2015–16 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team

2015–16 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	#1
AP	#1
2015–16 record	24–0 (13–0 The American)
Head coach	Geno Auriemma (31st year)
Associate head coach	Chris Dailey
Assistant coach	Shea Ralph
Assistant coach	Marisa Moseley
Home arena	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion XL Center

The 2015–16 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 2015–16 NCAA Division I basketball season. The Huskies, led by thirty first year head coach Geno Auriemma, play their home games at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut and the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. They are members of the American Athletic Conference.

Media

Every single Connecticut game was expected to be televised. Excluding exhibitions, every Connecticut home game and most conference games aired on SNY with a simulcast on Husky Vision. Select games aired on ESPN3, another ESPN Network, or CBS Sports Network. Every game was once again broadcast on the UConn IMG Sports Network with an extra audio broadcast being available online to listen to through Husky Vision.

Off-season

FIBA Americas U16 Championship

Andra Espinoza-Hunter, who has committed to play for Connecticut in 2017,^[1] played for the USA team at the 2015 FIBA Americas U16 Championship held in Puebla, Mexico. Espinoza-Hunter plays for Blair Academy, but had previously played for Ossining High School where she was a teammate of Saniya Chong. The USA team won their preliminary games, but lost in the semifinals to Brazil. They defeated the host team, Mexico, to earn the bronze medal. In the bronze medal game, Espinoza-Hunter scored ten points, one of four players in double figures.^[2]

FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women

UConn commits Napheesa Collier and Crystal Dangerfield both played at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women, held in Chekhov, Russia from 8 to 26 July 2015.^[3] The USA team won all seven games to win the gold medal. In the semi-final against Spain, Collier had 24 points on 10 of 13 shooting from the field. Collier was named to the five player all-tournament squad.^[4][5]

Pan Am games

Three UConn players participated in basketball at the 2015 Pan American Games held in Toronto, Canada July 10 to 26, 2015. Breanna Stewart and Moriah Jefferson played for the USA team, while Kia Nurse played for the Canadian team.

Canada opened the preliminary rounds with an easy 101–38 win over Venezuela. The following day they beat Argentina 73–58. The final preliminary game was against Cuba; both teams were 2–0, so the winner would win the group. The game went down to the wire with Canada eking out a 71–68 win.^[6] Canada would face Brazil in the semifinal.

Everything seemed to go right in the semifinal game. Canada opened the game with an 11–2 run on seven consecutive points by Miranda Ayim. Miah-Marie Langlois contributed five assists. In the third quarter Canada strongly out rebounded Brazil and hit 69% of their field goals to score 33 points in the quarter. Lizanne Murphy and Nirra Fields hit three-pointers to help extend the lead to 68–39 at the end of three quarters. Canada continued to dominate in the fourth quarter with three-pointers by Nurse and Kim Gaucher. Canada went on to win the game 91–63 to earn a spot in the gold-medal game against the USA.^[7]

The gold-medal game matched up the host team Canada against USA, in a sold out arena dominated by fans in red and white and waving the Canadian flag. The Canadian team, arm in arm, sang Oh Canada as the respective national anthems were played.

After trading baskets early the US edged out to a double-digit lead in the second quarter. However the Canadians, spurred on by the home crowd cheering, fought back and tied up the game at halftime. In the third quarter, it was Canada's time to shine as they outscore the US 26–15. The lead would reach as high as 18 points. The USA would fight back, but not all the way and Canada won the game and the gold-medal 81–73. It was Canada's first gold-medal in basketball in the Pan Am games. Kia Nurse was the star for Canada with 33 points, hitting 11 of her 12 free-throw attempts in 10 of her 17 field-goal attempts including two of three three-pointers.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Stewart was the leading scorer for the US in the gold-medal game with 17 points. She recorded a double double with 11 rebounds to go along with her points. Jefferson was the third leading scorer for the USA team with 14 points.^[12]

