To kick off their 2025-26 season, the reigning National Champions and No. 1 UConn women’s basketball team traveled to take on No. 20 Louisville on Monday evening, where they took their first win of the season, 79-66.
In a game that was supposed to be held in Germany, both ranked squads traveled to Annapolis, Md. to the United States Naval Academy, due to the ongoing government shutdown, for the Peraton Armed Forces Classic.
Sophomore Sarah Strong, who was named the preseason Big East player of the year, dominated throughout the game for the Huskies. The North Carolina native finished the game with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists, consistently setting things up for her teammates behind the scenes throughout the entire game.
“I was just trying to get comfortable,” Strong said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe, “Defense was good, just trying to find where I’m open, just trying to find where my team is open, just play basketball.”
In an instant, the Huskies took to the hardwood, all guns blazing. Connecticut’s full court pressure stunned the Cardinals’ offense, shutting them out until halfway through the first quarter.
Alongside Strong, one of the Huskies contributing to this intense full-court pressure was junior guard KK Arnold. Throughout her time as a Husky, Arnold has consistently brought fire on and off the bench for her program.
Against the Cardinals, Arnold looked like a completely evolved version of her past self, taking on her new veteran role. The Wisconsin native was consistent at attacking the rim and giving her teammates good looks.
At the end of the first half, Arnold racked up her second-most number of points in a half in her career with 13.
“Just my teammates instilling confidence in me and knowing that they have my back through missed shots or anything.” Arnold said to Rowe on the ESPN broadcast when asked about what stood out from her first half, “Just going out there with energy and starting it off.”
By staying persistent and forcing Louisville to score only 26.5% of their field goals, Connecticut would double the number of points than the Cardinals to finish the first half of the bout 44-23. Even though the Huskies could not convert efficiently from the perimeter, it was noticeable throughout the first half that the Huskies had the upper hand.
“Our biggest thing was converting off of our defensive pressure.” Arnold said to ESPN’s Rowe in a halftime interview, “Just doing that creating energy on that which creates for our offense pretty well; it’s something that was a focal point for this game.”
According to ESPN’s broadcast, the Connecticut Huskies are 376-0 when leading by 20 points in the half.
Heading into the second half of the game, the Huskies looked to bring the same fire to the court as they did in the first and second frames.
With Strong still front loading the Huskies defense, it appeared that throughout the second half of the game, Connecticut started to lose their steam.
Despite a brief stint for half the third quarter, where the Cardinals did not score any field goals, Connecticut started to take its foot off the gas a bit.
Fouls from the Huskies gave the Cardinals a chance to rack up more points, and with under five minutes left in the first quarter, Louisville got within 10 points of Connecticut and outscored the Huskies 57-54.
With former Husky Paige Bueckers in attendance, though, the program pulled off the win.
“I feel like from the start of this game, I mean, it definitely wasn’t easy, but in practice we go hard every day and practice things every day, so we know what to expect.” Strong said to Rowe in a postgame interview on ESPN on how the roster is connecting with all the new faces this year.
Next up, the Huskies will return to the newly renovated Gampel Pavilion for the first time since March of this year. Connecticut will take on Florida State Sunday afternoon with a tip-off scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Ahead of gametime, the Huskies’ 12th Championship banner will be lifted to the rafters. If Husky fans cannot make it to Storrs, they can tune into the game on FS1.