Freshmen being called on early and often in their careers for No. 17 UConn women
Dec. 9—UConn coach Geno Auriemma was counseling freshman Ashlynn Shade recently. Shade, a 2,000-point career scorer in high school from Noblesville, Indiana — her lineage reads a bit like Hoosiers — received her first Division I scholarship offer before she ever played a high school game.
Now, she's starting for the 17th-ranked UConn women's basketball team, replacing Azzi Fudd, at that, and she's putting a little bit of pressure on herself.
"I think the tightness that you see and the pressure that she's putting on herself is just off the charts," Auriemma said recently. "To be great. 'I came here to be great.'
"I don't think anybody was ever great in four games. Greatness takes time and it involves a lot of work and failure and all that good stuff."
UConn (5-3) faces No. 24 North Carolina at 5 p.m. Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Showcase (ESPN), the third game of a star-studded tournament field which also features No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 20 Florida State at noon and No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 11 Utah at 2:30.
UConn's mystifying injury woes continue for the third straight season. Fudd, the No. 1 recruit in the nation upon arriving in Storrs, is out for the season with a knee injury.
Auriemma announced earlier this week that he's not expecting sophomore Ayanna Patterson to return this year after an offseason knee procedure. Caroline Ducharme (neck spasms) is out indefinitely. Six-foot-five center Jana El Alfy is out for the season.
And so Wednesday's starting lineup for the Huskies in a 90-63 victory over Ball State at Gampel Pavilion featured two freshmen in disruptive guard KK Arnold and Shade. Arnold has received Big East Conference Freshman of the Week honors twice and fellow freshman Qadence Samuels once.
"We don't really have a lot of choices," Auriemma said, asked of his use of the freshmen. "We don't have any sophomores or juniors. We're either starting seniors or we're starting freshmen. There's no in between.
"I thought they did a pretty good job. The more minutes they get ... I keep trying to think of going forward, going forward. They're getting more opportunities to play, more opportunities to learn and that's going to pay dividends. As ugly as it looks at times, it's going to pay some dividends, I hope, down the road."
Against Ball State, Shade finished with 17 points on 7-for-14 shooting with three 3-pointers, an assist and a steal. Arnold had seven points and four assists. Samuels came off the bench to finish with 11 points, four rebounds and a steal. Redshirt freshman Ice Brady had four points, four rebounds and tied Arnold for the team lead with four assists.
"I just have to get out of my own head and just play how I know how to play," Shade said afterward. "I felt great out there today. I felt confident with my shots."
Auriemma is still waiting for the version of Shade that he recruited out of Indiana, where she grew up with her grandfather Dave, an instructor at the Indiana Basketball Academy, as her shooting coach. Shade was the 15th-ranked recruit in the nation.
Then again, there is more of a burden placed on the UConn freshmen than expected, less time for them to adjust to the collegiate level.
They arrived wide-eyed to be on the same court as former national player of the year Paige Bueckers. Now they're expected to emulate Bueckers.
"(Shade) understands now we have two kids on our team that aren't playing (Fudd and Ducharme) that would have taken 16 3s probably between the two of them. At least. And now 'I got to make up for those two guys and I'm not shooting the ball great and I'm not doing this great' and then it just piles on."
"It's kind of been way more," Arnold said. "I was expecting everybody was supposed to be healthy. It's been a different role this year. Just going out there and playing my heart out, just proving that we can win this game and help my teammates out. ... Every time I get on the court, be the best me."
Shade continues to stop by the team's practice facility to get shots up whenever she can. Between classes. At night after study hall.
Arnold is averaging 7.4 points per game, shooting 21-for-37 (.568). Shade, whose toughness reminds Auriemma of UConn great Shea Ralph, is shooting 20-for-40 (.500) and averaging 6.7 points per game.
"Obviously there's pressure, but I wouldn't say it's a negative pressure," Shade said. "I think it's a pressure to want to be better. I think it's a pressure to want to produce for the team. It kind of gives you the extra motivation to be like, 'Yeah, I can be that player to knock down shots when my team needs me.'"
North Carolina (6-3) is coming off an 81-66 win over UNC Greensboro on Wednesday. The Tar Heels are led by 5-foot-8 senior guard Deja Kelly with 16.1 points per game. It is the first time UConn will meet North Carolina since Jan. 16, 2012.
Said Auriemma of the Hall of Fame Showcase: "It's incredible that the Hall of Fame has chosen to do this. ... It's not just any triple-header. I mean, these three games, these six teams could be an NCAA regional, three regional finals. These are not the kind of matchups that you get all in once place in December. I'm glad we don't have to play all of 'em; we just have to play one of 'em."