FIBA Americas Women's Championship 2015

Nurse played for Canada at the 2015 FIBA Americas Women's Championship, a qualifying event used to determine invitations to the 2016 Olympics. The games were held in Edmonton, Canada in August, 2015. Canada was assigned to Group A and played Puerto Rico, Chile, the Dominican Republic and Cuba in the preliminary rounds. Canada won the first three games easily with a 94–57 win over Puerto Rico is the closest match. The final preliminary round game was against undefeated Cuba, a team Canada had faced in the Pan Am games. Cuba played well in that event and was expected to challenge Canada. However, Canada defeated Cuba 92–43 to win first place in the group for a spot in the semifinal against the second-place team in group B, Brazil. Nurse was the leading scorer for Canada with 14 points in the game.^[13]

The semifinal game against Brazil was much closer. Canada led by only six points at halftime but gradually expanded the lead to end up with an 83–66 win, and a spot in the gold-medal game.^[14] With teammate Shona Thorburn sidelined with an injury, Nurse played 35 minutes, the most of any player on the team. The gold-medal game was a rematch with Cuba who won their semifinal game against Argentina. Despite the lopsided result in the preliminary rounds, Canada expected a closer game. Cuba started off strong and had an eight-point lead early in the game. Canada responded with a 16–0 run to take over the lead, but Cuba responded and took a small lead early in the second half. Then Canada took the lead back and gradually expanded the lead to end up with the win, 82–66. As the game wound down to the close, the crowd was chanting "Rio","Rio","Rio" in recognition of the fact that the win qualifies Canada for the Olympics in Rio in 2016. Nurse was the leading scorer for Canada with 20 points, and her overall performance earned her the MVP award for the entire event.^[15][16]

Roster

2015–16 Connecticut Huskies women's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Year Hometown 1.5 !G 2 Pulido, BrianaBriana Pulido 67 !5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 4.0 !Sr Miami, FL 3.5 !F 3 Tuck, MorganMorgan Tuck 74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 3.5 !RS Jr Bolingbrook, IL 1.5 !G 4 Jefferson, MoriahMoriah Jefferson 67 !5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 4.0 !Sr Glenn Heights, TX 1.5 !G 11 Nurse, KiaKia Nurse 72 !6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 2.0 !So Hamilton, ON 1.5 !G 12 Chong, SaniyaSaniya Chong 68 !5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) 3.0 !Jr Ossining, NY 1.5 !G 15 Williams, GabbyGabby Williams 71 !5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 2.0 !So Sparks, NV 1.5 !G 20 Lawlor, TierneyTierney Lawlor 67 !5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 3.0 !Jr Ansonia, CT 1.5 !G 22 Ekmark, CourtneyCourtney Ekmark 72 !6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 2.0 !So Phoenix, AZ 2.5 !G/F 24 Collier, NapheesaNapheesa Collier 73 !6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 1.0 !Fr O'Fallon, MO 3.5 !F 30 Stewart, BreannaBreanna Stewart 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 4.0 !Sr North Syracuse, NY 2.5 !G/F 33 Lou Samuelson, KatieKatie Lou Samuelson 75 !6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 1.0 !Fr Huntington Beach, CA 3.5 !F 35 Boykin, De'JanaeDe'Janae Boykin  74 !6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 1.0 !Fr Springdale, MD 5.0 !C 51 Butler, NatalieNatalie Butler 77 !6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 2.5 !RS So Fairfax Station, VA	Head coach Geno Auriemma (West Chester) Assistant coach(es) Chris Dailey (St. Peter's) Shea Ralph (Connecticut) Marisa Moseley (Boston University) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: 08-16–2015

De'Janae Boykin was only on the roster for the fall semester, after which she transferred from UConn.^[17]

