UConn Huskies senior Paige Bueckers gets a lot of attention, and rightly so, as she averaged 20 points per game this season and should be the first pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft in New York City later this month. However, if UConn can upset Dawn Staley’s South Carolina team, it will be because of freshman forward Sarah Strong.
The daughter of professional basketball players Danny Strong and Allison Feaster, Strong, who averaged 16.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, and shot over 58% this season, has been even better in five NCAA tournament games, averaging 18 points, 11 rebounds and shooting a sizzling 63.8% from the field.
Bueckers praised the instincts of Strong just eight games into the season after a UConn victory over Louisville at the Women’s Champions Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn and even compared her to the cartoon character Inspector Gadget because of her ability to get the ball.
“She doesn’t think much when she plays; she just reacts, and you can tell she’s been around basketball; it’s been a huge part of her life, just by the way she plays,” she said. An unrated thing about Sarah is her hands. She just goes, grabs it, and gets (the ball), and it shows up in the (rebounds) on defense, getting deflections, getting tips, blocks, and steals.”
Strong grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and scored 22 points in the win over USC, earning a Final Four berth.
“I think Sarah’s more like a guard than any of the post players I play with,” Bueckers said about Strong after that game. “She can play inside and outside on the perimeter. She handles the ball well and passes very well,” she said. “All that to say, there’s not a lot of things that Sarah can do.”
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, who has led UConn to 11 championships and is aiming for number 12, compared Strong to past Huskies greats.
“Sarah brings a dimension that we probably haven’t had that dimension in a post player, and we’ve had some good ones, don’t get me wrong, Like, [WNBA superstar] Napheesa Collier was great and Olivia [Nelson-Ododa] was great. Aaliyah Edwards was great, and you know, they all played in Final Fours and had fabulous careers,” the iconic coach reflected. “But I don’t know that we had the offensive skill set that Sarah has since [four-time NCAA tournament winner] Breanna Stewart was here.”
UConn takes on Dawn Staley’s South Carolina team in the women’s NCAA Tournament championship.
