{"id":294384,"date":"2025-10-11T10:14:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T10:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/294384\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T10:14:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T10:14:11","slug":"uconn-star-sarah-strong-on-whole-other-level-as-a-sophomore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/294384\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn star Sarah Strong on ‘whole other level’ as a sophomore"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORRS \u2014 Geno Auriemma isn\u2019t easy to impress after 40 seasons at the helm of the UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> team, but the head coach\u2019s entire face lights up every time he talks about sophomore Sarah Strong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Strong arrived at UConn with a pedigree as the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2024 and the daughter of former WNBA All-Star Allison Feaster<\/a>. Now at the precipice of her second college season, the star forward is exceeding even Auriemma\u2019s wildest expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t a day that goes by (without) one of the coaches and I just kind of looking at each other going \u2018Man, there\u2019s just something about her right now,’\u201d Auriemma said with a wide grin after practice Friday. \u201cI look forward to going to practice just to see what might happen next, some things she might pull off.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her freshman season, Strong already became one of the best players in the country. She was named the WBCA Freshman of the Year and earned second-team All-American honors, helping power the Huskies to their first national championship in nearly a decade. She averaged 16.4 points and led UConn with 8.9 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. Strong got even better in March Madness, breaking the record previously held by Tennessee legend Tamika Catchings for most points by a freshman in the NCAA Tournament with a team-high 24 points plus 15 rebounds in the title game.<\/p>\n

But according to Auriemma, Strong\u2019s historic rookie year only scratched the surface of her capabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a little bit of time for her to do anything other than just play. The other stuff, she really just was not comfortable being a voice on the team or standing out in some way,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cThis year, she\u2019s really good. I thought she was really, really good last year, and I think she\u2019s even better. \u2026 Her game is on a whole other level from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s common for players to take a leap from freshman to sophomore year, but Auriemma said the 6-foot-2 Strong came back to campus this fall looking like a completely different person. Part of the development is physical after an offseason focusing on conditioning and weight training now that she has a better understanding of her body and the demands of the college game. Strong can also lean into different aspects of her skillset now that UConn has more depth in its frontcourt, opening up opportunities for her to play more like an oversized guard than the undersized center role she took on most of last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I kind of know what to expect, so I can prepare mentally and physically,\u201d Strong said after the team\u2019s first official practice last week. \u201cI\u2019ve been working on dribble pull-ups, more guard stuff, learning the plays from the guard perspective. \u2026 It\u2019s kind of weird because I\u2019m not used to playing that much on the guard side, but I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UConnUConn forward Sarah Strong presented with the Big East Freshman of the Year trophy by Commissioner of the Big East Conference Val Ackerman before an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinals of the Big East Conference tournament, Saturday, March 8, 2025, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo\/Jessica Hill)<\/p>\n

But the biggest change in Strong is her confidence and willingness to embrace a leadership role. Redshirt senior Caroline Ducharme<\/a>, one of the team\u2019s most vocal leaders, said she\u2019s challenging Strong to step out of her comfort zone because she understands how impactful the sophomore\u2019s voice can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer style is more just lead by example, but this year we\u2019ve definitely had conversations about it,\u201d Ducharme said. \u201cShe kind of thought, \u2018Well I\u2019m still an underclassman\u2019 and whatever, but I\u2019m like, you\u2019re still Sarah Strong. Everybody\u2019s going to look when you say something. Everybody\u2019s going to listen. You\u2019ve earned that respect from everybody. You\u2019re not just anybody saying something. I think she\u2019s really taken that and been able to really lead her group.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong spends much of her time in practice working alongside Ducharme and freshman Blanca Quinonez<\/a>, who have dubbed themselves \u2018the hybrids\u2019 as players that work with both the guards and forwards. Quinonez said Strong is the player she looks to the most on the court as a role model for her own game \u2014 though the Ecuador native joked that Strong won\u2019t speak Spanish with her even though she knows the language from her childhood in Spain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSarah says that she doesn\u2019t speak in Spanish, but I know that she does,\u201d Quinonez said with a smile. \u201cShe\u2019s one of the players that I used to watch (before college), because I think we have the same game, so it\u2019s fun to have someone that knows the game. And it\u2019s fun to watch her because, you know, it\u2019s Sarah Strong.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STORRS \u2014 Geno Auriemma isn\u2019t easy to impress after 40 seasons at the helm of the UConn women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":294385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[150564,1339,130335,130333,2738,7000,9768,7001,728,40085,1317,1337,130332,11009,1338,2471,11011,62,9767,9766,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-294384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-all-american","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-blanca-quinonez","11":"tag-caroline-ducharme","12":"tag-connecticut","13":"tag-ct-news","14":"tag-geno-auriemma","15":"tag-hartford-courant","16":"tag-local-news","17":"tag-march-madness","18":"tag-ncaa","19":"tag-ncaa-basketball","20":"tag-ncaa-championship","21":"tag-ncaa-tournament","22":"tag-ncaabasketball","23":"tag-paige-bueckers","24":"tag-sarah-strong","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-uconn-huskies","27":"tag-uconn-womens-basketball","28":"tag-united-states","29":"tag-unitedstates","30":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115355010075193261","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=294384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}