Games

Exhibition

Lubbock Christian

The opening exhibition game was played against the Lady Chaps from Lubbock Christian University. The Huskies trailed early, but got untracked quickly, behind 25 points from Stewart, and cruised to a 95–39 win. After the game, Auriemma went to the public address microphone to praise both the team and the fans who made the trip, saying "Their fans were great. That’s a long way for them to travel, and they did. It was way better than a lot of exhibition games we’ve had."^[18][19]

Vanguard

The game outcome was never in doubt–only the final margin of 60 points in the 98–18 win was unknown, but the interesting aspect of the game was neither the opponents nor the outcome, it was the rules. The teams agreed to use experimental rules–largely following the European set of rules. This included use of a larger ball, often call the men's ball, as well as a wider lane, a 24–second shot clock and an 8-second count to cross into the front court. The international distance of 22 feet 1 inch for the three point line was used rather than the usual 20 feet 9 inches. The experiment was undertaken to provide information to those who might support the inclusion of the rules into regular season playing rules.^[20]

Regular season

Ohio State

Ohio's State's coach Kevin McGuff wanted to challenge his team, although circumstances created a larger challenge than he had intended. He scheduled the number two team in the country South Carolina, then was invited to participate in an early season event that included a game against the number one UConn team, which meant he had to play the number two and number one teams back to back. His team played well against South Carolina ending up with a loss 88–80. The result wasn't as close against the Huskies. UConn opened up early with several points but Ohio State responded cutting the lead to just three points late in the first quarter but then the Huskies took over. UConn led 50–24 at the half and ended up with 100 points against 56 for Ohio State. Both Stewart and Jefferson scored over 20 points with Stewart scoring 24 and Jefferson scoring 21.^[21][22]

Kansas State

The Huskies took on the Kansas State Wildcats in the second game on the 30th anniversary of Geno Auriemma's first game, a win against Iona. Breanna Stewart was the leading scorer with 25 points, one of which help to reach the 2000 career point plateau. She is currently the 10th all-time scoring leader at UConn. The Huskies led throughout the game, and won by a margin of 40 points 97–57.^[23]

Nebraska

For the first time this season, UConn found itself trailing. It was very early in the game, but Nebraska had a 7–3 lead. The lead did not last long.Stewart hit her first nine baskets and ended up with 25 points.She also recorded 10 rebounds three assists and three blocked shots. That helped the Huskies dominate the Huskers and cruise to an 88–46 win.^[24]

Chattanooga

UConn played Chattanooga at their home court on 30 November. Chattanooga is coached by Jim Foster, who as the head coach of the St. Joseph's women's basketball team in 1978, had hired Geno Auriemma as an assistant, Geno's first coaching position. Almost 40 years later, Jim Foster asked Auriemma for a chance to play Connecticut. The game itself was notable for the defense; the Huskies held Chattanooga to 31 points. The game was reasonably close early on. Queen Alford hit a three pointer early in the third quarter to cut the lead to only 11, 37–26, but Chattanooga would only manage one more score in the quarter. Connecticut went on a 23–2 run to extend the lead to 32 points.^[25]

DePaul

UConn faced DePaul, a team they used to play regularly when both were in the Big East, but now an out-of-conference game. DePaul came into the game ranked # 23 and having won their prior two games by a combined margin of almost 100 points. DePaul's coach Doug Bruno used hockey style subbing, taking out all five players and sending in five new players, to keep the players fresh. DePaul is a proficient three point shooting team, and hit six of their first twelve three point attempts. UConn led by seven at one point, but the Blue Demons came back to take a one-point lead 34–33. The Huskies led at the half, but only by three points, 44–41. The game remained close until Katie Lou Samuelson, who had hardly played in the first three quarters, came in and scored ten points in the final quarter to help put the game out of reach. UConn won the game 86–70.^[26]

