UConn women's notebook: Notre Dame game a homecoming for Patterson

Dec. 3—STORRS — Prior to Ayanna Patterson's arrival this season, the last member of the UConn women's basketball team from Indiana was Kelly Faris (2009-13). In her four seasons with the Huskies the two-time national champion from Plainfield faced Notre Dame a remarkable 15 times — eight times in the regular season, four times in the Big East tournament, and three times in the NCAA Final Four semifinals.

Patterson will get her first shot at the Irish Sunday as No. 3 UConn plays its first true road game of the season against seventh-ranked Notre Dame in the Jimmy V Women's Classic at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend.

"In Indiana, basketball is really important," Patterson said. "Growing up and watching Notre Dame play and now getting a chance to play against them with my family and friends in the stands is really exciting. So there's going to be a sprinkle of blue in the crowd."

Patterson, who lives about 90 miles away from South Bend in Fort Wayne, got a taste of the rivalry growing up. She attended the 2018 Final Four semifinal game in Columbus, Ohio won by Notre Dame in overtime on Arike Ogunbowale's last-second jumper. She was also at the game in South Bend in December of 2018 when Christyn Williams had a break-out game in a Huskies' victory.

Instead of her family being with her in the stands, however, they'll be watching the 6-foot-2 freshman forward from the stands on Sunday.

"My mom and sister came here to the N.C. State game, but for my dad and brother and the rest of my family it will be their first time seeing me play in college," Patterson said.

Patterson is averaging 3.0 points and 3.8 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game for the Huskies, who made it six straight wins to start the season by beating Providence 98-53 in their Big East opener at Gampel Pavilion. Patterson finished with three points, two rebounds, four assists, and two blocked shots in 20 minutes.

One issue for her is she has 17 fouls in only 70 minutes of action.

"She is overly excited," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "She plays with an exuberance that helps her and gets her in trouble. Each day she gets a better handle on that. The things that she does are uncoachable. So to have somebody like that on your team, is great. Probably the best thing to happen on that trip (to Oregon) is she went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. There is always the thought that she is a freshman, can she make free throws in big games? Because the way she plays, she is going to get fouled a lot.

"She takes so much pride in how she plays so I'm excited for her for Sunday. I think they'll see someone who has made tremendous progress and gets better every day. It will be a lot of fun for her."

Patterson could play a key role as it is likely center Dorka Juhász will miss her fifth consecutive game with a broken left thumb.

"We know we have to step up in her place until she comes back," UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards said. "I know Dorka is ready to come back and she will come back soon. In the meantime, we've been holding down the fort."

Notre Dame (6-1) has four players averaging in double figures led by sophomore guards Sonia Citron and Olivia Miles. The Irish are coming off their first loss of the season as No. 20 Maryland received a basket from Diamond Miller at the buzzer for a 74-72 victory on Thursday.

GENO ENTERS FIBA HALL

Auriemma was among nine inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame on Wednesday. The enshrinement ceremony was held in Mies, Switzerland and Auriemma gave a seven-minute speech remotely from his office here.

"That was pretty interesting because it really came out of nowhere," Auriemma said of his selection. "It's not like Naismith where everyone keeps reminding you. This kind of came out of nowhere.

"I was really kind of taken back. I really felt like FIBA international basketball, USA Basketball as much as anything in my career has helped me become the coach I am and not, say, the coach I was. I had to become that in order to be able to win at the level the U.S. has to win at internationally. To be inducted and to be thought of in the group of those people ... I have so much respect for international basketball. Some of those coaches are so far ahead of the game. It is really something to be in their company."

Auriemma is the only USA women's coach to guide two gold-medal winning teams (2012 in London, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro). He also coached Team USA to gold medals at the 2010 FIBA World Cup in the Czech Republic and the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Turkey.

In those four competitions, the Americans went 31-0.

"It's not like I inherited a really terrible team in a country that doesn't play basketball," Auriemma said. "I was given the best team in the world and told, 'Don't mess it up.' "

Other USA coaches in the FIBA Hall are women's coaches Pat Summitt, Kay Yow, and Tara VanDerveer, and men's coaches Hank Iba, Pete Newell, Dean Smith, and Chuck Daly.

The only other American in the Class of 2022 is four-time Olympic gold medalist Lisa Leslie.

TUCK PROMOTED

Morgan Tuck's first job after retiring from basketball in 2020 was as the Director of Franchise Development for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun, with whom she started her professional career in 2016. The four-time national champion and 2016 All-American at UConn will have a bigger role in the Sun front office as the team announced Tuesday she will be assistant general manager under newly-hired GM Darius Taylor. They will work under Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti.

"Having the opportunity to make my mark on the basketball side of the Sun is an awesome opportunity that I'm grateful for," Tuck said in a statement. "There's a lot to learn, but I'm excited for this next step of my career."

Auiremma was thrilled.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to Morgan yet," he said. "I do know that the person who made that decision must be really, really smart. I'm sure Jennifer understands the value Morgan brings to your organization. She is smart. She is tough physically and mentally. She is observant. She has a great demeanor, and she is somebody who has the ability to relate to everybody.

"Whatever job she was doing I knew she was capable of so much more than that. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if down the road she isn't a GM somewhere else or maybe more than that. Morgan was like she is now when she was a freshman. Morgan was old when she was young."

HUSKY BITES

UConn has beaten Providence 32 straight times dating back to a loss in the 1993 Big East tournament semifinals at Alumni Hall. It's the third-longest winning streak for the Huskies against an opponent. UConn is 33-0 against South Florida. The Huskies have a 35-game winning streak against Big East opponent Seton Hall, their next conference opponent on Dec. 21 at noon at the XL Center. ... The Huskies have won the last three games at Notre Dame with the last loss a 96-87 triple-overtime defeat on March 4, 2013. UConn leads the series with Notre Dame 39-13.

For coverage of all sports in the JI's 18-town coverage area, plus updates on the UConn women's basketball team and head coach Geno Auriemma, follow Carl Adamec on Twitter: @CarlAdamec, Facebook: Carl Adamec, and Instagram: @CarlAdamec.