Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (John Woike) |
— There must be more to scoring than simply scoring. If not, UConn freshman Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis wouldn't be in the little shooting slump that she's now experiencing.
No one scored as effortlessly in high school as Mosqueda-Lewis, the reigning national player of the year from Mater High in Santa Ana, Calif. She scored 2,744 points, made 337 three-pointers and was generally on target for four years.
But college is different. And playing for UConn adds another unique layer of difficulty to the adjustment.
What sometimes results are three-game spans when a pure shooter like Mosqueda-Lewis goes 11 for 39 from the field, 5 of 21 from three and scores 30 points in 91 minutes. Those are the recent numbers she'll carry into Saturday's game against Rutgers at Gampel Pavilion.
"Yes, it bothers me, especially when I know I've been getting into the gym, trying to take extra shots to make things more consistent," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "It's definitely been frustrating for me that I'll be making shots in warmups, but they won't go in during the game."
"The only thing you can do is stay positive and listen to the coaches when they tell you to keep shooting."
Mosqueda-Lewis' shooting has swayed back and forth this season. She's had days when nothing goes in — 0-for-7 from three in her debut against Holy Cross; 0-for-8 from the field against Buffalo; 3-for-13 from three against North Carolina.
But she's also averaging 14.1 points, has five 20-point games, leads UConn with 55 threes and is a six-time Big East freshman of the week.
Mosqueda-Lewis is able to tell when something is not right with her form or fundamentals.
"On certain shots, I can tell if they are going to be off, if they are going left or right, short or long," she said. "But lately, I've been feeling good just about every time I let go of the ball. Coach was telling me Thursday to get my shot higher to make sure there is less of a chance to come up short."
Geno Auriemma isn't surprised that his talented freshman has struggled at times. He says it's all a part of a sometimes exasperating adjustment to the next level.
"High school kids compete against virtually no one who plays any defense," Auriemma said. "When most really good shooters stop making shots, it very rarely has anything to do with technical difficulties."
"When they miss shots, they have a tendency to begin focusing on the misses, instead of making sure they keep getting good shots and taking the ones they've always taken. The next one they take still has a 50 percent chance of going in. As they get older, they begin to realize that the shot you just took has nothing to do with the next one you are about to take."
Assistant coach Shea Ralph, one of UConn's best all-time scorers and shooters, says the mental approach is the key.
"Confidence," Ralph said. "Clearly, she hasn't faced as much adversity as she is facing now as a freshman in college. There are a lot of things for her to process, more things we are asking her to do."
"And the one thing she's always been able to count on in her career is her shots falling. And when that stops happening, kids have a tendency to start thinking there's nothing they can do right. There is nothing wrong with her shot. So I am sure that's [confidence] what is going on."
