UConn Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma wanted to see a better effort out of his team tonight. I’m pretty sure he’ll be happy with the fact his No. 1 Huskies shot 64.1% in their 99-55 win over the San Diego State Aztecs in front of 10,313 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.
Maya Moore once again led the way for the Huskies (2-0) with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Despite being in foul trouble tonight, Tina Charles added 17 points and 5 rebounds while Kalana Greene and Renee Montgomery both chipped in with 13 points. Freshman Tiffany Hayes rounded out the Huskies in double-figures with 11 points. The only Husky not to score tonight was Cassie Kerns.
Jene Morris paced the Aztecs (2-1) with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Paris Johnson added 9 points and Lasandra Dixon came off the bench to score 8 points.
The Huskies started quick out of the gates as they got out to a quick 7-0 lead. They increased their lead to 20-8 before the first media time out of the night and it kept growing throughout the half as the Huskies took a 56-27 lead into the locker room.
It was more of the same for the Huskies in the second half as their lead swelled as high as 52 points late in the 2nd half before the Aztecs closed out the game on a 12-4 run over the final 6:16 of the game.
The Huskies definitely put forth a better effort tonight then they did against Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon. Charles’ foul trouble tonight also gave Geno Auriemma a chance to experiment a little with a few different lineups as well as getting some more playing time for his bench.
Next up for the Huskies is a date on Saturday afternoon against the Rhode Island Rams at the XL Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 PM and the game will be televised here in Connecticut on CPTV.
Notes and musings:
San Diego State Aztecs @ UConn Huskies 11.20.08 box score
The starters were Renee Montgomery, Caroline Doty, Maya Moore, Kalana Greene and Tina Charles.
Former Husky and current radio analyst Kara Wolters filled in for Megan Culmo on the television broadcast tonight as Culmo is set to give birth any time to her third child. Randy Levine worked the game with Bob Joyce on the WTIC-1080 AM UConn Huskies Radio Network.
Kalana Greene had made her 5 five shots of the game and also her first 5 shots in the first game before missing a 3-pointer with 16:24 left in the second half. It was also her only miss of the night.
Saturday’s game against Rhode Island will mark the 100th time the Huskies have played at the XL Center. They are 88-11 in the first 99 games.
The Huskies scored 30 points off of 20 SDSU turnovers while committing 14 of their own.
UConn outscored the Aztecs 46-24 in the paint and won the battle of the boards 38-30.
The Huskies shot 58.3% (7-of-12) from 3-point land and were 10-of-15 (66.7%) from the charity stripe.
