UConn women’s basketball takes on first Big East road trip at Marquette on New Year’s Day: How to watch

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The UConn women’s basketball team returned to Storrs just four days after players left for a brief Christmas break, so sophomore KK Arnold couldn’t travel all the way home to Germantown, Wisconsin. Instead she met her parents in Ohio, where she spent the holidays with extended family, including a trio of nieces and nephews all under 8 years old.

Being around the kids gave Arnold a big mental boost, but there’s no place quite like home. Since the 2024-25 schedule was released, the sophomore has had a circle around UConn’s matchup against Marquette in Milwaukee on New Year’s Day — less than 25 miles south of where she grew up.

“I’m always very excited to go home and see my family all there,” Arnold said. “It’ll be packed with high school fam and different things like that, so I can’t wait to see the atmosphere.”

It’s a homecoming for two this season with fellow Wisconsin native Allie Ziebell on the roster, and coach Geno Auriemma said he is hoping to get the freshman more involved entering the second half of the season. Ziebell appeared in nine games averaging less than 10 minutes before the holiday break, but she played a season-high 16 minutes in the Huskies’ Big East opener against Georgetown on Dec. 15. Ziebell can be an elite 3-point shooter and offers more size as a 6-foot guard, so Auriemma knows she can be a valuable contributor as UConn figures out its identity.

“The next month I want to be able to get her more opportunities,” Auriemma said. “She’ll be the first to tell you that she’s a little too passive right now. When I’ve seen her at her best, she’s a really aggressive offensive player, and she’s a better defensive player than I think she looks. So it’s really about a confidence level that you have to have, and an aggressiveness that she normally has.”

UConn heads on its first Big East road trip still tinkering with lineups and rotation after star guard Azzi Fudd resumed her starting role in a win over Providence on…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/uconn-women-basketball-takes-first-172100332.html

Author : Hartford Courant

Publish date : 2024-12-31 17:21:00

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