As had been the case in previous years, a co-ed three-point contest followed player introductions during First Night last Friday. Every player from the UConn men’s and women’s basketball team—from walk-on Souleymane Diaby to preseason All-American Paige Bueckers—officially introduced themselves at Gampel Pavilion.
Each of the eight participants had 12 chances to land as many three-pointers as they could. Those 12 shots only spanned half of the key, with the women’s team going before the men’s. Every co-ed cohort only got 60 seconds to shoot all 24 of their combined attempts.
First-year student Allie Ziebell, a member of Team Blue, lit up the floor like an electrician in her first three-point contest. Ziebell buried 11 of her 12 shots, including her first eight, in the event’s first round. Her only miss came on her first shot from the top of the key.
The student-majority Gampel Pavilion crowd roared louder and louder with each shot the Wisconsin native made.
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“I expected nothing less,” Preseason All-Big East Team selection Ashlynn Shade stated about Ziebell’s performance during Big East Media Day. “I see what she does in practice every single day. She is such a great shooter that I was like, ‘Yeah, that is normal for Allie [Ziebell].’”
The Jordan Brand All-American’s habits resulted in her and men’s sophomore forward Jayden Ross’ cohort winning the event. Her near-perfect first round wowed most fans in attendance, yet it did not catch any of her teammates by surprise.
“I knew she was not going to miss,” Preseason All-Big East Team selection Azzi Fudd explained. “It was right on par for her.”
Such was the performance Ziebell had during the 2024 McDonald’s All-American Games in Houston, Texas.
The Naismith All-American Honorable Mention went last in the girls’ contest; she won without needing to shoot from the final rack. Ziebell’s nationally televised outing started out the same way First Night did; she buried her first five shots from the corner.
UCLA first-year student Trent Perry awaited ESPN HoopGurlz’ No. 7 recruit in the overall championship round. After both guards scored 20 points on five racks, Ziebell bested Perry 12-9 in the three-rack tiebreaker.
Class of 2024 No. 1 recruit Sarah Strong played against Neenah High School’s all-time scoring leader in the McDonald’s All-American Game the following afternoon. Ziebell accounted for two of the West Team’s six triples and scored eight points in that game.
Fast forward to First Night six months later. What Strong saw from the 2024 Wisconsin Miss Basketball recipient at Gampel Pavilion last Friday very nearly made her experience déjà vu.
“That is kind of her thing,” the McDonald’s All-American Game co-MVP said. “During practice, you already know it is going in.”
The Huskies might feel the same way, even if they do not depend on three-pointers as much as other Big East Conference teams. UConn shot 36.2% from downtown on 770 attempts, both of which ranked in the top 20 among all 350+ Division I programs. No Big East school made more than the Huskies’ 279 triples, and only one, the Creighton Bluejays, attempted more shots from long range.
Despite their success with the three-ball, Nika Mühl’s departure for the WNBA leaves Connecticut with just two players who made 60+ three-pointers. Only Bueckers, a career 42.5% shooter from behind the arc, made over 40% of her attempts among the team’s 10 returning players last season.
Ziebell should significantly boost the Huskies’ offense from downtown. After all, UConn’s second-ever player from Wisconsin shot over 45% across four years at Neenah High School. With her scoring prowess, especially from the perimeter, it should not take long for Ziebell to become acclimated to the Huskies’ offensive tendencies.
“We like to get open threes when we can,” Shade expressed about the 6-foot first-year student. “[Ziebell] is just going to be a huge piece.”
Even though she averaged 1.6 steals as a high school senior, Ziebell will be much more than just a three-and-D specialist. Stephen Curry, the NBA’s all-time leader in three-point field goals, has recorded nearly that many steals per game in his 16-year career.
With time, the U19 gold medalist could become another Curry in Connecticut’s offensive attack. Ziebell’s effective three-point stroke and scoring touch will not be the only facets of her game that help people make that comparison, however.
“She reads the floor really well and can pass,” Fudd, a Stephen Curry Brand client, noted. “Being able to have another really great shooter like that can help open up the floor and get other people open. It is going to be fun to stretch the floor more.”
Bueckers and Team Blue shared some of that joy watching the Wisconsin Division 1 runner-up go off from downtown at First Night. The two-time WBCA All-American told SportsNet New York (SNY) on Wednesday that she viewed Ziebell as a “silent assassin.” Bueckers expanded on that statement to the rest of the press at Madison Square Garden around an hour later.
“[First Night] was probably her first experience doing something like [attempting and making three-pointers] in Gampel with fans and the loud environment in that atmosphere,” the Minnesota native commented. “It bodes well for her confidence to have that sort of night. She is a confident person as it is, but I was very excited for her.”
Burying triples is just business for the 19-year-old guard from Neenah, Wisconsin. Ziebell added one more trey to her portfolio halfway through the first quarter of last Friday’s secret scrimmage. Bueckers fed her the ball with a no-look pass; she buried the shot from the recently added Madison Reed logo near midcourt.
The two-time Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year’s First Night performance gave Huskies fans a sample of what might be to come. Should Ziebell have nearly the same breakout season that Arnold and Shade did last year, it could do wonders for UConn’s championship aspirations.
Right from the start, though, her chances of becoming a mainstay in Storrs will increase every time she attempts a three-point shot.
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