How Sarah Strong, UConn women’s basketball will respond to Final Four loss in 2026-27
STORRS — During the UConn women’s basketball team’s ugly loss to South Carolina in the 2026 Final Four, coach Geno Auriemma saw frustration impact sophomore phenom Sarah Strong ‘s game for the first time in her college career. Strong, the consensus national player of the year in 2025-26, had one of her worst performances in a UConn jersey at the Final Four, logging 12 points and 12 rebounds on 25% shooting in the 62-48 defeat that ended the Huskies’ undefeated season . Strong grew so agitated during the game that she ripped her own jersey after a missed layup at the end of the third quarter, an uncharacteristic show of emotion from the famously-stoic superstar on the biggest stage.
It was the first truly meaningful loss Strong has experienced at UConn after helping power the program to its 12th national championship as a freshman in 2025, and it’s one that Auriemma believes will fuel her next season. “The pressure that she puts on herself to make sure that she performs at a real high level, I think that bothered her, that she wasn’t able to play at the level that she expects from herself and that we needed from her,” Auriemma said Monday, speaking with media for the first time since the Final Four. “So that, of all the time that she’s been here — and there’s only been four losses I think in her college career — I think that one probably hit her the hardest … I think she she takes all that and personalizes it and internalizes it, and I think that she’s going to turn that into a real positive going forward.
” Strong’s underwhelming performance in the Final Four wasn’t a shock to Auriemma, partly because the sophomore was never fully healthy over the last two months of the season. Strong grappled with chronic calf inflammation that sidelined her for a game in early February, and Auriemma said she was only practicing about three days a week for the entire month of March. This offseason, the priority for the superstar forward is rest.
For the first time since 2021, she won’t compete with USA Basketball this summer in either 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 competition. Auriemma said Strong was worried about disappointing the national team when she turned down opportunities this year, but she ultimately understood that her body desperately needs the recovery time if she intends to lead the Huskies back to the NCAA championship next year. “It’s such a long season, and she’s spent every summer playing USA Basketball … so the plan for her this summer is to do as little as possible,” Auriemma said.
“It was typical Sarah: ‘I really want to do this, I feel like I have an obligation to do this, what are they going to think of me if I say no? … I said, if I put you on the spot, do you want to do this or do you not want to do this? Forget what anybody’s going to think.
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