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A blog on UConn women's basketball.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Uptempo Oregon team next up for UConn

The first time I took a look at Oregon's stats I'm not sure I believed what I was seeing.

The Ducks averaged 109.7 points per game in the first three games of the season and perhaps as staggering was the 62 rebounds that they averaged.

Oregon took 109 3-pointers and the Ducks' opponents fired up 107 3's in the games. Yes, this could be a wild affair.

"They really like to push it in transition, we are going to have to control the tempo and play the game we want to play and not the game they want to play," UConn sophomore forward Breanna Stewart said.

With UConn playing games on Friday-Sunday and down a couple of players due to the injuries to Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Morgan Tuck, perhaps fatigue will be an issue.

"I am not sure you want that kind of game when you come off the travel and emotion of the previous three games and it is what it is, Stanford was one way, Maryland was another way Penn State was another way and Oregon is completely different from any other team in the country that I have seen," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "They have a unique style that they have committed to and you have to deal with it. We saw a little but of it last year when we went out there and you have a different cast of characters this year that are more in tune with what they are doing it and they run it, they are going to shoot their 40 3's whether you do anything about it or not, there is nothing you can do about it, they are going to get those shots up. It could be whatever number they want it to be and from some places where they shoot it there has never been a defender in any of those areas."

Oregon's coach is Paul Westhead, the Guru of Go whose teams have set offensive records in the NBA, WNBA and in college basketball.

"He has always been innovative, he has always been thinking outside the box and I don't know in their league, I only know Stanford what kind of players they have, I have seen Cal and I don't know what some of other teams have but I think if you commit yourself to it, you can make anything work," Auriemma said. "Obviously if you have Bo Kimble and Hank Gathers, if you have Diana Taurasi and Cappie Pondexter, I think it works a lot better. If you asked him if his stuff would work as well as it did those other times, he could lie and say yes but if he told the truth, he would say no."

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