University of Connecticut Athletics
Women's Basketball Game Notes: UConn vs. Ukraine
11/16/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
SATURDAY'S GAME
The Connecticut Huskies, ranked No. 1 in the country, face Dynamo Kiev of the Ukraine Saturday in their second foreign exhibition game of the season. UConn defeated EOS Malbas of Sweden, 104-54, in its first exhibition game. The Huskies remain a unanimous No. 1 choice at the top of the polls after defeating preseason No. 3 Georgia in a lopsided, 99-70, affair at the Hartford Civic Center in UConn's home opener on Sunday, Nov. 12 as part of the Hall of Fame/Tip-Off Classic.
HUSKIES DISMANTLE NO. 3 GEORGIA
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The No. 1 nationally-ranked University of Connecticut women's basketball team began defense of its national championship in impressive fashion Sunday, rolling past No. 3 nationally-ranked Georgia 99-70 in the State Farm Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic at the Hartford Civic Center.
Playing before an advance sellout crowd of 16,294 and a national television audience, UConn wasted little time taking charge. The Huskies vaulted to a 29-point lead midway through the opening half and held a comfortable 54-31 advantage at intermission.
In the second half, Georgia got within 12 points, 71-59 with eight minutes left, but the talented Huskies used their depth to wear down the Bulldogs. In the end, UConn had rebuilt the final margin to the same 29-point edge it held in the opening half.
Connecticut two-time All-American Svetlana Abrosimova was brilliant throughout the contest, scoring a game-high 18 points and adding 11 assists, seven rebounds and four steals while playing 31 minutes without a turnover.
The winners also had four other players in double figures. Non-starter Tamika Williams came off the bench to score 12 points while Sue Bird scored 11 and Shea Ralph and Swin Cash each tallied 10. The UConn bench totaled 42 points while the five starters recorded 57 points. Cash finished with a double-double, adding a team-high 10 rebounds to her 10-point scoring total.
Georgia was led by non-starter Christi Thomas who scored 16 points and added a game-high 12 rebounds. Also in double figures for the Bulldogs were the sister duo of Coco and Kelly Miller, with 15 and 12 points respectively, and Deanna Nolan with 11.
Connecticut was a sizzling 61.8% from the field (21 of 34) in the opening 20 minutes of play while limiting Georgia to just 31.3% from the floor. For the entire game, UConn shot 56.7% from the floor (38 of 67) while Georgia ended the game with a 37.5% showing, hitting 24 of 64 field goal tries.
UConn, led by Abrosimova's 11 assists, totaled 25 assists on 38 field goals in the season-opening effort. The Huskies were six-of-12 from three-point range (50%) and clicked on 17-of-24 at the foul line (70.8%).
UCONN IN THE TIP-OFF CLASSIC
UConn's season opener versus Georgia was the third time the Huskies opened the season in the Tip-Off Classic and second time the Huskies were ranked No. 1 at the time of the game. Off the heels of a 35-0 season and a national championship, the No. 1 Huskies opened the 1995-96 season versus then-No. 4 LaTech in the Tip-Off in Knoxville, TN. UConn suffered an 83-81 overtime loss to the Lady Techsters in the closest margin of defeat ever in a Tip-Off game. Meanwhile, the 164 combined points were the most total points scored in a Tip-Off game. UConn's second Tip-Off appearance came at the start of the 1996-97 season when they opened the year with a 74-56 win over Western Kentucky in Palo Alto, CA. UConn's opener this season had all the makings of a bad flashback as the Huskies again were coming off a National Championship and were again facing a top-ranked opponent, No. 3 Georgia, in the season opener at the Tip-Off Classic. However, UConn turned a potential barn-burner into a basketball clinic as the Huskies routed No. 3 Georgia, 99-70, on national television, picking up right where they left off.
SVET SHINES IN TIP-OFF
Senior two-time All-American Svetlana Abrosimova opened the year with a bang. The forward scored a game-high 18 points, dished a game and career- high 11 assists, and grabbed a total of seven rebounds, all without a turnover, en route to being named the ESPN/Tip-Off Player of the Game. Abrosimova's season turnover totals have dropped steadily since her freshman year, and only twice in her career (both last season) did she finish a game with no turnovers.
RALPH OFF TO PERFECT START
After shooting a career-high .624 field goal percentage last season (second in BIG EAST), senior All-American Shea Ralph is off to a perfect start going 4-for-4 from the field versus No. 3 Georgia. She added four assists, one steal and a block. The senior fouled out of the game for only her third time in her career and first since 1998-99, versus Notre Dame in the BIG EAST Tournament.
RANKED FROM THE START
Since 1990-91, the Huskies have been ranked nationally at the start of the season. UConn earned the AP No. 1 spot at the beginning of the 1995-96 season, the 1999-2000 season and at the start of this season. UConn's lowest preseason ranking over the last 10 years was No. 24 by the AP in 1990-91. Since an AP ranking of No. 4 to start 1994-95, the Huskies have not opened the year lower than No. 6 (1997-98).
