How Sarah Strong has emerged as the next UConn star

The names on the banners include the likes of Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore and Breanna Stewart — two of whom are already in the Naismith Hall of Fame (Bird and Moore) and two who will be first-ballot Hall of Famers once they’re eligible for nomination.

The tenth spot on the banner is up for grabs, and UConn sophomore Sarah Strong is poised to fill it before she leaves Storrs. Now a sophomore, Strong is the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year, a Preseason AP All-American, a selection on both the Katrina McClain and Wade Trophy watch lists, and the new standard-bearer of UConn basketball.

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Like her namesake, Sarah has started her sophomore season strong. At the Armed Forces Classic last week, Strong seemed to make a play each time UConn needed one, contributing 21 points, nine rebounds and four assists — leading the team in each of those statistical categories — while defeating a ranked Louisville team, 79-66. On Sunday, in an extremely efficient 23 minutes of play, Strong netted 21 points (7-for-10 FG), and collected nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in UConn’s 33-point drubbing of Florida State.

The daughter of two former professional basketball players, Strong can seemingly do everything on the basketball court. Defensively, she’s active and anticipatory. She’s a three-level scorer and an elite rebounder. Her game has drawn comparison to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić, one of — if not the best — passing bigs in the league’s history.

“When you have a player like Sarah that can rebound the ball like she rebounds it and then start the break and bring the ball up the floor, I think that’s a whole new dynamic,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said following the Louisville game. “We’ve had some of those guys in the past, whether it was [Breanna Stewart] or Maya Moore, that could be great rebounders and just bring the ball up the floor, so I really believe it adds a different dimension to our offense. Because she’s such a gifted passer, there’s a lot of opportunities.”

Strong’s All-American freshman season was legendary, and has already earned her a place in the UConn record books. She’s the freshman record holder for rebounds (356) and ranks No. 2 for UConn freshmen in points (657). She is just the second Husky, after Maya Moore, to score 600-plus points as a freshman.

She also ranks second all-time for UConn freshmen in assists (142) and steals (92), and is the NCAA record holder for most points in an NCAA Tournament by a freshman (114). In last season’s national title game, her 24 points (10-for-15 FG), 15 rebounds and five assists put the game out of reach for Dawn Staley‘s South Carolina Gamecocks.

As is usually the case at UConn, its star is surrounded by an elite supporting cast — redshirt senior guard Azzi Fudd and senior forward Serah Williams are also on the Wade watch list, and all five of UConn’s starters were named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team. It’s why the Huskies are No. 1 in the Preseason AP Poll, and why some predict they will repeat as national champions this season.

Among all the talent, what distinguishes Strong as the program’s axis is her steadiness. She’s taken over as team leader upon the graduation of Paige Bueckers, the Huskies’ centerpiece from the moment she stepped on campus in 2020 until she cut down the nets in Tampa in April. With her “lead by example” approach and quiet authority, Strong has bridged that leadership gap.

“Pretty much every huddle that she’s in, she’s the one doing the talking,” Auriemma said about Strong in October. “… And it’s not a loud voice, don’t get me wrong. It’s not [a] nonstop in-your-face kind of voice. … It’s who’s saying it. And she doesn’t ever say [it] in a way that makes you feel anything other than, ‘Yeah, she’s right — I gotta do it that way.'”

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Senior forward Serah Williams, a high-profile Wisconsin transfer who will play her final collegiate season at UConn this year, looks to her younger teammate as a source of reassurance and guidance.

“Sarah helps me at the right time,” Williams told reporters Sunday. “Today, I was struggling, and she just instilled that confidence in me to slow it down and told me that I got it. And she does that in practice as well when I need help. Sometimes she just comes up to me before I even say anything. She helps me in the areas that she sees I’m struggling.”

Strong’s gift is that she can see things before they happen on the basketball court. She has a keen ability to be in the right place at the right time, and she makes everyone around her better. She may very well etch her name among the greats in UConn’s prolific history — and she does it all with a cool confidence.

“I try not to think of it as pressure,” Strong said of the expectations surrounding her. “I’m just out there playing basketball.”

The IX Basketball’s Rob Knox contributed reporting for this story.