UConn sophomore and USBWA Player of the Year Sarah Strong had a quintessential two-way performance on Friday to power the Huskies to a 63-42 Sweet 16 victory over North Carolina. Strong, who grew up in Durham, North Carolina, had 21 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and two blocks against the Tar Heels. Her 11 points in the second quarter powered the Huskies to a 28-20 halftime lead, which only ballooned in the second half.
Strong couldn’t be contained and seemed at times to get to the basket at will. Postgame, UNC head coach Courtney Banghart, who heavily recruited Strong out of high school, commented on just barely losing out on her.
“I’ve said it multiple times, but coming in second for Sarah Strong is a tough one to come in second for,” Banghart told reporters.
On the other end of the sideline, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma had a more champagne-toned problem: getting Strong to consistently contribute with aggressiveness and a nose for the basket.
“The hardest job that we as coaches have is getting [Sarah] to do that for not seven minutes but 27 minutes. To act like that, to think like that, to impose herself on the game like that. It’s a real challenge,” Auriemma told reporters postgame.
“It’s kind of one of those things that she just plays the way she plays, and you have to really, really work hard at it to get her to do that. Then when she does it, she makes it look so easy. It’s effortless, you know?”
Strong was a bright spot offensively for the Huskies. As a team, UConn shot just 14-for-26 on layups and 4-for-20 from three. It was uncharacteristic for a team that shoots a nation-leading 52.2% from the field. Freshman Blanca Quiñonez (16 points) and fifth-year senior Azzi Fudd (10 points) joined Strong as UConn’s double-figure scorers, but no other UConn player scored more than 4 points on the afternoon.
Fortunately for the Huskies, their defense was elite as usual. They converted 24 UNC turnovers into 17 points and had 18 steals, setting the NCAA Division I single-season steals record in the process.
“When it’s a game of miss, miss, miss, and there’s a lot of angst about shots not going in … you have to get stops because it’s so hard to get a bucket,” Auriemma said.
In Sunday’s Elite Eight match, UConn will face an ACC team for a third consecutive game. The top-seeded Huskies defeated No. 9 seed Syracuse and No. 4 seed North Carolina in the second round and Sweet 16, respectively. The No. 6 seed Irish finished behind North Carolina in the ACC standings but defeated the Tar Heels by 23 points in January, their only meeting this season.
Notably, the Huskies and Irish will play each other for the ninth time ever in March Madness, but for the first time in the Elite Eight. Their other eight tourney meetings, the last of which was in 2019, were all in the Final Four.
“I watched a little of the UConn-Notre Dame [rivalry] growing up,” Fudd told reporters on Saturday. “And it’s just the visuals that come to mind, just intense hustle plays, scrappy, kind of like blood baths. … Any time we get to play them, and then any time you play in March in the Elite Eight trying to get to the Final Four, it’s an honor, it’s a privilege, and you know every team’s gonna play their heart out.”
Sunday’s game will also be a rematch of the teams’ regular-season game. In January, UConn defeated the Irish 85-47, the largest margin of victory in the series’ 30-year history.
The Irish have improved since then, though, getting a road win over a ranked Louisville team in their regular-season finale and a 2-point loss to fellow Elite Eight team Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Notre Dame will also have guard KK Bransford, who didn’t compete in the January matchup due to injury.
“Having KK with us, having another versatile guard, somebody that has played against UConn in the past, that’s really going to help us,” Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey told reporters on Saturday. “But again, it’s a different time. We’re playing better basketball. We’re playing smarter. We’re playing tougher. So we’re different. We’re more confident. This is the biggest stage you can be on.
“This group has never been on this stage as far as being in the Elite Eight, so you have to have that sense of urgency. It’s a mindset.”
The Irish showed off that mindset on Friday in a thrilling 67-64 upset of No. 2 seed Vanderbilt. Junior guard Hannah Hidalgo had a 30-point triple-double to will Notre Dame. It was the first time in five consecutive tries that the Irish got past the Sweet 16.
“For Hannah and I and KK, just being back in this position and being able to do it again and get over that hump with Notre Dame, I think that just means a lot,” Irish senior Cassandre Prosper said on Friday. “Especially doing it for Coach Ivey, who has been with us this whole time.”
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Riding a 53-game win streak, one win away from tying the fourth-longest win streak in NCAA history, the Huskies are the heavy favorites to return to Phoenix. This is Auriemma’s 30th time in the Elite Eight, though, and he knows that the past doesn’t matter when a Final Four spot is on the line in a winner-take-all game.
“The hardest thing to do is to catch a team [like Notre Dame] that’s playing really well, is playing with a lot of momentum. Biggest reason is you don’t have to sustain it for months. You have three weekends, and once a team gets hot, once a player gets hot, it really, really makes it difficult,” Auriemma said.
“There’s no secret formula to it — we’ve had really good players, and traditionally, we’ve been a really good defensive team through the years, and I think just making shots at the right time. That’s the hardest thing to do is to beat a red-hot team that’s playing with a lot of confidence.”
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The IX Sports’ Kathleen Gier and Arie Graham contributed reporting for this story.
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