The last time South Florida women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandez saw UConn freshman Sarah Strong was in Bucaramanga, Colombia, and the star forward was a member of his roster on at the U18 FIBA AmeriCup.
The longtime Bulls coach served as an assistant for Team USA at the AmeriCup in June, helping lead Strong and the U.S. squad to an 11th consecutive gold medal in the tournament. Strong, the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2024, will now battle against Fernandez when No. 2 UConn (1-0) hosts South Florida (1-0) at Gampel Pavilion on Sunday (4:30 p.m., SNY).
“Having (Strong) on the court is like having two or three players because she fills so many roles,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said after the Huskies’ season opener Thursday. “She has to play like she’s an All-American. She has to come in here and act like it and play like it … She’s able to contribute in so many ways, and she’s only going to get better from here.”
Strong looked like a veteran in the opener against Boston University at the XL Center, logging 17 points, four rebounds, three assists and six steals. But UConn’s 86-32 rout of the Terriers was a balanced effort. Redshirt freshman Jana El Alfy logged a double-double in her collegiate debut with 17 points and 11 rebounds, and superstar Paige Bueckers added 13 points plus a team-high seven assists. Sophomore Ashlynn Shade matched Strong with six steals on top of her 10 points.
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Despite the promising start, Auriemma knows better than to underestimate South Florida. The Huskies are 33-0 all-time against the Bulls, but Fernandez’s teams are always a challenge. The last time the teams met at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in November 2021, they entered the fourth quarter tied 45-45 before UConn pulled away for a 60-53 win. The Bulls also led the No. 2-ranked Huskies at halftime of the 2019 regular-season finale when they were still conference foes in the American Athletic, though UConn again came out on top, 57-47.
“We did get great contributions from from a lot of people, and that’s a great sign,” Auriemma said after beating BU. “We’re gonna need it, because this weekend we play a really good team that makes it tough on you to do some of the things you want to do … This isn’t the kind of team that just comes out of training camp and goes on the road against a top-5 team in the country like we have in the past and is up 30 at halftime. It’s not that team, but for the first time out, (it was) encouraging.”
The Bulls won their season opener 68-51 over Mount St. Mary’s on Thursday, but Fernandez warned postgame that his team’s showing would result in a lopsided score against them if they repeated it in Storrs. Gampel Pavilion is nearly sold out for the on-campus opener, and a rowdy crowd adds another challenge for a USF roster that is skilled but inexperienced with three freshmen and four first-year transfers.
“It’s definitely not the performance that I would like to see heading into UConn on Sunday,” Fernandez said after beating Mount St. Mary’s. “Only three kids in that locker room have played in an NCAA Tournament, and that was not an NCAA Tournament-team type of performance. … There’s a lot of talent in that locker room, but the type of schedule we’re going to play in November and December, we’re going to be in a lot of positions where we have adversity, so how are we going to respond to tough times?”
The early weeks of the season are about seeing how pieces come together for the Huskies, particularly because Auriemma’s rotations against BU indicated that he could go far deeper into his bench this year than in 2023-24. All 10 available players saw the court before halftime on Thursday, and Shade was the only one who played more than 25 minutes. Auriemma knows he can rely on Bueckers when the lights are the brightest, but with five newcomers on the roster this season, he wants to see less-experienced lineups hold their own without the superstar on the floor.
“The thing that I was (disappointed by), not that I didn’t know, is when you have certain combinations and you’re just going to play half court and Paige is not in the game,” Auriemma said after the opener. “We work on that a lot in practice, (when) we have to get big baskets with her not in the game, and we’re not very good at that area. So I kind of knew that, but it was proven today that we have to get a lot better at that.”
How to watch
Site: Gampel Pavilion, Storrs
Series record: UConn leads 33-0
Time: 4:30 p.m., Sunday
Last meeting: 60-53, UConn; Nov. 20, 2021 in Paradise Island, Bahamas
TV: SNY
Streaming: SNY.tv, foxsports.com
