Last night's UConn/Notre Dame game drew some impressive ratings.

I heard back from ESPN earlier this evening and was told that the ESPN2 broadcast had live viewing audience (counting TV viewers and those who checked out ESPN3's live stream) of 739,000.

The highest market was Hartford/New Haven with an 8.9 rating, which is the highest rating for a women's basketball game in this market so far this season according to ESPN. It should be noted that ESPN only had four of the first eight UConn games and it is unlikely that a non-UConn game would outdraw one involving the Huskies in the state but it is still a noteworthy number.

I also did a little checking and going back to the 2002-03 season, the only players with at least 10 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 steals in a game are Maya Moore (16 points, 14, rebounds, seven assists, five steals vs. Syracuse on Mar. 7, 2010), Kelly Faris (13 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, five steals against Georgetown on Jan. 5, 2013), Stefanie Dolson (12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, five steals against Memphis on Jan. 22, 2014) and Gabby Williams (19 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five steals against Notre Dame).

I spent a few extra minutes with Williams after the game and got some stuff from her about being more than just a dynamic player and athlete. I'm going to turn it into my advance for Sunday's game at Kansas State so stay tuned.

A couple of other notes that I never got around to posting.

First, since I spent plenty of time researching how many games and shots it took Katie Lou Samuelson to reach 100 3-points and where it ranks in program history, I did get her reaction to needing fewer shots than anybody not named Sue Bird to reach triple digits in made 3-pointers.

"It is really exciting, my teammates pass me the ball so it is on them so hopefully I will continue to shoot more 3s," Samuelson said.

Finally, as I was watching the 5-foot-11 Williams and 6-foot-1 Collier combine for 39 points, 17 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals and 2 blocked shots in the win over Notre Dame, I couldn't help but wonder how things will look next season with 6-foot-5 Azura' Stevens and 6-2 Batouly Camara eligible after sitting out this season per NCAA transfer regulations as well as the Huskies adding highly-touted 6-1 signee Megan Walker.

I spoke to Camara last month after the National Letters of Intent were signed by Walker, Mikayla Coombs, Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon since Camara was a former teammate of Espinoza-Hunter's at Blair Academy. I also asked her about what it is like not being able to play this season.

"It was more and everything that I expected," Camara said. "It is as challenging as I thought it would be but that was exactly what I wanted, I am excited about the season.

"Going through preseason and you started in practice, you see the competition that we have so we want to do our best for our teammates so we try every day to make practice as hard as we can. We go to war with them every day in, you can watch the games and support them."

There has always been a certain exuberance whenever Andra Espinoza-Hunter spoke about one day coming to UConn.

Espinoza-Hunter, who has been coming to UConn games since former high school teammate Saniya Chong was being recruited by the Huskies, could barely contain her enthusiasm when she found out that former teammate Batouly Camara would be transferring to UConn.

"I am super excited," Espinoza-Hunter said on Friday shortly after the morning session on the second day of the USA Basketball U-17 team trials wrapped up. "When I first received the news that Batouly was going to visit Connecticut, I was extremely excited. Just the fact that I will be able to have three more years to be able to play with her really means a lot. Batouly, I don't consider her my sister, I consider her a mentor. She has really helped me a lot especially during my freshman and sophomore year. Even now despite us not being together, she is still able to help me a lot. Having another three years with her, she will help me grow as a player on the court but also as a person, she has taught me so much on and off the court. I really look forward to being able to play with her again."

Espinoza-Hunter gave Camara some space when she was deciding where she would land after deciding to transfer out of Kentucky.

"I had a sense (it could be UConn)," Espinoza-Hunter said. "I was getting vibes that 'hey, your little sister Andi is going to UConn and you are looking at UConn so you might as well come, we can be together again.' When I heard she was taking officials to Penn State and UConn it was kind of a nailbiter, I didn't know which way she was going to go. When I received the news, it was the best day ever."

While they played together for a couple of years at Blair Academy, their relationship goes back even further.

"I have known Batouly since I was in fifth or sixth grade," Espinoza-Hunter said. "She is obviously older than me so she will be able to help. I have always looked up to her and to this day I still do. The relationship we have is so strong, we know each other so well, we know our strengths and our weaknesses and our communication we have I enjoy a lot. The communication I have with her, I feel like I don't have with other people that I have relationships with."

So what does Espinoza-Hunter think Camara will bring to the Huskies when she is eligible to play during the 2017-18 season?

"Batouly is a very tough young woman," Espinoza-Hunter said. "Her touch around the rim, her enthusiasm and the energy she brings to the game will really help at Connecticut either on defense grabbing the boards, guarding the best post player on offene, finishing around the rim. Just the little things that Batouly has, not only offensive aspects of her game but everything about her game I enjoy and I know she will do great things at Connecticut."

