weekend during the World Vision Challenge at Gampel Pavilion.

Auriemma publicly called out 6-foot-5 freshman center Stefanie Dolson Saturday night for getting only two rebounds in 15 minutes against Howard on Friday. This was, of course, after he chastised her in private for her performance, urging her to be tougher and more aggressive.

Auriemma benched Dolson for the first half against Lehigh Saturday to further drive home his message. She went out and produced eight points and six rebounds in 10 minutes in the second half against the Mountain Hawks. And she generated further production today against LSU, finishing with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists and one block in 17 minutes.

“I took (being benched) in stride and what he said to me was all true,’’ Dolson said. “So I just took it and listened to what he had to say and came back today with a different mindset than I did yesterday. I wanted to go out and just prove to him why I deserve to be on that floor. I wanted to rebound and I wanted to play as tough as I can and be more aggressive, which is something he’s always telling me about. So today was just to go out and prove to him and everyone else why I deserve to be on that floor. Today’s game was great. I got into it. And there was a lot excitement and just passion into this game.’’

It was a step in the right direction for Dolson. The Huskies need her to be a rugged presence in the paint this season. And it was also a good sign to see her respond to Auriemma’s prodding in the manner in which she did.

“Stefanie was good, huh,’’ Auriemma said. “She was actually kind of involved in the game. She was a little bit of a presence on defense. She rebounded the ball a little bit. We need a presence in there. That first half we played 2-on-5. It was Bria (Hartley) and Maya (Moore) against LSU. And in the second half we played 4-on-5, 5-on-5. And when we do that we’re really a good team.’’

At that point Auriemma’s sarcasm again took over …

“I don’t know if we’re a great team,’’ he said. “I don’t know if we’re the best team in the country. I don’t know if we’re as good as we were last year or the year before. But we’re a really good team when we play 5-on-5. And we’ve just got to make sure that we’re constantly playing 5-on-5. And if we do that we have a chance to be pretty good. We have to go down in history as the greatest team that’s ever played in the history of basketball. And I think Dr. Naismith would be proud of us. We all should carry a peach basket to our next game in honor of him. The game’s never been played this way, never in history. Never has anyone seen such movement and passing. It’s just the way we play the game. I’m like a conductor. We can get Kelly Faris to shoot an air-ball on command. We can get anything to happen that we want it to happen. We can get anyone to throw a pass and bounce it off somebody’s head, have Maya run over a kid at halfcourt and destroy her. All we have to do is conjure it up and it can happen. That’s how fantastic this team is.’’

LSU coach Van Chancellor held court for about five minutes after the game. Here are a couple tidbits …

On whether nor not UConn still has that fear factor about them this season: “If they don’t instill fear you’re an idiot,’’ Chancellor said. “As long as Maya Moore does not get hurt they’ve got a shot (to win the national championship).’’

Comparing No. 7 Ohio State and UConn. LSU lost to the Buckeyes 59-55 Nov. 17: “Ohio State’s going to have a hard time finding somebody to guard Maya Moore,’’ Chancellor said. “But the World Champs, the Seattle Storm, are going to have to same problem.’’

The Huskies will play Ohio State in the Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden Dec. 19, likely seeking their record-tying 88th straight win.

Rich

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Initially, it appeared that Tiffany Hayes’ shooting woes would continue. She was mired in a 15-for-38 shooting slump in the previous three games. This included a 1-for-14 effort from 3-point range.

Hayes missed her first three shots – two 3-pointers – in the first half Saturday against Lehigh. But she finally made a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining in the half to cap 13-0 run by the Huskies. There was an expression of sheer relief on her face after the ball went through the net. This was something she had desperately been waiting for.

“I was talking to Lorin (Dixon) and I was like, `All I need is one to drop and I’ll be good,’’’ Hayes said. “Once that one fell in, my confidence just shot up. And I just knew all the rest of them were going to drop. I missed one, but other than that the rest of my shots were falling. So all I needed was one to boost my confidence a little bit.’’

Hayes made four of her final six shots in the game, finishing with 14 points and a game-high nine rebounds in 31 minutes.

