UConn’s Christyn Williams has reached a pivotal point in her development

[eebmg]

No secret. Her attitude seems where it should be.

Mike Anthony: UConn’s Christyn Williams has reached a pivotal point in her development

Christyn Williams is done feeling sorry for herself and that’s a nice step forward after a 2019-20 season that was a step back. Or something more than that. “It was the worst season of …

www.courant.com

“I was just in a really bad place,” Williams said. “I have high expectations for myself. I did not meet those expectations last year. My confidence was at an all-time low. I had to grow up. Things weren’t going my way so I kind of gave up on myself instead of being mature about it and fighting through it. That’s one way I changed my mentality. I made a promise to myself that I will never give up and I’ll fight through the ups and downs.”

“She seems to be a lot more aggressive,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “She seems to be a lot more assertive. Her conditioning is better. Once you get to be a junior, now you’re relied on. You can’t shoot 40 percent. You’ve got to make plays for other people, and yourself. You’ve got to be able to defend really, really well at your position. The consistency you need every day, every day, every day — that’s what comes with the territory. You have the luxury as a freshman, maybe, that you don’t have to be like that. Or as a sophomore maybe you can do some of those things. You’re at a point now when you’re a junior at Connecticut, where there is no ‘My bad, we’ll get it next time.’ It will grow as time goes on, but there is a different approach that I see in her, for sure.”


Does not hurt that the guard competition is so high this year.

 

[JoePgh]

I was surprised that her shooting percentages last year (45% for field goals and 33% for threes) are as high as the article states. Just watching the games, they seemed to me to be a lot lower than that, and I will bet that in the more competitive games, they were lower. I think that if she and Megan Walker had shot at or near their season averages in the competitive games, UConn might have had one or two more victories.

I think that is the only aspect of her game that really needs to improve this year for UConn to be successful. Her effort, hustle, rebounding, steals, etc. were all more than satisfactory last year, in my opinion.

 

[Carnac]

No secret. Her attitude seems where it should be.

Mike Anthony: UConn’s Christyn Williams has reached a pivotal point in her development

Christyn Williams is done feeling sorry for herself and that’s a nice step forward after a 2019-20 season that was a step back. Or something more than that. “It was the worst season of …

www.courant.com

“I was just in a really bad place,” Williams said. “I have high expectations for myself. I did not meet those expectations last year. My confidence was at an all-time low. I had to grow up. Things weren’t going my way so I kind of gave up on myself instead of being mature about it and fighting through it. That’s one way I changed my mentality. I made a promise to myself that I will never give up and I’ll fight through the ups and downs.”

“She seems to be a lot more aggressive,” coach Geno Auriemma said. “She seems to be a lot more assertive. Her conditioning is better. Once you get to be a junior, now you’re relied on. You can’t shoot 40 percent. You’ve got to make plays for other people, and yourself. You’ve got to be able to defend really, really well at your position. The consistency you need every day, every day, every day — that’s what comes with the territory. You have the luxury as a freshman, maybe, that you don’t have to be like that. Or as a sophomore maybe you can do some of those things. You’re at a point now when you’re a junior at Connecticut, where there is no ‘My bad, we’ll get it next time.’ It will grow as time goes on, but there is a different approach that I see in her, for sure.”


Does not hurt that the guard competition is so high this year.

Rare is the player, no matter how great or good they were in high, that has not faced some degree of adversity at some point in their collegiate career. Be it physical injury or mental fatigue, or as Saniya Chong once remarked "things just aren't going my way".

The "tough times don't last, tough people do" mantra comes into play here. Williams said she was in a "bad place" last year. She had to go through this period of adversity to reap the benefits of becoming a stronger and more determined player, as she came out on the other side.

Geno says he can see the difference in her already. To UConn fans, that's very encouraging. I'd like to get a status report on ONO too. I expect a major junior year leap for her, especially with her being under the tutelage Jemelle Elliott the entire spring and summer. I expect ONO to enter these last two years with a more mature (she turned 20 in August) perspective and resolve.

Last year they had Crystal and Megan to lean on, this year, they're gone, and the younger players are now looking to lean on them. They have to be there for them. They're upperclassmen now, and two of most experienced players on the team, and team co-captains. It will be interesting to see the contrast between the old Christyn and the new one.

 

[willtalk]

She has to do better against top competition. Unfortunately, due to cancelations, that opportuntity has not persented itself this season and might not until the play offs.

 

[oldhusky]

When you watch CW a little bit, you see a very smooth easy rising jump shooter, and then also see an impressive drive every once in a while. The natural inclination is to believe she could be a big time scorer. Over a longer period of time you start to realize that while the shot and drives look very good, the accuracy just isn't nearly as good as anticipated.

If you look at her 3pt% and free throw %, you see some pretty mediocre numbers at least by Uconn standards. Instead of the high volume efficient scorer we anticipated, we got a little above average volume and decent percentages.

She has improved some, but less than most, and I think her coach expected. Some players have trouble with how aggressive to be, particularly players who could create say a low 40% shot whenever they wanted. On a mediocre team without other good options, the coach might say, fill it up, you have a green light all the time. At Uconn Geno might say we don't need those shots, if it's not a 50% shot don't take it, look for something better. Then she turns into just a spot up three point shooter.

Frankly I was a little worried about Evina coming into this season, because she was a high usage player who made things happen with good assists and points, but also mediocre percentages and too many turnovers. She has made the transition to more of a role player on a much better team very well. The points and assists per minute came down some, but the shooting percentage way up, the turnovers way down. She apparently has found that transition pretty easy but Christyn seems to be still searching for that balance in her role.

 

[Bajan Best]

Until Christyn becomes more efficient on offense at attacking without the ball (Moving with purpose) she will remain slightly above mediocre... Often times it appears to me that she is just standing around on the perimeter, looking lost in the offensive flow and having limited impact.. Only becoming a threat when the ball is in her hands.. Especially Considering she has a point guard like Paige on her team who will find her if she puts herself in better positions to score off Cuts to the basket, etc. She could easily average 20pts a game, instead of trying to do it off the bounce all the time.. Her defenders currently have it too easy guarding her... I think this is what troubles Geno the most about Christyn...