Freshman Sarah Strong led the No. 2 ranked UConn Women’s Basketball team yet again, to an 85-52 win over No. 22 Louisville in the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic.
In just her eighth game and start of her collegiate career, the North Carolina native looked comfortable in front of the sold-out crowd at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
“I don’t know that anyone has had the offensive skill set that Sarah has since Stewie [Breanna Stewart] was here.” Auriemma said to media personnel on ESPN’s No. 1 recruit for the 2024 class.
Strong attained 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists continuing her squad’s undefeated streak, despite an off night from red shirt senior Paige Bueckers and the early departure graduate student Azzi Fudd.
The Huskies were sporting Bueckers’ brand-new Nike G.T. Hustle 3 shoes, but it did not bring as much luck to the Minnesota native, who only notched eight points on the night, regardless of the guard coming into this matchup with a 20 points per game average.
Head coach of Connecticut, Geno Auriemma emphasizes often that he practices with his team on multiple occasions, how they can stay dominant on offense and test their opponent on defense.
Auriemma continued to state to the media that he has not had a team with three dominant players since Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore and Tina Charles in the 2009-2010 era, meaning the best point guard, best center and best player in the country.
“When you can come at people with those three things, then you have a chance to win every single game you play. And we’re fortunate that we have something like that.” Auriemma said.
At the very start, the Huskies took the reins of the game and did not look back.
The Huskies were dominant in the first quarter, outscoring the Cardinals by 18 points.
Even with the Cardinals having a slight comeback in the beginning of the second quarter, Strong and Fudd kept the the Cardinals from catching up to them and the underclassman/upperclassman duo combined for 29 points of the 49 scored in the first half, with Bueckers only scoring three points in the first half.
“I thought we played a good team game. I thought we executed our game plan and our scout very well.” Bueckers said when asked how she thought her team played. “We tried to limit what they [Louisville] wanted to do and make them uncomfortable…and deny their actions. I thought everyone had a role in tonight’s win. It’s amazing to play here in such a huge showcase with great teams around us.”
In the last moments of the third quarter, Fudd went down after colliding with two players from Louisville at the knee on a defensive play, after notching 18 points in 18 minutes. The Virginia native did not return to the court for the remainder of the game but returned to the bench on her own power.
“She got herself in an awkward situation. She was walking around fine; it didn’t look like worst case scenario.” Auriemma said when asked about Fudd’s status after the game. “We’ll know more when we get back. I hope I’m right that it’s not that worst case scenario that we’ve seen so many times before.”
The Huskies will return to Storrs, before they hit the road again later this week to play the No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Indiana. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Purcell Pavilion and Husky fans can tune in to this matchup on ESPN.