“Eventually, yeah. You knew she was going to have to make some,’’ Huskies coach Geno Auriemma said. “And again, that’s all part of what we have to keep working on and keep getting better at. Staying aggressive. Tiffany, the same thing. She can’t just stand there and jack up 30-footers. She’s got to get in the lane, pull-up jump shots, get to the free throw line. She did a great job rebounding the ball (Saturday). Everybody’s had to take on a whole lot more. We lost a lot of rebounds and a lot of points to graduation last year. And somebody’s going to have to do more than they did last year to fill in that gap. Actually, a lot of people have to do it.’’

What bothered Auriemma was that Hayes has not been as aggressive in the past few games when it has come to taking shots. She had no problem with this when she was scoring a school-record 30 points on 11-of-13 shooting in the first half against Holy Cross in the season opener Nov. 14.

The Huskies need significant offensive production from Hayes in every game. She cannot allow a few missed shots to affect her play. She fought through a slow start Saturday and the results were impressive.

“How do you explain that? You make every shot and then you make no shots,’’ Auriemma said. “I can’t explain that. I just think that the really great players, they have a certain confidence level that they can’t wait to shoot open shots. But what happens to Tiffany sometimes is when she misses shots she loses her aggressiveness.
“You’re freaking 82-0. Why would you be hesitating to shoot the ball? What are you worried about? The last time I missed a couple of these we lost.’ Really? How could you remember that far back? What are you worried about? Shoot it. And if it doesn’t go in, who cares. Why would you be afraid to shoot it? What are you thinking about? `When I was in high school I missed one of these. It cost us the game.’ What? Come on. If you’re open shoot it.’ I don’t want these guys to be timid or shy or should I, shouldn’t I. I don’t think you stumble into wins. I don’t think you accidentally happen upon 82, 83, 103, 200 in a row like everybody thinks we’re going to win.’’

It took a bit for freshman Samarie Walker to get in her comfort zone against Lehigh. She was making her first career start for the Huskies, and she was fighting with some nervousness.

But once Walker came to the realization that she had started a ton of games during an outstanding career at Chaminade Julienne High in Dayton, Ohio any nervousness disappeared. She might be competing at a different level right now, but it is the same concept … Go out and make plays.

Walker made plenty of plays, finishing with 11 points (5-of-7 FG), seven rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal in 25 minutes. It was yet another sign that she is catching on at a quick pace.

“I feel like I am (making progress),’’ Walker said. “My teammates are always on me about, especially, my energy level and my communicating and stuff. So that’s the first thing I try to do, and, as always, rebounding. But I feel like I’m starting to get everything and everything’s starting to click.’’

Rich

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Geno Auriemma was in a feisty mood following tonight’s 81-38 win over Lehigh at the World Vision Challenge. He took shots at freshman center Stefanie Dolson and Tennessee coach Pat Summit during his postgame session with the media.

Dolson was replaced in the starting lineup by fellow freshman Samarie Walker after having only two rebounds in 15 minutes Friday against Howard. Dolson did not enter the game until the start of the second half.

Here is Auriemma’s reasoning behind the move, part seriousness, part sarcasm:

“I just thought Samarie’s been working at a real high level in practice,’’ he said. “I thought defensively she’d be a little better able to help us because most of their big guys are perimeter guys or want to play on the perimeter. So I thought Samarie would be better defensively to do that. And Stefanie played (15) minutes against Howard. So we don’t want to wear her out. Those two rebounds took a lot out of her. So we want to save her for the stretch run here. She came to practice today and she was really beaten up, and I didn’t realize the toll it was taking so I wanted to give her a rest.’’

Dolson finished with eight points (4-of-4 FG) and six rebounds in 10 minutes. Walker had 11 points and seven rebounds in 25 minutes.

Auriemma certainly saved his best jab for last. This one was aimed directly at Summitt. Earlier this season, she again accused Auriemma of cheating in recruiting.
And after the Lady Vols defeated Louisville 63-50 in the season opener on the road Nov. 12 Summitt said she would not mind again playing Louisville in the future because Cardinals coach Jeff Walz does things the right way.
Fast-forwarding to tonight at Gampel Pavilion, LSU coach Van Chancellor said he would like to again open a series with UConn. Auriemma was asked about a potential series with the Lady Tigers and ran with it.

“We’re not playing any SEC schools this year except them,’’ Auriemma said. “So, yeah, I could see us getting that series back with Van. He does things the right way. So I wouldn’t be opposed to playing Van going forward.’’

With that he got up from his chair and made his way toward the door to his right … “Hey … That was a good one. Time to go,’’ he said.