Notre Dame

The next game, against Notre Dame, represented a rematch of the two teams in the prior year's championship game. Playing without Taya Reimer and Briana Turner, Notre Dame opted for a guard-oriented, perimeter offense. They tied a school record with 13 three-pointers in the game. Marina Mabrey scored 21 points in the first half for the Irish. UConn's Jefferson announced at halftime she would guard Mabrey in the second half, and Mabrey only scored two points in the half. Stewart was the leading scorer with 28 points, but Tuck had 21 points, along with eight assists and seven rebounds. The Huskies won by ten points 91–81.^[27]

Colgate

Auriemma likes to schedule a game near the home town of seniors. The logical choice for Syracuse native Stewart would be Syracuse, but they declined, so an arrangement was made to play nearby Colgate. The small arena (capacity 1,782) was sold out for the event. The Raiders were unable to keep up with the Huskies, but did manage to accomplish something that recent oppoents have exploited; hitting three pointers. Colgate's Paige Kriftcher had a total of nine three-pointers in her first six games, but went 7 for 8 on the evening. However, the rest of the team was unable to match her performance, and the team scored 50 points to Uconn's 94. Stewart performed well in the game before friends and family, hitting seven of her nine shot attempts for 22 points. Her ten assists gave her a double-double, and she also had seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks.^[28]

Florida State

UConn faced Florida State in the Hall of Fame Women's Showcase played at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The Seminoles were ranked #11, and came in with a seven-game winning streak. However, the Huskies had a balanced offense, led by Tuck with 18 points, and joined by Stewart with 16, Jefferson with 15 and Nurse with 14, were more than enough to counter Florida State. The Huskies hit almost 56% of their shot attempts, and went on to win their 45th consecutive game 73–49.^[29]

LSU

LSU came to Hartford to play UConn at the XL center. Both teams were playing with shortened rosters. The Huskies' Butler has not played yet, following thumb surgery; she was expected to be ready in December, but has not yet plated. Chong has suffered IT band issues with her legs and is unable to play. Stewart sustained an ankle injury in practice, and has held out as a precaution. However, LSU also had several players out. Both Raigyne Moncrief and Ayana Mitchell had season ending surgery; coach Nikki Fargas held an open tryout to add players, and chose Constance Quinn, a softball player. But playing UConn short-handed with new players is not a recipe for success. Even with some of the Huskies being sidelined, UConn played solid defense, holding LSU scoreless for a six-minute stretch at one time, and held them to just under 26% field goal shooting. The Huskies won easily, 86–40.^[30]

Maryland

Connecticut and Maryland played in the Maggie Dixon Classic, held in Madison Square Garden. The Terrapins were ranked sixth in the polls, but the Huskies started out strong, opening up a seven-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Maryland responded in the second quarter, first tying the game at 21 points apiece, then taking a lead 29–27. With two minutes to go in the half, Maryland held a slim, three point lead, but the Huskies scored the last seven points of the half to go into halftime up 36–34.

Connecticut continued the run in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring the first four points of the period, but Maryland responded, and retook the lead. The Huskies responded as well, retook the lead and extended it to twelve points. The Terrapins chipped away at the lead, and cut it to four points with just over a minute to go in the game, when Chong, playing for the first time in four games, nailed a three-pointer to extend the lead to seven. Maryland's Brionna Jones would hit 12 of her 14 field goal attempts and score 22 points, but it was not enough. Maryland would make one more basket, but five three throws by Connecticut extended the final margin to double-digits, and a win 81–71.^[31][32]

Cincinnati (away)

The next game was against Cincinnati, coached by former UConn player and coach Jamelle Elliott. Despite the relationship, Auriemma did not ease up on the Bearcats. Eight Huskies scored in double digits, and UConn went on to win the game easily, 107–45. The game was notable for factors other than the final outcome. Uconn's Natalie Butler had transferred from Georgetown, so sat out the required full year, but then had a thumb injury, requiring surgery and rehabilitation. She finally got to play, nearly 18 months after her last game. She didn't take long to make her presence know, scoring 21 seconds after entering the game. She ended up with eleven points, hitting five of her seven shots, recorded eight rebounds and two blocked shots. The other notable event was that Stewart, who had passed Diana Taurasi on the UConn scoring list last Monday, scored enough to pass Kalena Mosqueda Lewis, Nykesha Sales and Kerry Bascom. She is now third on the all-time scoring list, trailing only Tina Charles (basketball) and Maya Moore.^[33][34]

