UConn has officially kicked off the second half of the regular season with one of the most bizarre games I have witnessed in the seven seasons as the UConn women's basketball team's beat writer.

The Huskies couldn't miss early on, hitting 10 of their first 14 shots. UConn had 22 points in the first 6:10 of the first half and 16 points in the opening 4:57 of the second half. If my math is correct (and that is usually a rather large "if") the Huskies would have put 136 points up on DePaul if they maintained that pace. However, they had just 39 points in the rest of the game, a stretch of nearly 29 minutes. Had the Huskies scored at that rate for the entire contest, they would have scored 54 points which would have been the worst offensive output since a 55-47 loss to Rutgers in the 2007 Big East tournament.

UConn coach Geno Auriemma chalked up the choppy game to a few factors. First, he felt his team seemed a bit tired after a long road trip. He credited much of the inconsistent nature of the contest to DePaul's relentless nature and also believes that the stretch of games before class in back in session are always difficult ones for his players since they are not back into their normal rhythm.

Tuesday's game was just the second in the last 10 games where UConn had five players score in double figures. The Big Three of Maya Moore (18 points), Renee Montgomery (12 points) and Tina Charles (11) did their part. Freshmen Caroline Doty and Tiffany Hayes added 12 and 10 points respectively. Hayes may have challenged Ashley Valley's unofficial record for most times a UConn player fell down in a game. I counted eight and a majority of those were Hayes just tumbling to the ground. Doty laughed when I asked her about that in the post-game press conference and said maybe Tiffany sometimes gets her feet going faster than the rest of her body. Doty was 6 for 31 from 3-point range since the last time UConn played at Gampel Pavilion. She rediscovered her shooting touch, hitting 4 of 7 from beyond the arc.

DePaul coach Doug Bruno has a unique ability to communicate basketball insights to the media. I don't always make it into the press conference for the opposing coach but I never miss a second of Bruno's press conferences because I usually leave the room more knowledgeable than I was before I arrived.

Bruno's best tidbit about UConn was that freshmen Doty and Hayes have that "UConn ilk." Basically what that means is that Auriemma and his staff look for a certain type of player. Intangibles and unselfishness are among the qualities the UConn staff seeks out. So when the recruiting-obsessive UConn fans clamor for the Huskies to go after players A, B and C because they are rated third, fourth and fifth in the rankings of these so-called "recruiting gurus" they might want to take several deep breaths into the closest available paper bag and realize that there is a method to the UConn recruiting madness.

For those into recruiting, I reached out to the coaches of four players I know UConn is interested in to see when Laguna Hills (Calif.) guard Lauren Engeln, Arundel (Md.) High forward Sheronne Vails, Oak Hill Academy (Va.) forward Orsi Szecsi and Montini (Ill.) High forward Michala Johnson might be visiting UConn. There is a story in today's Register about the future plans of those four prospects

The condensed version of the story is that Vails is hoping to attend UConn's game at Georgetown, although it is more as a fan than anything to do with the recruiting process. Szecsi, a native of Hungary, isn't anywhere near making campus visits. Engeln and Johnson would like to visit UConn between the end of their respective team's regular seasons in early February and the start of state tournament play in March. UConn has home games on consecutive February Sundays against Pittsburgh and Notre Dame so my opinion is that those are the two most likely options. If I were a betting man (which I am not) I would guess that the weekend of the Notre Dame game makes the most sense. Despite Notre Dame's loss to Marquette, the Fighting Irish are emerging as one of the few teams likely to hang with UConn. The UConn men's team has a home game against South Florida on Feb. 21 and the chance to take in a men's and women's game is always a big selling point for recruits during these visits.

You may have noticed that Meghan Culmo was not providing color commentary on the CPTV broadcast. Culmo's mother in law Katherine passed away on Friday after a five-year battle with cancer. Calling hours for Kay Culmo will be from 4-8 p.m. today at the Jenkins-King Funeral Home (12 Franklin St. Ansonia). Funeral services will be held on Thursday at 10 a.m. from Holy Rosary Church (10 Father Salemi Drive, Ansonia). Burial will follow in Pine Grove Cemetery Ansonia.

Culmo will not be on the broadcast Saturday either but it has nothing to do with her loss of her mother in law. With SNY also televising the game, Beth Mowins and Brooke Weisbrod were contracted to call the game instead of CPTV's normal team of Bob Picozzi and Culmo.

The last item is news that Jacquie Fernandes' scholarship has been renewed for her senior season. I'm not sure if this is really too newsworthy since the only way Fernandes was going be in danger of not having a scholarship for her final season would be if the Huskies ran out of scholarships. Even if Kalana Greene opts to return for a fifth season of eligibility, UConn will have four scholarships left unfilled so extending Fernandes' scholarship was really a no-brainer for Auriemma.

"Jacquie made the decision to come here and I hope she doesn’t regret
it and never will regret it," Auriemma said after Tuesday's game. "There’s not a kid on our team that doesn’t appreciate her being here and all the things she does for us."