The Uconn Women’s Basketball team has been hit with injuries. Freshman Azzi Fudd is out, as well as Nika Muhl. But the significant injury is to star player Paige Bueckers, who will be out 6-8 weeks with a tibial plateau fracture in her left knee.
The Huskies will miss Bueckers’ leadership, scoring, and ball-handling ability; Bueckers averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game. Uconn will need many players to step up with their star player out.
Evina Westbrook
Evina Westbrook will probably be taking over the point guard role with Bueckers out. Westbrook is averaging 9.5 points, 4.0 rebounds on 42% shooting on the field. She is also shooting 39% from three-point land. Westbrook must look to set up the offense and score a little more to take the place of the Huskies’ missing players. In the 2018-19 season, Westbrook averaged 14.9 points per game; Connecticut will need that Westbrook for the next two months.
Christyn Williams
Christyn Williams is having a good season averaging 15 points per game on 50% shooting from the field. Look for Williams to be even more aggressive to help Connecticut win games down the road. However, she is only shooting 31% from beyond the arc, so she must improve there for the Huskies to succeed.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa
So far, Olivia Nelson-Ododa is having a down season, averaging just 8.3 points per game, but she is shooting 61% from the field and averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. In the past, Nelson-Ododa has been a double-digit score; she will need to bring that scoring back to help the Huskies win some games. Nelson-Ododa is a presence on defense and can crash the boards but will need to be more aggressive on offense.
Caroline Ducharme
Caroline Ducharme will get more minutes and a chance to prove herself with Bueckers out. In her first couple of games, she played too fast and turned the ball over a lot. But in the win against Notre Dame, Ducharme scored 14 points on 5-9 shooting from the field and 3-5 from beyond the arc.
Also, Uconn will need more from Aaliyah Edwards in the post. Uconn will lean on execution, defense, and rebounding to get them through these injuries. If they can do that, hang on till tournament time and hopefully get healthy.
Follow me on Twitter: @raiderway83 and read other amazing articles on Beyond Women’s Sports.
