{"id":56683,"date":"2012-03-18T19:50:44","date_gmt":"2012-03-18T23:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=56683"},"modified":"2012-03-20T10:21:19","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T14:21:19","slug":"auriemma-likes-seeing-first-time-opponents-in-ncaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/03\/auriemma-likes-seeing-first-time-opponents-in-ncaa-tournament\/","title":{"rendered":"Auriemma Likes Seeing First-Time Opponents in NCAA Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Head<\/a>
Head women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma listens to a question during Sunday's NCAA Tournament media session at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport. (Ken Best\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After having played top-ranked Baylor and its dominating center Brittney Griner three times this year during the Big 12 season, the No. 8 seeded Kansas State women\u2019s basketball team is not intimidated by the thought of facing the No. 1 seeded Huskies on Monday at Webster Bank Arena in the second round of the NCAA Women\u2019s Basketball Tournament (7 p.m., ESPN2).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played Baylor couple of times and [2011 champions Texas] A&M. We\u2019ve been on the floor with the best of the best,\u201d said Wildcats junior guard Brittany Chambers. \u201cFor sure that\u2019s going to help us coming into the game, and especially not being intimidated by what the front of the jersey says.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sophomore<\/a>
Sophomore guard Bria Hartley '14 (CLAS) answers questions during the media session. (Ken Best\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kansas State is also comforted by the fact that its starting lineup of Chambers (14.3 points per game, 6.3 rebounds), senior guard Tasha Dickey (10.1,4.1), junior guard Mariah White (5.3, 4.7), senior forwards Jalana Childs (14.5, 4.9) and Branshea Brown (5.2, 4.7) has played together for three consecutive years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think teams want to take one or two things away from us. We\u2019ve learned to adjust,\u201d Childs said, noting that in Saturday\u2019s first round game against Princeton, Chambers was held to 6 points, allowing Brown to explode for 22 points to advance against UConn. \u201cThat\u2019s what I love about our team. With us five we can be great all together, but if one of us is not there, someone else is there to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Kansas State will be facing the Huskies for the first time, something head coach Geno Auriemma thinks is a good thing during the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n

\"Freshman<\/a>
Freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis '15 (CLAS) during Sunday's NCAA Tournament media session. (Ken Best\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think in general that\u2019s what\u2019s great about the NCAA tournament. You get a chance to step outside your own neighborhood and start playing teams that don\u2019t know anything about you and you don\u2019t know about them,\u201d he said Sunday, noting how difficult it is in the Big East Conference to play teams two or three times in a season. \u201cI think that\u2019s the best thing about it. Seeing somebody for the first time is hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the teams have not played each other, Auriemma has known Wildcats head coach Deb Patterson, who was an assistant coach when he coached the USA Basketball 2000 Junior World Champion team, for many years.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year they play their style of play. It\u2019s been consistent,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir program is built around their defense. They play great half court defense. They don\u2019t try to do a lot of things. They\u2019re very patient. They try to force you to play their style at their pace. I\u2019m sure tomorrow it will be the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kansas State (20-13, 9-9 Big 12) is playing in its 13th NCAA Tournament and the ninth during the tenure of Patterson. She said that while Baylor and UConn are different teams with different styles of play, she believes that her squad has benefitted from going up against the nation\u2019s top-ranked team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think having played Baylor you at least come into a matchup against UConn, knowing you have played against the best, so in moments when you have given in, you\u2019ve learned from those,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cI think the main thing to build upon is positives you may have gained and mental challenges and lessons you have learned. Hopefully, when you line up against them you\u2019re prepared to bring your best mentally to whatever they bring to the game physically. You have to answer the physical dominance and speed, physicality, and the aggressiveness they bring. If you\u2019re not connected there, forget about the rest of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Childs, who is 6-2, was asked whether playing against Griner will provide her with an advantage against UConn\u2019s centers Stefanie Dolson \u201914 (CLAS), who is 6-5, and freshman Kiah Stokes \u201915 (CLAS), who is 6-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played 6-6 and we\u2019ve played 6-5 and we\u2019ve played it well,\u201d Childs said about playing against taller players. \u201cWhen you have 6-8 on the court it really changes a lot. With UConn, I won\u2019t have to change my game to that extent as if I was playing Baylor. I don\u2019t want to compare the two, they\u2019re both great teams, but what we have tomorrow is a bit better match up for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sophomore<\/a>
Sophomore center Stefanie Dolson '14 (CLAS) answering questions in the locker room before practice, during Sunday's media session. (Ken Best\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dolson said the Huskies will continue to concentrate on their own game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere hasn\u2019t been a lot of teams we\u2019ve played that\u2019s had the experience of playing such high caliber teams,\u201d she said. \u201cWe know they\u2019re going to come out with a fight. I think every team in this tournament is going to come out and play their best game. We just have to focus on our game, what we\u2019re going to do on the court, and not on how they\u2019re going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Auriemma said while the Huskies\u2019 top-ranked defense remains a strong point, the team is still seeking more consistency on offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not one of those years where we can count on going out and getting 80 to 85 points on a regular basis,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to work a lot harder offensively. For tomorrow, it\u2019s going to be all about that \u2013 make sure we get the right shot at the right time. I think the deeper you go into the tournament, the less you can afford to have bad possessions because it puts so much more pressure on your defense. Our defense is going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

That point is not lost on Patterson, whose team this year averaged 57.8 points per game, while giving up 56.7 points. The Huskies have scored an average of 76.4 points per game and given up 45.7 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cUConn always plays unbelievably great defense. It\u2019s sort of like their post players \u2013 kind of understated,\u201d Patterson said. \u201cFirst and foremost, they play hard every second they\u2019re on the floor, and if they don\u2019t they\u2019re not on the floor. Combine that with athleticism, great basketball IQ, instinctual anticipation they bring to the floor, and the great coaching, and you have a win-win scenario defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tournament notes:<\/strong> Senior Tiffany Hayes \u201912 (CLAS), playing with a stress fracture in her right foot, was limited to 17 minutes of action on Saturday, when she scored 7 points. Auriemma said at halftime, Hayes indicated her foot was bothering her so he kept her on the bench. After the game Hayes said she was feeling better \u2026 Reserve sophomore guard Lauren Engeln \u201914 (CLAS) did not play because of a sprained ankle and may not play on Monday \u2026 Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis \u201915 (CLAS) tied the UConn freshman mark in a first round NCAA game with 21 points, held by former assistant coach Jamelle Elliott \u201996 (ED), \u201997 MA, now the head coach at Cincinnati, which plays its second round Women\u2019s NIT game Monday night against Toledo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Huskies play Kansas State on Monday, it will be the first time the two teams have faced each other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":56687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[55],"class_list":["post-56683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 07:16:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56683"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56803,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56683\/revisions\/56803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/56687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56683"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=56683"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=56683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}