Tulsa (home)

Jefferson did not play in the game against Tulsa, due to a hamstring injury. She had played in all 129 previous games, and had started 90 consecutive times. Chong, still recovering from a leg injury, started in her place, and scored a season high 18 points. Tuck also scored 18 points, 16 in the first half. The Huskies shot just over 50% from the field and held the Golden Hurricane to under 27%. UConn won its 49th consecutive game 95–35.^[35]

Houston

Houston had only four wins against ten losses when they started the game against UConn, so no one gave them a legitimate shot at a win. A very early small lead wasn't a surprise, but the lead grew to seven points in the first quarter, giving some hope to the Houston fans in attendance. Even though Houston led at the end of the first quarter, the Huskies had started a 15–0 run that would take back the lead. Although the Cougars would manage a 5–0 run at the end of that run, the Huskies settled down, put together another run (11–0) in the third period and ended with a win 76–37. Tuck did not play with soreness in her leg. Jefferson had missed the prior game, but was back in the line-up. Butler had seven rebounds in her third game back after recovery from thumb surgery.^[36]

South Florida (away)

South Florida is the only other ranked team in the American Conference. The game in Tampa started out promisingly for the Bulls, as Kitija Laksa, who had scored 38 points in her previous game, hit her first two three-pointers of the game to give the Bulls an 8–2 lead. They extended the lead to eight points at 14–6, but Stewart and Nurse ht threes to start a 14–1 run by the Huskies to retake the lead. The Bulls cut the lead to a single point in the third quarter on two more threes by Laksa, but UConn responded with seven straight points. In the fourth quarter, Jefferson, Tuck and Samuelson each hit a three in the opening two minutes of the quarter to open up the lead to 18. Although South Florida would cut a 21-point lead to 12 later in the period, they would not get any closer and UConn finished with their 51st consecutive win 75–59.^[37]

Memphis (away)

Despite winning by large margins at Houston and South Florida, the Huskies started out slowly in each game, trailing at the end of the first quarter against Houston, and down by eight points to South Florida in the first quarter. In the game against Memphis, the team started out better, leading 11–4 early, and shortly thereafter, scoring 13 consecutive points. The lead reached 20 points before the end of the quarter. Jefferson had noticed a tendency to shoot with her elbow out, corrected the motion and hit seven of her eight field goal attempts, leading to a team high 21 points. UConn went on to win 86–46.^[38]

Temple (home)

Playing in only its second game on campus this season, Samuelson got her second start of the year. She responded by scoring 21 points, a new career high, along with six assists. Her coach noted she had been playing better in games, and better in practices. As a 6' 3" guard, she also opened up the middle of the floor for Stewart, as the Owls needed to guard Samuelson on the perimeter. Stewart hit nine of her eleven field goals attempts and scored 22. The score was tied at five points apiece when the Huskies scored 24 consecutive points. The team hit almost 55% of their field goal attempts, and tied a season high with 13 three-pointers, leading to 104 points, while holding Temple to 49.^[39][40]

UCF

UConn played Central Florida without Tuck, out for two weeks to rest a sore knee. Six different players reached double figures, including Natalie Butler, who scored 20 points on nine of eleven shooting, the highest point total in her UConn career. She played without her bandage for the first time this year. Williams had 19 points, also hitting nine of eleven shots. Jefferson was questionable, following a knee and head injury in practice, but played 21 minutes. The Huskies won 106–51.^[41]

SMU (away)

