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Junior Caroline Doty, who missed all of last season with a left knee injury, did not play in the second half of tonight’s 92-31 win over Towson due to what team doctor Tom Trojian termed as a mild head and neck injury.

Doty was fouled hard by Towson’s Krystin Fields on a drive to the basket and crashed to the floor with 4:41 left in the first half.

“Caroline goes down a lot,’’ UConn freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis said. “So I hopped up immediately just seeing her on the floor, but when I saw her stay down there for a little bit it kind of shook me a little bit. I was a little scared, like, `Come on, Caroline, you’ve got to get up.’ When she came out … Caroline’s tough so I know she’s going to be alright and our trainers are going to take good care of her.’’

UConn coach Geno Auriemma removed Doty from the game 22 seconds later. She remained on the bench for the remainder of the half, seated next to team trainer Rosemary Ragle. Doty then remained in the locker room during the second half to avoid the crowd noise.

“Anytime Caroline falls you just get like that shock and you run over there to see if she’s OK,’’ UConn sophomore Bria Hartley said. “But she’s tough and she makes sure she gets through everything. So I think she’s going to be alright. When you have head injuries and stuff like that you’ve got to make sure like … Noise and all that stuff can bother you. So she just stayed in there so none of that stuff would affect her.’’

Auriemma said after the game that Doty was feeling better.

“She’s fine,’’ Auriemma said. “I just talked to Doc and he said that she landed on her hip and then her shoulder and then her head. And she just had a headache, but that by the end of the game she was fine. We just didn’t want to put her out there with all that noise and lights and everything as a precaution.’’

The Huskies do not play again until facing No. 4 Texas A&M in the Jimmy V Classic at the XL Center Dec. 6. This should provide Doty with ample time to fully recover.

Rich

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Junior Caroline Doty, who missed all of last season with a left knee injury, did not play in the second half due to what team doctor Tom Trojian termed a mild head and neck injury. She was fouled hard by Towson’s Krystin Fields on a drive to the basket and crashed to the floor with 4:41 left in the first half.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma removed Doty from the game 22 seconds later. She remained on the bench for the remainder of the half, seated next to team trainer Rosemary Ragle. Doty remained in the locker room during the second half to avoid the crowd noise.

Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis started the half in her absence.

Rich

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UConn senior Tiffany Hayes and sophomores Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson were among the 50 players named to the Naismith early season watch list, The Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today.

Stamford native and St. John’s senior Da’Shena Stevens, who is currently sidelined with a knee injury, and the Notre Dame trio of Skylar Diggins, Natalie Novosel and Devereaux Peters were also named. Tennessee also had three players listed (Shekinna Stricklen, Glory Johnson and Meighan Simmons).

The list will be cut to 30 by late February. Four finalists will be placed on the final ballot in March. And the winner of the Naismith Trophy will be announced at the Final Four in Denver March 31.

Rich

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Kelly Faris has been hearing the same thing from the UConn coaching staff for three years. She needs to be more aggressive offensively and evolve into more of a threat for the second-ranked Huskies.

For a highly competitive individual, conquering this challenge has proven to be difficult for Faris. This is something that is completely out of character. She is a blue-collar player, one who would rather set up her teammates than be a solid scoring option every possession.

And the first six games this season have demonstrated just how difficult it has been for Faris to add this dimension to her game. She has reached double figures in three games. But she has also twice been scoreless and once scored two points.

“I knew it was going to be difficult,’’ Faris said. “It’s not like in high school where I could do this or do that. Choose to score. Choose not to score. Give it to a teammate. It’s a different ballgame in college. So I knew it was going to be a challenge and that’s what I’m trying to work on. I’m trying to work on it earlier (this season). Last year we get to the end and then it’s like we all kind of let everybody down because nobody was an offensive threat. And I realize we have more options this year. But it is … it’s a difficult task.’’

Faris is shooting only 30.3 percent from the field, 23.1 percent from 3-point range (3-of-13). She has failed to make a shot in three games. She was 4-of-4 against Pacific Nov. 15 and was a combined 6-of-13 against Buffalo and Dayton last weekend.

Faris suffered through a stretch where she missed 14 straight shots before scoring on a tip-in against Buffalo early in the second half Saturday. The hoop triggered a 13-point half (4-of-8 FG), which accounted for a season-high in scoring.

The consistency has not been there for Faris. But it is nothing that concerns UConn coach Geno Auriemma. Faris will again be in the starting lineup tonight when the Huskies (6-0) host Towson (4-1) at the XL Center (7; CPTV). And Auriemma basically said Tuesday that Faris will start every game for the rest of her career.

