Two days after Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis injured her arm in UConn's 76-57 victory over Stanford, the school announced that an MRI revealed that the junior sharpshooter suffered a nerve contusion of the right elbow. She will be reevaluated next week, and a time frame for her return won't be determined until that time. That means the Huskies will be without her services for Friday's game against Maryland, and almost certainly the matchups with Penn St. (Sunday) and Oregon (Wednesday).
After the game, coach Geno Auriemma spoke about Mosqueda-Lewis' toughness.
“Kaleena is not one to be injured," he said. "From my standpoint, we are playing with our fingers crossed and going forward with the rest of the season. Anything that we see that looks like that, obviously, is disheartening a little bit.”
Unfortunately, there's more.
Sophomore forward Morgan Tuck underwent arthroscopic surgery on her right knee Tuesday. Tuck had been experiencing swelling in her knee due to a cartilage injury and the surgery helped stabilize the cartilage. She is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
Last week, Auriemma was asked about Tuck and he spoke in glowing terms about her progress.
"What do I think of Morgan? Same thing I always think of Morgan," he said. "I think Morgan is great. She does all the things good basketball players do and she's been doing that since she got here last year. She passes the ball, she dribbles it, she plays good defense, she rebounds. I don't know. I never have any complaints against Morgan -- ever."
The good news is that Auriemma has something most teams covet: incredible depth. Even with Mosqueda-Lewis and Tuck sidelined, there are senior veterans Stefanie Dolson and Bria Hartley, all-everything sophomore Breanna Stewart, and Kiah Stokes and Saniya Chong (the lone freshman on scholarship) coming off the bench.
"[Saniya] is not afraid of anything," Auriemma said following the Stanford win. "I really admire the way she approaches games and practices. She made a bunch of really good plays today and Kiah played the best game she has played since she has been at Connecticut. She was unbelievably good in just about every area. I hope that is the beginning of something because that changes our team dramatically.”
