HARTFORD — Some say Sarah Strong or Paige Bueckers are cheat codes to make it to the National Championship.
Others may deduce that a cheat code for UConn women’s basketball is an exhibition game against high-caliber opponents like Madison Booker and the Texas Longhorns.
Programs have exhibition games for numerous reasons.
The common denominator, though on why?
They give programs, like UConn, an opportunity to discover those cheat codes on what assets in their game they need to specifically harp on before they enter regular season matchups.
With both the Huskies and Longhorns expected to be in the top 25 in the preseason rankings, Connecticut had a chance to crack the code on what it takes to defeating Texas, a team they’ve been in the same Final Four as the past two years.
“With the teams we have coming up in two weeks, it’s going to be the same thing,” Head Coach Geno Auriemma said postgame. “So, getting a taste of that is way better than watching on film and talking about it at practice, and so I’m glad that we’re able to do it.”
On Monday evening, in their second game of their three-game exhibition series, Connecticut took the win 83-61 over the Longhorns.
It took a few hurdles for the Huskies to get to that point, though.
Right off the bat, Texas’s size compared to the Huskies was immediately noticeable on the hardwood. Their dominance and skill down low, proved to be a tall task to defend in the front court for players like junior Sarah Strong.
With the Huskies’ various attempts to shut down Booker, the Longhorns’ leading scorer, it came with a few fouls and errors on Connecticut’s side.
As the game commenced, Connecticut worked tirelessly to get comfortable matching up against a team of such size.
For Booker, though, she met her match against freshman Jovana Popovic.
Popovic showed how she was at ease defending 6-foot-1 Booker, almost immediately. Popovic cut through the Longhorns’ defense on multiple opportunities in the first half, driving to the basket.
The Serbian native finished the game racking up 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
“She responded the way she responds to everything. You know, just like this icy stare,” Auriemma said when he was asked about Popovic. “She has a kind of steely personality, you know, and doesn’t really bend or break most of the time.”
In the second quarter, Texas got more comfortable slicing through UConn’s defenders as they racked up point after point to keep a consistent, steady lead over Connecticut. That was, until Strong took matters into her own hands.
With eight straight points from Strong, finished with a triple, she tied things towards the midway point of the second frame.
After the under-five timeout in the second quarter, though, is where the wheels started to fall off for Connecticut. UConn finished the first half turning the ball over 11 times only made three of their 10 shot attempts.
Heading into halftime, with a pull-up jumper, Popovic knotted things up, though, the score 37-37.
When the Huskies returned from the locker room for the second half of the matchup, it was like there was a fire lit underneath them.
Freshman Olivia Vukosa showed confidence matching up against Texas’ 6-foot-4 Breya Cunningham. Vukosa, in the third quarter, forced Cunningham to rack up three personal fouls putting her in foul trouble for the duration of the matchup.
Three defensive rebounds in the third frame from Vukosa, was crucial in setting her teammates up to keep their lead over the Longhorns.
The Huskies maintained their consistent pressure on Texas into the final frame of the game, forcing Texas to only rack up 16 points, six of those from the paint, compared to the Huskies’ 27 points.
“They spent a lot of their possession running Madison Booker off every kind of screen imaginable,” Auriemma said postgame on defending Booker. “So, it’s a really difficult assignment, you know. The their size and their length was a little bit of an issue in the first half, and took us a while. But once I think we started to get better movement, things kind of opened up for us.”
As the Connecticut started to find their way again for the rest of the game, they managed to officially shut Texas down, with Strong and Popovic trading baskets back and forth.
Strong finished the matchup with 27 points, three rebounds and three assists.
As the Huskies look to the regular season, they will look to take this experience against physical teams, like Texas, into games this year against opponents like South Carolina.
“I think we definitely asserted a dominance that game that we’re definitely trying to emphasize this season because Texas is a physical team,” Ashlynn Shade said postgame. “They run a lot of screen actions. You’re getting hit a lot, so we really buckled down. So, we just really tried to emphasize that pressure and being physical right back with them.”
Connecticut will now pivot to the final game of their exhibition series this Sunday. They will take on Army at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. and Husky fans can tune in to the game on UConn+.