“What’s there to be concerned about,’’ Auriemma said. “She’s going to do what she does. Some days she’s going to make a lot of shots like she did in the Notre Dame game last year Notre Dame (career-high 20 points). And some days she’s not going to make any shots. But the other stuff is going to be there all the time. So I’m not sitting here thinking, `Wow, if we don’t get Kelly off the schneid here we’re going to be in big, big trouble.’ There’s plenty of points to go around. We just have to make sure that we have some of the other things covered. I’m not worried about it.’’

Faris said she does not enter games with goals in mind of how many points she has to score or how many shots she has to take. Currently, she is averaging 6.0 points on 5.5 shots per game.

“If you (have goals like) that you’re pretty much chalking up a fail with that,’’ Faris said. “I think, in my opinion, you’re thinking about the wrong things if you go into the game like that. My big thing is what I’ve always been told … You have to impact the game by affecting every possible possession that you can. And whether that’s scoring or driving in and kicking it out, getting a screen set … That’s the stuff (Auriemma) harps on, at least for me to do. And that’s what I’m trying to get better at.’’

Faris remains one of UConn’s top defenders. And, at 5-foot-11, she has been bullish in the low post whether it has been battling for a rebound or boxing out an opponent.

Faris is averaging 3.2 rebounds and 3.2 steals in 21.0 minutes this season. She is tied for first on the team in steals. While her game remains a work in progress offensively, Faris’ skills defensively continue to be her strength.

“When you’re good at something … I’m not saying, `I’m this. I’m that.’ But when you figure out what your strong point and your strong suit, what your biggest role on the team is that’s something that you continue to try to excel in,’’ Faris said. “Like you can’t just say, `OK, I’m a good shooter. I know it. I’m just going to shoot and some days they might not go in.’ You’ve got to keep working at it and keep working at it to keep that your strong suit. And so I know defensively that’s going to be what I bring most to the team and that’s something that I really, really work on.’’

Rich

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 The No. 2 Huskies will host No. 4 Texas A&M in the Jimmy V Classic Dec. 6 at the XL Center. It is an annual event that aims to heighten cancer awareness and generate funds for cancer research. UConn senior and women’s basketball manager Justin Paluch and former men’s basketball manager Kyle Lyddy, who founded the National Association of Collegiate Basketball Managers this year, are looking to make a difference.

Paluch and Lyddy will be sponsoring various events on the UConn campus leading up to the game in an effort to generate as much money as possible for the cause. They will host a bar night Wednesday at Ted’s Restaurant and Bar at 9. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the V Foundation. Admission is $5.

 They are also working on assembling a 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Paluch and Lyddy are urging individuals, including the Texas A&M managers, to join them in this endeavor.

 Tickets to the game are currently being auctioned off on eBay. And fans can make a donation by visiting this website.

Paluch and Lyddy are hoping to raise $5,000.

Rich

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The loss of All-American Maya Moore left the Huskies with plenty of questions to answer this season. At this point, some of the answers have arrived while others are still to come.

But in the wake of defeating Fairleigh Dickinson, Buffalo and Dayton by an average of 47.3 points to win the World Vision Classic over the weekend, Stefanie Dolson feels that the Huskies have made definitive progress.

“I think we are coming together little by little … being one team and just really talking to each other all the time, always being on the same page with each other and just playing together,’’ Dolson said. “So after our past couple of games I think that there’s definitely a big jump that we’ve made (toward) being a team and playing together.’’

The Huskies, who remain No. 2 in the national polls after six games, have been up and down to this point. They have had four games with at least 15 turnovers. Their field goal shooting percentage (.479) is down when it comes to their standards. Starters Tiffany Hayes (.462), Caroline Doty (.364) and Kelly Faris (.303) are all below 50 percent. Hayes, however, is averaging 14.2 points per game.

UConn has covered up its subpar shooting nicely with its high energy effort defensively. Opponents are averaging 41.3 points and 21.8 turnovers and are shooting 27.9 percent from the field.

The Huskies also have a plus-16.2 rebounding advantage, with seven players averaging at least 3.2 rebounds.

Here is the Coach Geno Auriemma’s assessment following the conclusion of the World Vision Classic:

“When we’re good we’re pretty good and when we’re not we’re something less than good and I don’t know what that is,’’ Auriemma said. “Like sometimes when you’re not good you’re awful or you’re just kind of bad or sloppy or whatever. When we’re good we’re really good and when we’re not playing well or we’re not sync it just looks … We throw the ball around too much. We throw it away too much. I would think that’s my biggest complaint over the last three days is that we either score or we throw the ball away. And I don’t think that’s going to get it done against the really good teams. Maybe we should do what we did in the Stanford game, just shoot 30, 35 3s every game and then we won’t have any turnovers. But this weekend we tried to work on some things that I think we’re going to need and we got it done really well. And then our old selves kind of slipped in there too. I think we’ve played six games. There’s a lot of work to do.’’

