Aubrey Griffin isn’t one of UConn’s brash personalities.The freshman really doesn’t say much. She’s shy with a soft voice and rarely answers interview questions with more than a sentence or two. That’s not just how she acts in front of the cameras, either.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much who she is,” Crystal Dangerfield said.
Despite her reserved personality, it took Griffin all off 59 seconds to show off the ways she can make an impact for UConn this season.
She entered the game with 3:52 left in the first quarter, the first player off the bench. After a pair of free throws from the Trojans, the Huskies came up the floor. The ball moved around before finding Griffin on the wing for her first touch of the game. The freshman took it and exploded to the rim -- almost like she was shot out of a cannon -- through the air to lay it up with ease. A few plays later, Griffin wrestled a rebound on the offensive end and flew towards the hoop before dropping it off to Dangerfield for the easy layup.
“Offensive rebounding, just driving to the basket, defense and playing aggressive,” she said of what she hopes to contribute this year.
Griffin isn’t one of the higher-rated recruits for the Huskies -- not by a longshot. She doesn’t have the expectations of past freshmen. But even still, Griffin has a level of athleticism that sets her apart from most other freshmen in program history.
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“You can’t put it into words,” Dangerfield said. “There was a play at the end of the first half where she caught the ball at the free throw line and laid it up. Other people on our team can’t do that.”
In UConn’s second exhibition game, Griffin scored 12 points on a perfect five-of-five from the field as the Huskies’ top option off the bench. While it’s hard to expect that type of performance from Griffin night in and night out, she doesn’t get too worked up about what she can’t do. She just does what she can and whatever happens, happens.
“Aubrey knows ‘When the ball goes up, I go get it. And when someone tries to pass it, I try to steal it. And when they throw it to me I go to the basket,’” Auriemma elaborated. “Because they have something to fall back on, I think that gives them a little bit of confidence.”
While Auriemma can be tough on freshmen, he’s taken a different approach with Griffin and classmate Anna Makurat. So far, it seems to be working.
“They know I like them. Never realized how far that goes, I think that goes pretty far when players think you like them. I haven’t experienced that in a long time,” Auriemma cracked.
The key for Griffin moving forward will be maintaining her confidence. It’s one thing to play against good players in practice. It’s another to play a Division II team in front of a big crowd. Doing both is going to be a whole different animal. Griffin’s going to have her ups and down, as any freshman would.
But Auriemma knows this is only the very beginning for her. And from here, the only way for Griffin to go is up.
“Whatever you see today is the worst [freshmen are] ever going to look. They’re only going to get better, hopefully,” he said. “She’s got huge, huge upside. I’m really, really excited about her. I really enjoy coaching her. I really do.”