Time will tell how the UConn coaching staff does in adding post players in the next recruiting class but the 2017-18 Huskies will have some size up front thanks to another transfer joining the program.

Batouly Camara, a former Blair Academy star who spent her freshman season at Kentucky, will be joining former Duke star Azura' Stevens as transfers joining the Huskies since the end of the season.

Camara is a versatile 6-foot-2 forward from New York who averaged a double-double as a senior. In her three seasons at Blair, she led the Buccaneers to a 62-8 record and three consecutive Mid-Atlantic Prep league titles.

Here's a video I shot when Camara took part in the USA Basketball U-18 national team trials back in 2014.

Camara averaged 5.1 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game as a freshman at Kentucky.

She had a career-high 11 rebounds against UNC-Asheville in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In a loss at South Carolina Camara had a career-high 14 points to go with nine rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in 25 minutes before fouling out. She also had eight points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots in an overtime win against Tennessee.

Camara previously announced that she would be transferring out of Kentucky, one of six players to transfer, another was dismissed and multiple players who have committed to play for the Wildcats have backed out of those pledges.

This will mark the first time UConn has three transfers on its roster as Camara and Stevens joins Natalie Butler, who is set for her second season on the court at UConn after transferring from Georgetown.

On the 2004-05 season UConn's roster featured junior-college transfer Rashidit Sadiq and Brittany Hunter, who played at Duke as a freshman. Hunter had to sit out that season and by the time she played in a game with the Huskies, Sadiq was no longer a part of the program. Rita Williams also went the junior-college route, spending her freshman season at Mitchell Community College and teamed with former University of Arizona product Sarah Northway for two seasons. However, Mitchell was part of UConn's plans coming out of high school so including her in a list of transfers is kind of hard to do even though she officially would be included as a transfer.

Both Camara and Stevens would have to sit out the upcoming season. Stevens will have two years of eligibility remaining while Camara would have three.

UConn has 13 scholarship players for the upcoming season and with only Saniya Chong and Tierney Lawlor leaving at season's end. UConn has two commitments (Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon) in the next class so there are two remaining scholarships in the Class of 2017.

The Hartford Courant was the first to report that Camara was likely to land at UConn.

NURSE TO MISS EARLY PORTION OF CANADA'S OLYMPIC PREPARATIONS
The Canadian women's national team is currently in Edmonton for the first stage of its Olympic preparations before leaving to play five international friendlies in Spain and France. However, UConn rising junior guard Kia Nurse is not currently with the team and according to a team spokesperson, neither Nurse nor any of the WNBA players in the player pool will be taking part in the European tour.

There's no cause for concern regarding Nurse as she is back at UConn to what was termed "school commitments" but is expected to join the team this summer. The move makes sense as Nurse looked like she was exhausted by the end of what was a hectic summer for her and the Canadian program which won the Pan Am Games and FIBA Americas title. As the team's leading scorer in both events, Nurse will obviously be a member of the squad and by remaining in Connecticut, she won't be overworked this summer. Canada still has two more training camps, a three-game set of exhibitions against China as well as more international friendlies being held in the U.S. and perhaps in Connecticut shortly before the team leaves for the Olympics.

FORMER HUSKIES MAKING NEWS
A couple of items to report regarding former UConn stars.

First, Tamika Williams was hired at Penn State after leaving her job as an assistant coach at Kentucky. Also, Jamelle Elliott will serve as an advanced scout for the U.S. team at the Olympics.

Cincinnati, where Elliott serves as the head women's basketball coach, announced the news earlier today. Ironically, she will join her former teammate and classmate in the court coach/advance scout as Jen Rizzotti will also handle those chores.

What's interesting with Williams' appointment is that she coached Camara in her final season at Kentucky and now one of the players she will get to coach at Penn State is UConn transfer De'Janae Boykin.

Also, former UConn star Carla Berube and former UConn assistant coach Tonya Cardoza were named court coaches at the upcoming U-17 and U-18 national team trials.

The U-17 trials run from Thursday-Monday with the U-18s running from Saturday-Monday.

UConn Class of 2017 commits Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Lexi Gordon are among 150 players competing for 12 spots on the U.S. taking part in the FIBA U-17 World Championships while 30 players including UConn incoming freshman Crystal Dangerfield and Class of 2017 recruiting target Megan Walker are taking part in the U18 camp. Walker is part of the U.S. squad playing in the FIBA Women's 3x3 U18 World Championships from June 1-5 in Kazakhstan so the four players on that squad will be leaving on Sunday and only take part in Saturday's sessions.