Kaitlyn Chen’s Princeton foundation helps her lead at UConn
Plus: Takeaways and quotes from Seton Hall’s home loss to the fifth-ranked Huskies.
SOUTH ORANGE – Like many programs would, Princeton women’s basketball loves to support its alumnae when they move on to new heights. Carla Berube and her coaching staff attended a Georgetown at UConn game back in December to see Kaitlyn Chen suit up for the Huskies (Berube’s alma mater), as well as to visit another former Princeton star, Bella Alarie, who’s now the director of player development and experience for Georgetown.
Chen said Wednesday that she stays in touch with her Princeton people, and revealed the Tigers’ assistant coaches were in town for the Huskies’ game at Seton Hall.
“I feel like I learned how to be a leader at Princeton, a lot of – I had to do a lot of that type of stuff there. And I sorta feel like I brought that over here and just trying my best to be vocal here,” Chen said in her typical humble fashion.
Chen scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting for No. 5 UConn to help the Huskies push past Seton Hall 91-49 on Wednesday night. The backcourt of Chen and Paige Bueckers (23 points on just 13 shots) had their A-game even as the Huskies struggled in the first half.
Chen has hit another gear in her past nine games – averaging 10.0 points (on 60% shooting), 2.4 assists and 1.3 steals per contest in that stretch.
“I think the thing about Kaitlyn is she’s willing to adapt and be like a chameleon to what they need,” Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella said. “It’s why she’s a star and why she’s so valuable. At Princeton she needed the ball more, or they needed her to have the ball more and score more. Here they don’t. But look, today one of our plans was, and it’s not a secret, to play off her little bit and try and lend more help to Sarah (Strong) and Paige’s (defenders). And look, Kaitlyn goes 6-for-7. She’s a really good player. People don’t understand that.”
Bozzella certainly understands it, though, after facing Chen for three years in the Seton Hall-Princeton series before she joined the mighty Huskies as a grad transfer. Chen has now played Seton Hall five times in four seasons and has career averages of 12.4 points and 2.4 assists against the Pirates.
“You got to get them on an off day. You don’t get them on an off day, they’ll be really hard to beat,” Bozzella said. “And Kaitlyn’s a big part of that. She’s got experience. She’s played big games. Another young lady that was super well-coached by Carla and her staff.
“So, yeah, I’m glad she’s graduating,” he concluded with a chuckle.
The 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year was always going to be a target for premier programs once her Princeton career concluded and she entered the transfer portal as a graduate. With her calling Southern California home, UCLA and USC were popular predictions, but she clicked with Geno Auriemma (and the Berube connection certainly must have helped).
Chen took over at starting point guard for Nika Muhl, where she’s more than another strong ballhandler next to Bueckers. Her defense has carried over from Princeton in a critical way.
On Wednesday, she found herself switched on to Seton Hall power forward Faith Masonius and even center Yaya Lops at times. She held her ground. With a soft pass coming to Lops at the free-throw line, Chen poked it free and a teammate scooped up the takeaway.
“We do a lot. We ask a lot of our guards because they are matched up with somebody different,” Auriemma said. “Almost every possession, there’s a switch going on. And I think her knowledge of the game and her ability to read what’s going on is, you know, you would expect that from someone who’s played four years of college basketball in a really good program, you know, well-coached program.
“So she brings a lot of knowledge that helps you defensively. Defense is all about you have to know, you have to know what’s going on. You can’t be lost out there. And she’s generally really, really good with that stuff. And physically, she’s tough. Mentally and physically, she’s a really, really tough individual. And that helps her do the things that you’re talking about.”
Auriemma also praised Chen’s recent run after she posted 10 points in a supporting role in UConn’s massive win at South Carolina on Sunday.
“It was good that, you know, Kaitlyn had an opportunity to play in a game like that,” Auriemma said. “…She played a lot of big games like that at Princeton, but they were usually the underdog, more so than we were, you know. Or their NCAA Tournament games where it’s one and done. So the fact that, you know, I look at her now from the first games that she played for us in November until today, she’s so confident. She’s so sure of herself. I trust her a lot and so do the kids on the team.”
Auriemma was less than pleased with the mistakes his team made in the first half, which Seton Hall capitalized on. Eight of the Huskies’ 15 turnovers came before halftime, with the Pirates’ penchant for disrupting passing lanes on display, and they committed four fouls (two on offense) in the first three minutes of the second quarter.
