Despite quiet freshman year, Allie Ziebell remains optimistic about future

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After quiet freshman year, Allie Ziebell remains optimistic about future

Despite coming in as the No. 7 recruit in her class, Allie Ziebell had a quiet freshman season at UConn. She played in just 32 of the team’s 40 games, averaging 2.8 points in 8.2 minutes. Much of that time came when the final result had already been decided, too.

Ziebell took it all in the stride, though.

“It’s been great,” she said of her first year in Storrs back in March. “It's been a huge learning experience dealing with everything, like practices being more intense or anything with school, classroom stuff. But just trying to find my rhythm here and enjoy it.”

When Ziebell arrived on campus over the summer for offseason workouts, she did so without any grand expectations. She didn’t have a specific role in mind or a benchmark for minutes. Instead, she just wanted to get on the court to see how she stacked up.

“I was just gonna go in and see what summer had to bring, and then fall session, and see where it went from there,” Ziebell said.

From the beginning, she showed why the coaching staff brought her to UConn. Ziebell immediately impressed in workouts by putting her offensive arsenal on display — specifically her shooting ability. Her new teammates quickly took notice.

“I remember watching the first practice, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, she might be a better shooter than me,’” Azzi Fudd said.

Ziebell continued to perform well when preseason practices began in the fall. She attacked with the ball in her hands, providing offense on a team that certainly wasn’t short on firepower. Even though UConn already had a deep backcourt that featured Paige Bueckers, Fudd, Kaitlyn Chen, KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade, Ziebell seemed to be forcing her way into the conversation for minutes.

That didn’t translate once the games began, though. Throughout her career, Ziebell has been hampered by a lack of aggression, a problem which only got worse with the Huskies. Playing alongside a strong surrounding cast, she became too passive and deferential.

As a result, Ziebell found herself outside UConn’s rotation. She played just three minutes in the Huskies’ first ranked matchup of the season against then-No. 14 UNC then didn’t see the court a few weeks later in a tight win over then-No. 18 Ole Miss.

Ziebell seemed to turn a corner in early January when she dropped five points late at Marquette then followed it up with a 17-point explosion against Xavier. She made five 3-pointers in the latter contest — tied for seventh-most by a UConn freshman in a single game since 2009. It was the version of Ziebell that stood out during the fall.

“I obviously have seen it because that's what she did for a month and a half (during the preseason),” Auriemma said afterwards.

That proved to be the only time Ziebell finished in double-figures as a freshman. Still, it proved that she’s plenty capable of making an impact with the Huskies. First, she has to get out of her own way — which she understands.

“Just trying to figure out when to be more aggressive, [which] I guess is my thing,” she said.

Looking ahead to next season, Ziebell could help UConn replace the production lost from Bueckers’ departure — particularly with scoring. As she showed against Xavier, Ziebell is capable of piling up points when she gets hot from deep. Auriemma compared her to Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, who had a knack for blowing games open with the three-ball. The coach made a similar comment about Fudd earlier in her career, too.

That’s good company for Ziebell to be in. Whether or not she lives up to that billing is entirely on her, though.

“She's the one that's got the complete control over whether or not she can be someone that can provide instant offense for us because she's such a terrific offensive player,” Auriemma said during the season.

That’s not the only area Ziebell will look to improve this season, either. She admitted that the physicality and speed of the college game took some time to get used to, especially defensively. The freshman also took 64 of her 81 shots from behind the arc and didn’t contribute much outside of scoring with just 18 rebounds, 11 assists and six steals.

Still, Ziebell acknowledged those shortcomings and plans to improve. While she came in with a wait-and-see attitude, she has a much different mindset going into her first full offseason at UConn.

“I think right after the season, the summer will be my biggest time to get better and grow and put those things into place and use that as a huge way to step up my game,” Ziebell said. “So I would say I'm really looking forward to next year, working with the coaches and everything, preparing for that.”

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