RANKED OPENERS
Despite UConn's loaded schedules over the past years, the Georgia game was only the third time in history that the Huskies opened the year versus a ranked opponent. They are currently 2-1 versus ranked teams in season openers. The Huskies lost to then-No. 4 LaTech in the Tip-Off in 1995 and defeated then-No. 21 Duke in the Four in the Fall Classic (San Jose, CA) to open 1998.
'TIS THE SEASON OPENER
In season openers, UConn is now 19-8 (.692) overall and 12-4 (.733) under Geno Auriemma. On that same note, Connecticut is 22-5 in home openers and is 15-1 during the Auriemma tenure. The sole loss came to Iowa (41-58, 11/29/90). On an even smaller scale, the Huskies are 2-0 in Hartford Civic Center home openers. In November, the opening month of play, UConn is 22- 1 in home games under Auriemma.
TRUE INCUMBENTS
Including the week of 11/13, the Huskies have been nationally ranked in the Top 25 for 133 consecutive polls dating back to November 23, 1993 (seven seasons). UConn has been ranked No. 1 in the polls since preseason of 1999 making their stay 21 consecutive weeks at the top; a school record for consecutive rankings.
EARLY GAMERS
By 19 hours, the Nov. 12 start for UConn was the earliest tip-off to a UConn women's basketball season in school history. The closest to it was the 1998-99 season when Connecticut and Duke squared off against one another on Nov. 13 in the Four in the Fall Classic in San Jose, CA. Sunday's (Nov. 12) start time was 4 p.m. ET, the 1998-99 UConn-Duke game started at 6 p.m. PT.
WIRE-TO-WIRE-TO-WIRE?
UConn's remarkable journey to the national championship in 1999-2000 started with a preseason No. 1 ranking and ended with the same. The hype currently surrounding this year's squad expects nothing less than a repeat. LaTech is the only school in history to hold the No. 1 spot for two consecutive seasons, 1980-82, when they also won back-to-back championships. The last time a team was ranked wire-to-wire was Tennessee in 1997-98. Prior to that season, Texas was ranked No. 1 all through the 1985-86 season. (AP Rankings).
INDIVIDUALLY SPEAKING
Several UConn players earned preseason honors as well. Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph were both named preseason First Teamers by AP, ESPN Magazine, Athlon Sports, Women's Basketball News and the BIG EAST Conference, while Abrosimova was named Player of the Year by SI for Women and Ralph was Player of the Year in the BIG EAST. Sue Bird, Kelly Schumacher and Tamika Williams were all mentioned for preseason accolades by various outlets, while newcomer Diana Taurasi earned Rookie of the Year status in the league and was a Women's Basketball News preseason all-Freshman pick.
HEAD COACH GENO AURIEMMA
Head Coach Geno Auriemma heads into his 16th season at the helm for the Huskies. Entering the Pepperdine game, he is 394-95 (.805) overall in his career, and has two national championships at Connecticut (1995,2000). Auriemma is third among active Division I coaches in winning percentage. He was also the first Division I coach (men or women) in basketball history to earn five consecutive 30-plus winning seasons... Auriemma has taken UConn to the 1995 and 2000 National Championship, four Final Four appearances, seven Elite Eights and eight Sweet Sixteen games. During his tenure, the team has also won 10 regular season BIG EAST titles and nine league tournament championships, including the last seven consecutive titles in each regular season and postseason.
A WINNING PROGRAM
Since UConn's first NCAA Championship in 1995, the Huskies have had the most victories of any other team over the last six seasons. UConn boasts a six- year record of 201-14, followed closely by Tennessee with a record of 198-24.
HUSKIES HANDLE ELITE TEAMS
The Huskies ended the Georgia game 38-9 overall versus ranked opponents over the past five seasons and are now 19-8 versus Top 10 opponents in that span. All-time, UConn is now 54-28 versus ranked teams and 26-17 against Top 10-ranked teams. The Huskies finished the 1999-2000 season 16-1 versus ranked opponents and an astounding 10-1 vs. Top 10 foes. Four of the nine occasions that the Huskies reached the century mark in 1999-2000 were against ranked teams. UConn boasted an average margin of victory of 20.0 points over ranked opponents (and a margin of defeat of 1.0 points).