Seton Hall, a 76.8% free-throw shooting team, could have done some damage from the stripe if it got into the bonus before halftime, but UConn steadied out and did not draw a whistle the rest of the quarter.
Still, with a 15-point lead, Auriemma chastised his team in a halftime interview on SNY, saying “no momentum carried over into this game” from South Carolina. “Kids are immature today, man. We go down there and get a great win and they think that win is going to make (Seton Hall) roll over... This is nonsense.”
“If you win and you’re winning poorly because you’re just more talented but you’re not solid, and we were really sloppy that first half, right?” Auriemma said postgame. “And Seton Hall had a lot to do with that. It’s a lot harder playing a team that knows you really, really well as opposed to a team that sees you once. So we were forced to constantly make adjustments.”
“Well, you’re definitely sort of riding a high, so we knew we had to sort of refocus back in,” Chen added. “And I mean, with our team, we treat every team that we play the same way. We prep for them in the same way. So just sort of focusing in on who was ahead of us, which was Seton Hall, and (worrying about) the prep for them and staying locked in.”
At the end of the day, UConn is 25-3, its only losses coming to Notre Dame, USC and Tennessee, three great programs. Bart Torvik’s T-Rank efficiency ratings peg the Huskies as the No. 1 team in the country. This is a group that could easily return to the Final Four.
And Chen is much more than simply along for the ride. She’s been a key cog in the machine.
“It’s been a lot of fun to be able to play here, to play with Paige, Azzi (Fudd), Sarah,” Chen said. “They’re such great players and I’ve been able to learn so much from them and Coach.”
On Seton Hall
Three takeaways from the game (and postgame) from the Seton Hall point of view…
1. Lops deserves a shoutout after she led Seton Hall with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including a 5-for-7 start. It was her highest-scoring game since Jan. 4 and the key to that was suddenly finding her 3-point stroke. Lops was left alone on the outside a few too many times, partly because you don’t expect a 24% 3-point shooter to be a threat there. But she can be streaky from outside, as evidenced by her 4-for-7 showing against Princeton, and she surprised UConn by hitting three of four attempts from deep.
2. It’s also worth reminding readers about Pirates freshman point guard Jada Eads, now a five-time Big East Freshman of the Week. Though her 12 points were a few under her season average, her confidence playing against a dynasty like UConn was fully visible. Yet Eads doesn’t simply chuck up shots like some other freshmen do. “She is kind of a little bit under the radar – not in our league,” Auriemma said. “… For a young kid, she’s very poised. She knows which shots she wants to take and she works really hard to get those shots. She’s fearless when it comes to attacking with the ball and plays very confidently.” Bozzella was glowing over Eads, and with good reason. “Listen, it’s Jada and Savannah (Catalon)’s team next year. … I think we’ll have, arguably the best backcourt in the Big East next year with those two.”
3. Bozzella wasn’t asked directly about the NCAA Tournament, from what I recall, but he spoke about it anyway. His Pirates are now 18-8 and remain third in the Big East but had the No. 69 NET entering the week. ESPN’s bracketology has consistently projected only UConn and Creighton will make the tournament from the Big East. Enjoy this snippet of a longer answer, and I’ll see you Sunday.
“I do believe we’re one of the top 68 teams in the country. Anyone who thinks, you know, taking teams from, multiple teams from other conferences that don't have to play Connecticut, don't have to play Creighton, two nationally ranked teams. I mean, we're the only league when you consider these other leagues – the Ivy League, the CAA, the A-10 – they have no one ranked. They have no one getting a vote. Maybe one team gets a vote and they're all happy about that. We got the No. 1 team arguably in the country, let alone the No. 23 team in the country.
“So you can't compare through NET and through all these stupid metrics. Just watch the games. Nobody in the A-10, the Ivy League, the CAA, they’re all great leagues and they have great teams, but no one’s playing Connecticut, no one's playing Creighton. So when you take that out, then the next-best team is the team is Seton Hall right now. Marquette has a good team, Villanova has a good team, but we're there. Don't punish us because our NET might be 70 and theirs might be 45 when they haven't played Creighton twice or UConn twice. Why don't you go play them four times and see what your NET becomes? I’ll tell you.”