STORRS, Conn. _ UConn coach Geno Auriemma had been effusive with his praise of freshmen Aubrey Griffin and Anna Makurat during the preseason, describing Griffin as one of the most athletic players to ever come through the program and saying Makurat wasn't really a true freshman given her prior experience playing professional basketball in Poland.
While Auriemma made clear that he'd look to both newcomers to contribute early and often this year, the pair were mostly ineffective Sunday afternoon in UConn's season opener, a 72-61 win over visiting Cal.
Senior Kyla Irwin replaced Makurat in the starting lineup ("I thought Anna would cry if I started her ... It might be a little too much for her. I don't know, I have to figure that one out," Auriemma said after the game). The freshman pair, whom Auriemma said struggled in practice leading up to the game, combined for three shots from the field in a combined 37 minutes of play, with each only contributing a single point from the foul line (where Makurat was 1-for-2 and Griffin went 1-for-4).
Their shaky performances were understandable in some respects: After all, they are still freshmen. Sunday was their first real game in UConn uniforms and playing in front of over 9,000 fans. Plus, with UConn's offense stagnating to the point that the team stopped running its plays, Auriemma let Megan Walker, Crystal Dangerfield, and Christyn Williams create their own shots, leading to fewer opportunities for everyone else.
But for a team that lacks depth as it is _ four players scored all but two of UConn's 72 points and the Huskies only have nine players available for the time being _ the freshmen have no choice but to find ways to contribute moving forward, even if Auriemma doesn't see them becoming major factors on offense.
"Well actually, they can (do it all)," Auriemma said of his 'core four' of Walker, Dangerfield, Williams, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. "Those four are going to take most of our shots. And there's no getting around that, that's not gonna change."
But where the freshmen and the other "complementary players," as Auriemma put it, can chip in is in doing a bit of everything else, which is partly what was missing on Sunday. Irwin corralled a single defensive rebound, notched one foul, and had zeros across the rest of her stat line. Makurat had two assists and two steals, but didn't bring in any rebounds. Griffin did slightly better with two boards, two blocks, and two steals. Molly Bent and Evelyn Adebayo, the only other UConn players available, did not see game action.
"I think they'll get better as the season goes on," Auriemma said. "I mean, it's only one game."