The Huskies rotation is a strong six right now with Bria Hartley, Hayes, Doty, Faris, Dolson and freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis. Mosqueda-Lewis has proven to be much more than just a shooter. Not only does she lead the team in scoring (15.5) and made 3-pointers (16), but she is also second in rebounding (6.7) and in steals (1.7). She is averaging 2.0 assists. And she has committed just four turnovers in 158 minutes, including none in the last 106 minutes.

Fellow freshmen Kiah Stokes (4.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.7 bpg) and Brianna Banks (6.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 1.7 bpg) and junior Heather Buck (5.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg) could possibly stretch the rotation to nine at some point this season.

“It depends on what day,’’ Auriemma said referring to the number of players in his rotation. “Comfortably, like really, really comfortably, like if we had to play a huge game again, 6 1/2 probably right now. It could go seven, eight down the road. Nine. I don’t know. But it would take a while for that to happen. But I think players are starting to I hope figure some things out. But after the first five and Kaleena is six one of those other guys usually plays pretty well. You just don’t know who it is. Heather Buck goes in the game and rebounds. So you know that she’s going to do that. The other stuff you don’t know. Brianna Banks … She gets the ball and drives it to the basket. And Kiah Stokes … Sometimes, sometimes, sometimes. So what we know is something about the six and we know that we don’t know a lot about the other guys. Hopefully, we’ll find out more as we go along.’’

The Huskies will have one more game against an overmatched foe (vs. Towson Wednesday at the XL Center, 7 p.m.) before facing No. 4 Texas A&M Dec. 6 in the Jimmy V Classic.

Here is a leftover note from the win over Dayton … Flyers’ coach Jim Jabir dropped to 0-9 against UConn all-time, losing by an average of 45.2 points. He was 0-8 as the head coach at Providence from 1996-2002.

Rich

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Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis was named the Big East Freshman of the Week for the second straight week today. She averaged 15.3 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.0 steals en route to helping the second-ranked Huskies to four wins last week. She also did not commit a turnover in 105 minutes.

Mosqueda-Lewis opened the week with 25 points and eight rebounds in a 68-58 win over No. 3 Stanford Monday. And she capped it with 23 points and six rebounds in a 78-38 win over Dayton Sunday in the final game of the World Vision Classic.

Rich

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The Huskies set an NCAA all-division record today by earning their 89th straight win at home. Division III Rust had won 88 straight games from Jan. 23, 1982 through Feb. 21, 1989.

Of course, there was no celebration by the UConn players or members of the coaching staff following a 78-38 win over Dayton in the World Vision Classic at Gampel Pavilion. There were no T-shirts passed out commemorating this streak as there were when UConn snapped the UCLA men’s streak of 88 straight wins last season.

“I don’t keep track of that stuff,’’ UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “People were talking the other day and I guess Maya Moore didn’t lose a home game, her and Lorin (Dixon), in the four years they were here. So that’s pretty incredible when you think about it. To go home after every game that you play with a `W.’ I don’t know that that happens very often at very many places. I love the consistency of our program. I like how we approach things every year, that there’s a constant to our program to kind of give you the same things day in and day for the most part. We’re hard to play against I hope, home and away.

Said sophomore Stefanie Dolson: “I didn’t know about that. I think it’s pretty amazing. I think it just shows that when we play at home it’s really … Whether it’s here or at the XL Center, we come out with the same intensity. Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone else who’s been in all those 89 games, but for the amount I’ve been in, you just come with the same mindset every day whether it’s practice and then you come out the same way for games. And you just work as hard as you can because being at home you have those fans. You have that environment around you that you just want to play your best for the fans and the coaches. So it’s really exciting to know that.’’

The Huskies have not lost at home since suffering a 55-47 loss to Rutgers in the Big East tournament final at the XL Center March 6, 2007. They are 45-0 at Gampel Pavilion and 44-0 at the XL Center during the streak.

“It’s a long time, for sure, to not lose a game. It’s not something you even … After a while you don’t even think about it. Obviously, we’ve had the best players in the country for the last five years when you think about who we’ve had, who’s played here, who’s graduated. But I’m sure that streak will end. Soon I would think, like everything else does.’’

Overall, UConn has won 56 straight games at Gampel Pavilion.

There were a few fleeting moments this afternoon when it looked as if the Huskies might just ascend to the No. 1 spot in the national polls. Tennessee led No. 1 Baylor in the second half in Knoxville.

But behind 26 points from All-American Brittney Griner (17 in the second half), the Lady Bears seized a 76-67 win. Baylor and No. 2 UConn will stay put in both national polls, which is just fine with Auriemma.

“Last time I checked you had to have some All-Americans on your team to be No. 1, didn’t you,’’ Auriemma said. “Don’t those two things go together? Like the No. 1 team in the country is, boom, because they have so-and-so All-American, so-and-so All-American. So I don’t think it would be fair for us to be No. 1 in the country. I don’t think so.’’

Rich