Batouly Camara couldn’t be more excited to finally lace up her shoes and don a Huskies uniform on the court for the UConn women’s basketball team.
The transfer from Kentucky sat out last season and is finally eligible to play. Camara said it’s one thing to sit out when you’re injured, but when you’re healthy, that’s a different story.
“It was tough,” Camara said. “To be physically able and not being able to play, that was tough.”
But she showed support from the sidelines.
“I was there to help the team in practices and being engaged, realizing that those are my gains and that’s where I have to go hard kind of kept me set,” Camara said. “Last year was kind of that transitional period, and now I think we’re at a point where I’m ready to just dive into it.”
In her freshman season as a Wildcat, Camara averaged 5.1 points on 49.3 percent shooting and 4.3 rebounds, playing primarily off the bench. She may have a more elevated role for UConn, but coach Geno Auriemma said none of that is clear right now.
“We’ll find out a lot about who can do what and who can manage certain things,” Auriemma said Monday at his charity golf tournament. “When it comes time to actually play in the games, it’s going to be important for them to get acclimated, but the practices are going to be even more so.”
It took Camara a little more time to adjust, but after getting into the swing of things, she looks a lot more comfortable, Katie Lou Samuelson said.
“All [last] season, she was trying to figure everything out, figure out plays and stuff,” Samuelson said. “She’s been playing great in pickup. Mentally, I think she’s ready to go and contribute this year.”
Bolstering her physicality is something Camara has focused on, especially defense and rebounding. Camara has thought about how she’ll react in her first game back.
“We practice enough,” she joked, but a game setting is so different that the transition may be difficult.
“I hope that it’s something I jump right into and feel comfortable with, but a game setting is so different,” Camara said.
Camara said the upcoming 10-day trip to Italy in August could help her get back into the swing of things a little earlier than normal.
“I’m very thankful that we’re going to Italy,” she said. “It’s like moving the season up a little bit, just getting a taste of playing, but I cannot wait.”
With only three players from last year’s team departing — Saniya Chong and Tierney Lawlor graduated and Natalie Butler transferred — this year’s team has a lot of familiar faces. But the addition of the No.1 recruiting class in the nation and two strong transfers make it, in a sense, a totally different team, Camara said.
The team has had no problem getting along, though.
“The freshman have been super receptive,” Camara said. “They’ve come in and just want to work and get better and learn, so we’ve been meshing really well.”
Coming off a season that saw the Huskies on both sides of history, there’s a bit of pressure on this year’s team to start a new streak. While aspirations are there, taking it “day-by-day, one practice at a time” is going to be the mindset of the team.
“We all obviously know what happened,” Camara said. “And we hope that we just do it differently, and are working to do it differently.”
.galleries:after {
content: ”;
display: block;
background-color: #c52026;
margin: 16px auto 0;
height: 5px;
width: 100px;
}
.galleries:before {
content: “More UConn Women’s Basketball”;
display: block;
font: 700 23px/25px Belizio,Georgia,’Droid Serif’,serif;
text-align: center;
color: #1e1e1e;
}
