The game had yet to reach the 5-minute mark and Geno Auriemma had seen enough.

In a Dec. 30 loss to Stanford, UConn's Hall of Fame coach had been kicking himself for not being more proactive in driving his point home that standing around and watching was not an acceptable course of action for his reigning national player of the year. So after seeing Maya Moore falling into the same bad habits that limited her offensively against the Cardinal, Auriemma benched his best player.

This was not one of those 60 or 90-second teaching tools either. Auriemma sat UConn's all-time leading scorer for more than 3 1/2 minutes. Apparently, he got his point across because Moore was a different player the rest of the way.

"I am not a message guy when it comes to that kind of stuff," Auriemma said. "The offense got better after Maya (sat) and it stayed better for long stretches after I put her back in. One of the problems was that Maya, as she is prone to do, just went to a spot, stood there and waited for everybody else to take care of her. That just wasn't going to happen again like I let it happen in the Stanford game.

"Once we took her out, everybody started playing and she realized we are not going to stand around and watch you stand like we did in the Stanford game, we are not going to do that anymore so you either get involved, move and cut and do all the things good players do or you are going to sit here and you are going to watch. She decided she would rather play. Then she did what Maya normally does, make big shots and make big plays but it certainly did not start out that way."

Moore finished with a game-high 31 points as UConn held off Notre Dame 79-76 in the most competitive game - at least according to the scoreboard - that UConn has played in the Big East since escaping DePaul with a 77-76 win during Moore's freshman year.

Moore is hoping that the lessons she learned in the Notre Dame will serve her well for the rest of her time a UConn.

"More and more I am starting to recognize it but sometimes I am still working on the habit of catching it and I always have to be moving, getting ready to move," Moore said. "It is more of a mental thing. It is not a physical thing. I think that is what Coach is trying to achieve so I can move to that next level. I have to be at the height of my awareness this year when things do break down.

"I made sure I was more aware of it because we still had a lot of game left and I wasn't going to let that frustrate me to the point where I was out of my rhythm. It took me a little to get me back into it but the secondhalf, I think I had a fresh start and starting moving a little more on offense but he shouldn't have to do that for me. I will learn from it and catch it sooner."