Kia is "Lighting It Up" in The W

[JavaMan]

The highlight reel:

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[MORE]

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[Sonny44]

A star who never acted like one.

 

[Carnac]

For a “rookie “, I believe this type of performance is sometimes called a “breakout “ game. Without looking it up, I believe her career high at UConn was 33 points against DePaul in the game the team scored 49 points in the first quarter. Quite an impressive performance by Kia. Let’s see if she has another 30 point game this season. I’m pulling for her to have several of them.

 

[JavaMan]

For a “rookie “, I believe this type of performance is sometimes called a “breakout “ game. Without looking it up, I believe her career high at UConn was 33 points against DePaul in the game the team scored 49 points in the first quarter. Quite an impressive performance by Kia. Let’s see if she has another 30 point game this season. I’m pulling for her to have several of them.

Scoop, I'm not sure if she had 33 against DePaul or not, but I'm POSITIVE she had 33 against Stewie, MoJef, and the USA in that Pan Am game. That was excruciatingly enjoyable to watch.

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[MilfordHusky]

Q: Who is the only person that can keep Kia Nurse under 34 points per game?

A: Geno Auriemma.

How many players in the W have a professional game high that exceeds their college game high? I have a sense that Diana, Tina, and Maya may be among them.

 

[JordyG]

She is just so much fun to watch on both ends of the court. With all the big games she's played with UConn and on the international stage she's learned to play without fear of failure. With all that and her work ethic she just seems so much more polished than most rookies. Also with her conditioning she's built for the long haul of the pro season.

 

[Carnac]

Scoop, I'm not sure if she had 33 against DePaul or not, but I'm POSITIVE she had 33 against Stewie, MoJef, and the USA in that Pan Am game. That was excruciatingly enjoyable to watch.

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Ok Java, I’ll look it up. My memory is not what it use to be.

Well.............I guess my memory is not as bad as I thought. I was correct. Dec 1, 2017 vs DePaul in Gampel, Nurse did in fact score 33 points. I also remember (and watched) the 33 point game she had in that Pan Am game. She was the toast of Canada that day. She led a Canadian women's basketball team to victory over a USA team, which seldom happens.

However, I was wrong about the 49 points in the 1st quarter, that was another game. UConn only had 37 first quarter points in this game.

The Box score. The game.

STORRS, Conn. -- No. 2 UConn was expected to be tested against No. 15 DePaul, the first of five ranked teams it will face this month.

It quickly became clear that the Huskies had all the answers Thursday night.

Kia Nurse scored a career-high 33 points and UConn routed the Blue Demons 91-46 for its 81st straight victory. Napheesa Collier added 18 points, and Katie Lou Samuelson had 16. Kelly Campbell had 10 points to lead DePaul (5-2).

The Blue Demons missed their first eight shots and were held to a single free throw for nearly 6 minutes to start the game. UConn (6-0), which has won 53 straight at home, hit its first nine shots, most of them on the break, and jumped out to a 22-1 lead.

By the end of the quarter, UConn led 37-6.

"We played with a little bit more of a purpose defensively and that got us off and running," coach Geno Auriemma said. "We created a lot of easy shots for ourselves."

Nurse, who hadn't scored more than 15 points this season, made three quick layups and had 19 points after 10 minutes. She hit 12 of her 16 shots, including her first nine and was 6 of 9 from 3-point range.

She didn't miss until a corner 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer, when she had already eclipsed her previous career high with 24 points.

"I came into this game and said I was going to do the little things that I was good at and running the floor is one of those things," Nurse said. "To get out in transition and have that work out the first couple of shots was pretty cool."

UConn was 15 of 19 from the floor in the first quarter, while holding. DePaul to just 2 of 14. UConn also had a 20-0 advantage in the paint and 16 fast-break points.

The Huskies went into halftime leading 53-19 and pushed that to 80-30 after the third quarter.

UConn made 59.3 percent of its shots and held DePaul to just 25 percent shooting.

 

[JavaMan]

Ok Java, I’ll look it up. My memory is not what it use to be....

Scoop, I wasn't questioning your memory on that DePaul game... I was questioning MINE.

 

[Florida Fan]

Kia was in the zone, playing with aggressive purpose, her rebound in a crowd and put-back demonstrated competitive resolve rookies don't always bring to the table. However, we are talking about Kia Nurse here.

 

[uconn34]

The Sun won't get a pass on this one. She will make them pay for years to come. A John Havlicek player JMHO

 

[Carnac]

Kia was in the zone, playing with aggressive purpose, her rebound in a crowd and put-back demonstrated competitive resolve rookies don't always bring to the table. However, we are talking about Kia Nurse here.

Agreed, I think she'll be OK. I'll bet the NY Liberty front office executives are all singing that Ray Charles Pepsi commercial from a few years back........"we got the right one baby"

 

[JellyBean]

Kia is playing like a 3-4 year vet!

 

[MilfordHusky]

Kia is playing like a 3-4 year vet!

Her first year at UConn, she played like a 3-4 year vet!