Blue and Gold Illustrated

January 2019

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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48 JANUARY 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL BY LOU SOMOGYI N otre Dame forever will remain the No. 1 team from the 2017- 18 season, but this Dec. 2 the University of Connecticut dy- nasty let it be known it remains the No. 1 program to beat. The No. 2-ranked and 11-time na- tional champion Huskies took an 8-6 lead and never trailed again while defeating the then No. 1 Fighting Irish 89-71 at Purcell Pavilion. Con- necticut led after the first quarter (27- 22), halftime (44-41) and third quar- ter (65-59), and then dominated the final 10 minutes while Notre Dame lost its composure and concentration to fall back to No. 2 in the country. It was the 122nd consecutive regular- season victory for the Huskies. On paper, this appeared to be the year Notre Dame finally had an ad- vantage against the Huskies in both experience and personnel. First, the Fighting Irish had four senior starters and a junior in Jackie Young, who had torched UConn with 32 points and 11 rebounds in last year 's national semifinal victory in the NCAA Tournament. Conversely, the Huskies had only two senior starters, while two freshmen and a sophomore were among their top six players. Second, whereas three of UConn's starters from last season — Gabby Williams, Azura Stevens and Kia Nurse — were among the top 10 WNBA picks, the Irish returned four starters and added two-time All- American forward Brianna Turner, who sat out last season while recov- ering from ACL surgery. The games, however, are played on a hardwood floor, not paper, and intensity and focus cannot always be measured. "Just because you have every- body back doesn't mean you have the same team back," Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma noted. "Things change." Panic buttons for the Irish would be ridiculously premature, but press- ing the reboot one would be sensible. DIFFERENT DYNAMICS One dynamic in particular that may have changed is whereas the 2017-18 Notre Dame team became galvanized by one setback after an- other and developed an unbridled intensity and determination, this year's team must regain the prover- bial "eye of the tiger" after basking in celebration and adulation the past seven months. The second dynamic in play was UConn's unusual role as the under- dog. Like Alabama in football, UConn is the most dangerous when it is not the favorite like it is 99.99 percent of the time. Auriemma noted to ESPN prior to the Notre Dame game, "It's good for us every once in a while to just feel unencumbered by anything." Also easy to forget is the top six UConn players were all ranked among the top six players in their respective classes by ESPN Hoop- Gurlz, including three No. 1 figures in senior Katie Lou Samuelson, soph- omore Megan Walker and freshman Christyn Williams, who proved to be the best player on a college floor laden with WNBA talent. Williams converted her first seven field goal attempts — two of them from three-point range — in the first quarter alone, and finished with 28 points while using her explosiveness to repeatedly beat the Irish off the dribble. "Christyn Williams was phenom- enal and played just an incredible game. She really was the difference in the game," a disappointed Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said afterwards. The Huskies also played with a looseness — unencumbered, to Au- riemma's point — on the court, in- cluding committing only seven turn- overs, although the Irish weren't bad either with nine. UConn achieved the win despite senior All-American and leading scorer Samuelson shooting only 5 of 16 from the floor, including 0 of 7 in Sidelined last season after ACL surgery, fifth-year senior forward Brianna Turner and her team- mates have been attempting to find an on-court chemistry and rhythm with each other. PHOTO BY COREY BODDEN PRESSING THE REBOOT BUTTON Notre Dame is working on regaining poise and intensity after 18-point loss to UConn

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