THE YEAR OF THE DOGS
The Huskies return 10 letterwinners from a season ago. Here's what else the Huskies return to the court-
- 92.0 % (2931-3184) total points scored
- 91.8% (1100-1198) field goals made
- 91.6% (2038-2223) field goal attempts
- 91.0% (182-200) 3-point field goals made
- 91.3% (430-471) 3-point field goal attempts
- 93.4% (549-588) free throws made
- 92.0% (762-828) free throw attempts
- 87.8% (1327-1510) total rebounds
- 93.0% (711-764) total assists
- 92.5% (429-464) total steals
- 93.3% (154-165) total blocks
- 90.1% (6668-7400) total minutes played
ABROSIMOVA AND SHEA STILL CLIMBING
Entering the Pepperdine game, Svetlana Abrosimova (1,616) is currently ranked No. 5 in UConn's all-time career scoring list- 517 points behind No. 4 Rebecca Lobo (2,133). Shea Ralph (1,396) is ranked No. 11 and is steadily climbing needing only 14 points to pass Chris Gedney (1,409) and crack into the top 10.
ONE TOUGH GAME AFTER ANOTHER
The 2000-2001 season is going to provide another tough schedule for the Connecticut Huskies. The Huskies will face six schools ranked in the preseason top 12 in both the AP and ESPN polls, including No. 2 Tennessee who they will face twice. The Huskies will also see action against No. 22 (ESPN) Boston College and No. 24 (ESPN) Illinois, while George Washington, Pepperdine and Virginia Tech all received votes between the two polls. UConn will play 11 schools who competed in the NCAA tournament last season, including two 1999-2000 final four teams (Tennessee, Rutgers), two final eight schools (Georgia, LaTech), two sweet sixteen schools (Notre Dame, Old Dominion), three second round schools (Boston College, George Washington, Illinois) and two first round teams (Holy Cross, Pepperdine). UConn adds ACC school Wake Forest to the schedule as well as Virginia Tech, the newest member of the BIG EAST conference.
UCONN VERSUS THE FIELD
Of the 23 scheduled teams UConn will face this year, none hold a winning record against the Huskies. With UConn's win over Georgia, the Huskies move to 2-1 in that series. LaTech and Wake Forest come the closest though. The LaTech series is tied and the Wake Forest meeting will be the first between the two in the sport of women's basketball.
HUSKIES RETURN NATIONAL, BIG EAST LEADERS
Last season, UConn led the BIG EAST and the nation in several statistical categories. The team will try to do the same this year. As a team, UConn led the nation in five categories - Scoring Margin (+30.6), Field Goal Percentage (.539), Field Goal Percentage Defense (.339), Three-Point Field Goal Percentage (.425) and Won-Lost Percentage (36-1, .973). Individually, Sue Bird was second in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.497) and first in the BIG EAST. Beyond Bird, a single individual player for UConn was rarely found in the top five in any individual conference category and not in the top 20 in national statistics. Teamwise, the Huskies led the conference in nine different categories.
ANOTHER FIRST FOR THE HUSKIES
The University of Connecticut women's basketball team will have another 'first' to talk about this year. Every single regular season UConn game will be televised during the 2000-2001 season. That's more television coverage received than any other women's team in the nation, ever. Along with the national games telecast by Fox, ESPN, ESPN2 and CBS, UConn will have the rest of the games in the 2000-2001 season televised by Connecticut Public Television. CPTV has been covering the UConn women's program since the 1993-94 season. During the past six years, 106 UConn games have been televised regionally by CPTV. WTIC Radio will broadcast all the women's basketball games for the 2000-2001 season as well.
UCONN BASKETBALL --AN ADVANCE SELLOUT
Connecticut's entire 16-game home schedule (14 regular season games, 2 exhibitions) in the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027 capacity) and the Hartford Civic Center (16,294 capacity) is an advance sellout.
UCONN TO HOST 2000-2001 BIG EAST TOURNAMENT
The University of Connecticut will serve as host for the 18th BIG EAST Women's Basketball Championship, March 4-7, 2000, at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs... UConn has hosted the 13-team tournament on five previous occasions: 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1997... Connecticut was awarded the 2000 and 2001 tournaments by a vote of conference Directors of Athletics... The 2001 league championship will be held March 3-6.
ABROSIMOVA, RALPH EARN ALL-AMERICA HONORS
Seniors Svetlana Abrosimova and Shea Ralph received recognition as preseason First-Team All-America members by The Associated Press... Abrosimova and Ralph are the fourth pair of teammates, second from Connecticut, to make the preseason team since it started in 1994, following Catchings and Semeka Randall last season, Catchings and Holdsclaw in 1998 and Connecticut's Jennifer Rizzotti and Kara Wolters in 1995.
BIG EAST DEBUTS A NEW LOOK- WELCOME THE HOKIES
The BIG EAST Conference will continue its 16-game regular season league schedule during the 2000-2001 season and invites Virginia Tech into the mix... Each team will play three conference opponents twice (home and away) and will have five additional league home games and five road games... The Huskies have drawn home-and-away games with the following teams: Miami, Villanova, Syracuse... UConn will host Georgetown, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, West Virginia... The team will travel to Boston College, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Seton Hall and Virginia Tech.
