UConn freshman Sarah Strong received high praise from her coach Geno Auriemma after the third-ranked Huskies defeated the 22nd-ranked Creighton Bluejays 70-50 at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Monday. The win marked the Huskies’ fifth consecutive Big East Tournament championship and their 23rd overall.
Auriemma praised Strong in his postgame speech, saying that she lived up to the high expectations placed on her.
“It’s hard for a freshman to come in and play here in this program,” Auriemma said. “There are so many great players who have come before you. The expectations were incredibly high, the bar set so high.”
The winningest college basketball coach also compared Strong to Paige Bueckers, who in her freshman season with the Huskies also dominated the scene.
“You get overwhelmed by it, it takes time to get used to it. And I think, like Paige did a few years ago, Sarah came in and embraced that way from the beginning, from the very first game,” Auriemma added.
Sarah Strong scores double digits to help Huskies clinch the Big East Tournament win
One of the three players to score in double digits for the Huskies, Sarah Strong finished the game with 13 points and four assists in 35 minutes, shooting 6-for-13 from the field including 1-for-3 from the three-point land.
Strong proved to be a defensive menace, racking up three shot blocks and tying her career-high with six steals. She also caught 11 rebounds to record her third straight double-double in the tournament.
Paige Bueckers also impressed in the championship game, becoming the first player to win the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award three times. She finished the game with 24 points on 50/60/100 shooting splits in 38 minutes of play. She almost got a double-double just like Strong, catching eight rebounds, as well as three assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Bueckers averaged 22.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in the duration of the tournament. She scored 20 points in the quarterfinals against St. John’s and 23 in the semifinals against Villanova.
Azzi Fudd, the third player to score double digits for coach Geno Auriemma, finished with 13 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field, including 3-for-8 from beyond the arc.
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