Film Room: Kaitlyn Chen is a force on offense

UConn shored up its backcourt with the addition of Princeton point guard Kaitlyn Chen. She’ll fill the void left Nika Mühl by as the team’s third ball-handler (alongside Paige Bueckers and KK Arnold) and veteran point guard, but she’s not a like-for-like replacement.

Mühl was a defensive-first, pass-first player who did most of her scoring damage from beyond the 3-point line. Chen is more offensive-minded as the engine that powered Princeton’s offense each of the last two seasons. She’s also more dangerous inside the arc than outside.

Kaitlyn Chen’s career stats

Considering how much Chen had the ball in her hands — her usage rate of 24.8 led the Tigers and ranked in the top 15 percent nationally — she struggled with efficiency and turned the ball over at a high clip. The hope would be that in a less-demanding role at UConn, she shoots better and limits the giveaways.

Take Lou Lopez Sénéchal for example. In her final season at Fairfield, she took 16.6 shots per game and made 44.9 percent. With the Huskies, the attempts dipped to 12.0 per game and her field goal percentage rose to 47.6 percent.

There’s reason to believe her turnovers will drop. Based off film from this past season, Chen doesn’t cough the ball up in preventable ways — like forcing a pass into a crowd, dribbling to a bad spot — they usually occur in the natural flow of the game.

As for her shot selection, it’s hard to say that she needs to improve it. While she takes plenty of forced or contested shots, Chen has a knack for putting the ball in the basket by whatever means necessary.

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