Rich

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As Win No. 88 gets closer and closer for the Huskies, the more and more it becomes evident that Geno Auriemma is uncomfortable talking about this winning streak. UConn’s current 82-game winning streak is now the longest streak in the history of NCAA women’s basketball, one better than the 81-game run by Division III Washington University in St. Louis from Feb. 20, 1998 to Jan. 12, 2001. The legendary 88-game run by the UCLA men’s basketball team from Jan. 30, 1971 to Jan. 19, 1974 is next in line.

Auriemma was again asked about the streak following Friday’s 86-25 win over Howard in the World Vision Challenge and whether or not the Huskies might face any pressure over the next few weeks. It looked like he would have rather had a root canal than face more questions about consecutive wins.

“Our whole thing the last couple of years has been to put ourselves in position to win a national championship,’’ Auriemma said. “And that’s still the goal going in. So whether or not there’s any pressure with any of the wins … I don’t feel it. I don’t sense that they feel it. I’m not, nor are any of the other coaches, transferring it to them. We already have the streak. We’ve won more games in a row than any other women’s basketball team ever. So whatever happens happens. I would think there’s pressure involved for them at some level, but I just don’t know what that is. I really don’t. Maybe it’ll present itself, but I don’t know what that is right now.’’

Auriemma continues to point out that the streak has little to do with this year’s team because of the five freshmen on its 10-man roster. When the Huskies set the previous Division I record by winning 70 straight games from Nov. 9, 2001 to March 11, 2003, they returned five players who averaged at least 12.9 minutes in 2001-02. They then averaged at least 11.4 minutes in 2002-03, with Diana Taurasi (31.9), Maria Conlon (29.7), Jessica Moore (25.8) and Ashley Battle (22.4) all playing major roles. Injury-ridden Morgan Valley (11.4) did start 18 games.

“That’s why the streak is so non-involved here,’’ Auriemma said. “Maya Moore’s the only one that’s really had a hand in winning all these games. So what does the streak have to do with the other guys? You’re really going to get Bria Hartley and Samarie Walker and Stefanie Dolson to buy into their streak is on the line? This would only be a huge factor if all those guys were back and they don’t want to lose something I guess. So they want to do something I guess. It’s just so much different than back when we won 70. Jessica Moore. A.B. Maria Conlon. Morgan Valley. Diana Taurasi. We had a lot of guys that played a lot of minutes. I don’t know that Bria and Stefanie and Samarie, who are probably going to play a lot of minutes … They’ve won four in a row. I don’t know that they feel the pressure of having won every game for two years and it’s going to get to them. Maybe I’m completely wrong. I don’t know.’’

However, Moore did shed some light on her thoughts on the streak last night. And maybe this is how the players truly feel about the whole thing deep down inside. Maybe.

“I hope it continues to bring a lot of attention to the women’s game,’’ Moore said. “I think it’s OK. We realize it’s there, it’s happening and it’s great. But it’s going to be really important… the focus. Like I know, personally, I don’t read a lot. I don’t talk to people about it outside of the program, family or friends. I don’t really care who’s saying what. I just care about what’s happening every day in our program. I think it’s going to be important for these young guys to realize that and to start training themselves to have those same habits because there’s going to be a lot of attention and a lot of hype when you come to a program like UConn. So that’s going to be important, but I’d love it to get as high as it wants to get because I think it’s good to celebrate that.’’

The Huskies will play Lehigh tonight for the first time since current assistant coach Shea Ralph tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee during a 103-35 win over the Mountain Hawks in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Gampel Pavilion March 15, 1997.

“I went into the little examination room and the doctor told me he thought that it was only a matter of time by the way my body looked that I would tear an ACL and he was 99 percent sure that’s what it was,’’ Ralph said. “I knew it was bad because your body’s not supposed to do what mine did when I fell. I had no idea what ACL was. It was kind of comforting for him to tell me, `This is what it is. This is how we’ll go forward.’’’

Ralph was just a freshman at the time. It was the first of five combined ACL tears in both knees throughout her career. To this day, she has not seen a replay of the Lehigh game.

“I’ve never watched that one and I don’t want to,’’ Ralph said. “I don’t need to see it. I know what it was and what it felt like. I don’t need to see it. It brings me back to places that I don’t want to be.’’

Rich