“She Was Really Upset”: Geno Auriemma, Paige Bueckers & Others Reveal Thoughts After Sarah Strong Delivers Career-High Performance Vs Iowa
Sarah Strong was on the floor for UConn’s loss at Michigan, but for a big chunk of it, she was stuck on the bench. The reigning national player of the year picked up three fouls in the first eight minutes on Thursday and sat out the entire second quarter. The Huskies scored just eight points in that quarter and lost 77-66. Three days later, Strong looked like a different player, and the people closest to her noticed.
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“I think she was, um, she was really upset about, you know, what happened,” coach Geno Auriemma said after UConn beat Iowa on Sunday, referring to the previous loss.
“And how it happened, you know, the w- the way the whole thing evolved. And, she had a different look about her at practice. She had a resolve, I think, and the way she was talking to the players and the example that she was setting as, you know, these couple of days went by, and how aggressive she’s capable of being. I think that was evident today,” he added.
The loss drew reactions beyond Storrs, too.
Paige Bueckers, who starred at UConn, shared the result on her Instagram story and wrote, “Man you couldn’t get one more point gang???”
After the Sunday game, Iowa coach Jan Jensen said of Strong, “She’s gonna be one of the best ever, period.”
Strong scored a career-high 39 points at Gampel Pavilion, going 15-of-26 from the floor with five 3-pointers and 10 rebounds. She also took a career-high 26 shots, which her coach has been pushing her to do. Her old career high was 29, and she passed it halfway through the third quarter.
She had 26 points by halftime and ended the half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that put UConn up 52-37.
This time, she stayed out of foul trouble, finishing with two fouls in 37 minutes. It was the most points a UConn player has scored against a top-10 team since 2000, and she became just the fourth Division I player in the 2000s to put up 35 points, 10 rebounds and five 3-pointers against a top-10 team.
She also had help. On Saturday, Auriemma had asked the rest of the roster to step up around Strong and Jovana Popovic. Blanca Quinonez scored 21 points off the bench and KK Arnold added 14. UConn made 11 of 21 3-pointers after going 8-of-31 against Michigan.
UConn won 91-79 and led by as many as 27. The win also kept UConn from losing two straight games, something it has not done since 2023.
To see how far she came, look back at Thursday. UConn had opened the season with a 100-35 win over Cornell. Then came No. 5 Michigan, and a game Auriemma called UConn’s worst performance since a November 2004 loss to North Carolina. The Huskies shot 8-of-31 from 3-point range and committed 19 turnovers. Michigan went to the free-throw line 24 times, while UConn went seven.
Strong fouled out late with 13 points. Auriemma said the third foul was on him, since he was too focused on the game and should have taken her out after her second.
Strong took responsibility too. Ahead of the Iowa game, she said, “I just have to be smarter, I can’t leave my team out to dry like that.” After the win, she said of Michigan, “I know I messed up in every aspect of the game.”
She has also been asked to take on more of a leadership role this season, and Sunday was a strong first answer.
Now comes a tough stretch, with No. 18 Ohio State and No. 7 Louisville next. Auriemma has said the Huskies will not go 0-4 in this run, and Sunday showed how they can avoid it. A night that started with Strong watching from the bench has ended with her carrying the team.
