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Practice was getting a little sloppy early on Tuesday. The ball was thrown away a few times.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma had inserted a few new offensive wrinkles. Things weren't working out quite the way they should. Practice was heading south — until freshman guard Kelly Faris started making plays.
"Today, she actually saved us in the beginning of practice," assistant coach Shea Ralph said. "She turned things around."
Faris, the only true freshman on the team this year, doesn't play like a freshman. So much so that Auriemma, just over a week ago, said that he hadn't seen her play badly yet and he didn't think anyone would see her play a bad game in her entire UConn career.
It's not a comment Auriemma would normally make about a freshman. Faris took it in stride.
"I don't want to disappoint," she said. "I'm going to do my best to play the best I can every game. I think that's everybody's mind-set on this team."
Did she think she had played badly yet?
"I have made mistakes," she said, smiling. "I am human. I think his thing is if we mess up, we've got to know what we did and fix it, instead of being, 'Oh, OK,' and then do it over and over."
Auriemma likes Faris' basketball acumen and versatility.
"When you're pretty good at everything, it's easy to slide in," he said. "She's like the utility infielder. It doesn't take her long to figure anything out.
"It doesn't look like she's lost, ever. That's why I said, earlier, she doesn't have bad practices. She may not be great. But she's always good."
Usually there's a learning curve, an adjustment period. Most freshmen go through it, on and off the court. Others simply fit right in. Auriemma reeled off a list of former players who came in and got it: Jen Rizzotti, Nykesha Sales, Wendy Davis, Meghan Pattyson, Maya Moore, Rebecca Lobo, Swin Cash.
"Kelly was the floor leader on her high school team for four years," he said. "We talked about it one day after practice. I said, 'What's been the biggest adjustment for you?' And she said, 'Knowing where everybody is all the time and what they expect. When I was in high school, I knew where everybody was, what everybody's strengths and weaknesses were. Right now, I don't know that yet.'
"That's someone who's thinking like a quarterback. What cut is this guy going to make? How can I anticipate what this guy's going to do, so I can react off of them? She's already thinking like that, as opposed to, 'Shoot, I should have done that.'"
Because of that, Faris could work her way into the point guard mix. She's been working on her ball-handling.
She's also very conscious that she is the only freshman.
"I'm the one who's got to pick it up and get it down quick," she said. "Coming into it, I knew I was the one kind of behind in all that, so I needed to focus on what they were doing and make sure I pick things up quick."
Before she came, she worried about that a little. Still, it hasn't been that bad. Her roommate, Heather Buck, has helped.
"At first, when I found out nobody else was coming, I was kind of hesitant about what it was going to be like," Faris said. "Honestly, everybody's been helpful. They've helped me to an extent but also let me figure out things on my own."
And like a lot of freshmen, she has been homesick, away from her family in Indiana.
"That was kind of hard," she said. "But they're supportive of me and I talk to them every day. It's always going to be a transition."
UConn coach Geno Auriemma had inserted a few new offensive wrinkles. Things weren't working out quite the way they should. Practice was heading south — until freshman guard Kelly Faris started making plays.
"Today, she actually saved us in the beginning of practice," assistant coach Shea Ralph said. "She turned things around."
Faris, the only true freshman on the team this year, doesn't play like a freshman. So much so that Auriemma, just over a week ago, said that he hadn't seen her play badly yet and he didn't think anyone would see her play a bad game in her entire UConn career.
It's not a comment Auriemma would normally make about a freshman. Faris took it in stride.
"I don't want to disappoint," she said. "I'm going to do my best to play the best I can every game. I think that's everybody's mind-set on this team."
Did she think she had played badly yet?
"I have made mistakes," she said, smiling. "I am human. I think his thing is if we mess up, we've got to know what we did and fix it, instead of being, 'Oh, OK,' and then do it over and over."
Auriemma likes Faris' basketball acumen and versatility.
"When you're pretty good at everything, it's easy to slide in," he said. "She's like the utility infielder. It doesn't take her long to figure anything out.
"It doesn't look like she's lost, ever. That's why I said, earlier, she doesn't have bad practices. She may not be great. But she's always good."
Usually there's a learning curve, an adjustment period. Most freshmen go through it, on and off the court. Others simply fit right in. Auriemma reeled off a list of former players who came in and got it: Jen Rizzotti, Nykesha Sales, Wendy Davis, Meghan Pattyson, Maya Moore, Rebecca Lobo, Swin Cash.
"Kelly was the floor leader on her high school team for four years," he said. "We talked about it one day after practice. I said, 'What's been the biggest adjustment for you?' And she said, 'Knowing where everybody is all the time and what they expect. When I was in high school, I knew where everybody was, what everybody's strengths and weaknesses were. Right now, I don't know that yet.'
"That's someone who's thinking like a quarterback. What cut is this guy going to make? How can I anticipate what this guy's going to do, so I can react off of them? She's already thinking like that, as opposed to, 'Shoot, I should have done that.'"
Because of that, Faris could work her way into the point guard mix. She's been working on her ball-handling.
She's also very conscious that she is the only freshman.
"I'm the one who's got to pick it up and get it down quick," she said. "Coming into it, I knew I was the one kind of behind in all that, so I needed to focus on what they were doing and make sure I pick things up quick."
Before she came, she worried about that a little. Still, it hasn't been that bad. Her roommate, Heather Buck, has helped.
"At first, when I found out nobody else was coming, I was kind of hesitant about what it was going to be like," Faris said. "Honestly, everybody's been helpful. They've helped me to an extent but also let me figure out things on my own."
And like a lot of freshmen, she has been homesick, away from her family in Indiana.
"That was kind of hard," she said. "But they're supportive of me and I talk to them every day. It's always going to be a transition."
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