Dallas native Jefferson scored 19 points in home of a home crowd court. Stewart just missed a triple double, with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 9 blocks, while playing only 26 minutes. The Huskies hit over 50% of their shots, while holding the Mustangs to 25% shooting. UConn won 90–37, their 55th consecutive win, breaking a tie with Louisiana Tech for the third longest winning streak in NCAA DI women's basketball (Connecticut holds the first and second places, at 90 and 70 respectively).^[42]

Tulsa (away)

Breanna Stewart elevating to take a shot

Connecticut held Tulsa to just three points in the opening quarter, and the game result was never in doubt. The Huskies outscored the Golden Hurricane by 64 points to win 94–30, but the win wasn't the story of the day—Stewart came into the game with 997 career rebounds and reached the 1,000 career rebound level. She is one of only six Huskies to score at least 1,000 points and record 1,000 rebounds in her career.^[43]

Memphis (home)

In the game against Memphis, five Huskies scored in double-digits, led by Stewart's 19 points. UConn recorded assists on 25 of their 32 baskets, hit 58% of their field goal attempts and all ten free throws. The 19 turnovers was one of the few "downsides" in the box score, as Connecticut won their 57th consecutive game 83–40.^[44][45]

Tulane (away)

The Huskies took on Tulane at their arena. Stewart, who was only 16 points away from second place (held by Tina Charles ) on the Huskies all-time scoring list. She scored the first six points of the game and scored or recorded an assist on nine of the twelve baskets scored in the quarter. She reached second place on two free throws late in the first half. Tulane had the second best defense in the conference, holding teams to under 61 points in a game. The Huskies scored 63 by halftime. Tuck played in the game after missing four games with knee soreness, with eleven points and five rebounds in 16 minutes of play. The Huskies defeated the Green Wave 96–38.^[46]

East Carolina (home)

Connecticut played at Gampel Arena for only the third time this season, taking on East Carolina. Nurse, who had been scoreless in the previous game, scored a season-high 20 points as the Huskies defeated the Pirates 92–46. Briana Pulido made a steal near midcourt, which led to a lay-up late in the game.^[47]

South Carolina

The match-up between Connecticut and South Carolina featured the top two teams in the country. The two team met the previous year, in Connecticut, ranked first and second, although South Carolina was the number one team at the time. Coach Auriemma compared the ascendance of the Gamecocks to the path of the 1995 UConn team, which went on to win the national championship, noting that in some ways, the South Carolina team was further along. The game was played in front of a sell-out crowd of 18,000 fans, some of whom were lined up by noon to get in to the seven o'clock game. The Gamecocks were expected to take advantage of their strong frontcourt duo of A'ja Wilson and Alaina Coates, but Tuck's defense of Coates limited her to only two points. Tuck scored 16 herself, Stewart scored 25, and Jefferson "tired out the Gamecocks guards with her relentlessness". The Huskies opened up an early lead, never trailed, and extended the lead to 21 points. The final score favored Connecticut 66–54. It was the 22nd meeting between teams ranked one and two in which Connecticut played; they are now 19–3 in such games.^[48]

Schedule

The Huskies' exhibition game with Vanguard will feature several experimental rules, many of which have been advocated by head coach Auriemma:^[49]

• The shot clock will be 24 seconds, the same duration used in FIBA and WNBA play.
• The lane will be 16 feet wide, identical to that used in the WNBA and virtually identical to the 4.9 meters used in FIBA play.
• The three-point arc will be extended from its collegiate distance of a uniform 20 feet, 9 inches from the center of the basket to the FIBA and WNBA distance of 6.75 meters (22 feet, 1.75 inches), dropping to a minimum of 6.6 meters (21 feet, 8 inches) at the corners.
• The ball used will be the "size 7" men's ball (29.5 inches circumference, weighing 22 ounces) instead of the standard "size 6" women's ball (28.5 inches, 20 ounces).

^[50]

Rankings

References

External links

• Official site