UConn hoping Allie Ziebell can be game-changer down the stretch

At one point during Allie Ziebell’s 17-point breakout performance against Xavier, Geno Auriemma turned around and looked at assistant coaches Jamelle Elliott and Tonya Cardoza on the bench. He didn’t need to say a word.

“They go, ‘Go ahead say it,’” Auriemma laughed. “I didn't want to say ‘I told you so,’ so I said ‘[Once] she starts making shots, they're going to go in. A lot of them are going to go in.’”

That’s what happened on Wednesday night. Ziebell drained five 3-pointers, tied for seventh-most by a UConn freshman in a single game since 2009. She started 0-2 from deep before catching fire and hitting five of her next seven.

“Everyone was finding her. It was like she was wide open,” Azzi Fudd said. “I'm like, ‘What are they doing on defense?’”

Yet while 39 of her 49 field goal attempts have come from beyond the arc this season, Ziebell got herself going with a 2-pointer. In the final seconds of the first half, the ball found the freshman in the corner. Instead of launching a contested three, she pump-faked, dribbled to her right and knocked down a mid-range jumper just before the clock expired.

That sequence showed that while Ziebell can do plenty of damage from the 3-point line, she isn’t just a shooter.

“When I've seen her at her best, she's a really, really aggressive offensive player,” Auriemma said.

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