Sarah Strong described herself as nervous, but excited, ahead of her hometown matchup with UConn women’s basketball team’s matchup on Friday, Nov. 14, against the No. 15 University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
The Huskies are coming off an assertive 86-49 win against the University of South Florida Bulls on Sunday, where redshirt senior Paige Bueckers had another dominant game, putting up 22 points in just 28 minutes of playing time.
The squad also saw numbers from a lot of their newcomers including Strong and sophomore Ice Brady.
“They’re gamers, that’s the only way you can explain how quickly they’ve picked up some things,” head coach Geno Auriemma said to the media after Sunday’s game, emphasizing how satisfied he was about how they’ve been playing.
“Good teams don’t generally detract from themselves, when they find something that is good, they build on it. When they get someone off the bench, they add to it…that’s what good teams do,” he said.
This game against the Tarheels will be very pivotal for the Huskies, because if they win, Auriemma will tie Tara VanDerveer’s record of 1,216 wins for the most wins in Division I college basketball history.
“He’s a tough love type of coach,” KK Arnold said to the media after their practice on Wednesday. “He has his times when he’s goofy and making jokes and everything, but when it’s time to get in the grid, he hits the spots he needs to hit to bring the best out of you.”
The last time these two teams met was last season on Dec. 10, 2023, when the Huskies came out on top with a 76-64 win for the Hall of Fame showcase at Mohegan Sun.
In this matchup, Bueckers was the commander of the offense, notching 26 points in 33 minutes played.
With this being the first road trip of the season, Arnold described it as a way for the team to bond, but also as strictly a business trip.
“It’s always a business trip,” Arnold said, “It’s about going out and getting the win and a little celebration after.
In terms of Strong’s homecoming, she is excited for a lot of her friends and family to watch her play.
“It doesn’t really change up my nerves,” Strong said when asked if she was nervous for this homecoming to be so early in the season. “They can still watch it on TV. I’m nervous, but excited.”
A player on the Tarheels the Huskies will have to look out for is graduate guard Lexi Donarski, who has averaged 15 points per game in her first three games of the season.
To see it all go down, tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Greensboro Coliseum. Husky fans can tune into this matchup on ESPN2.