Sarah Strong didn’t just have a good second half against No. 17 Ohio State on Thursday; she might have had the best game of her entire career. The UConn superstar pulled off an absolutely bonkers 104.2 percent effective field goal percentage and showed everyone why she’s a legit problem, especially when she plays through foul trouble. Forget what you thought you knew about hitting clutch shots, because Strong just rewrote the playbook.
Strong’s Unbelievable Shooting Clinic
Let’s just get into it: Strong went 6-for-6 from three-point range in the second half against the Buckeyes. Yeah, you read that right, SIX FOR SIX. That ridiculous effort jacked her career three-point clip up to a phenomenal 41.1 percent. Honestly, if she had enough attempts, she’d be fifth all-time in UConn’s storied history for three-point percentage. For the whole game, she was 7-for-8 (87.5 percent) from distance, which clocks in as the sixth-best efficiency of her 82-game career. Get this: the five games above that were all perfect, but none of them came on more than four attempts. That means Thursday night was truly her best outing ever, period. She hit 9-for-12 from the field overall, giving her that eye-popping career-best 104.2 percent effective field goal percentage.
How’d she do it? She was hitting from everywhere. We saw her drain one from the top of the key after stepping left off a screen set by Olivia Vukosa, with Vukosa’s defender, Kylee Kitts, arriving way too late. Then there was the quick catch and shoot from the left wing off an offensive rebound, again with plenty of space. And who can forget the bucket off a broken play in transition where KK Arnold fell to the ground chasing the ball? This wasn’t luck, folks, this was a sharpshooting clinic, especially after she had to sit out the entire second quarter in foul trouble.
Grit Through the Gauntlet: UConn’s Tough Schedule
This insane performance is exactly what UConn needs to get through their brutal nonconference schedule. These Huskies are not playing around this year, challenging themselves like crazy. Out of their 13 nonconference games, nine are against ranked opponents. That’s a schedule that looks more like a Big Ten conference slate, which has 10 ranked teams. Last season, for comparison, UConn only faced five ranked teams in 11 non-Big East regular-season contests. You gotta credit the Huskies for stepping up and taking on this gauntlet.
It’s so tough, in fact, they could easily drop a handful of games. They already took an L to then-No. 5 Michigan, falling 77-66. That was supposed to be their third-most difficult game of the season. Strong struggled in that one, held to just 13 points while battling foul trouble. But since that loss, they’ve taken care of business, beating No. 10 Iowa at home last Sunday and then going on the road to take down No. 17 Ohio State on Thursday. Strong exploded for 39 points against the Hawkeyes, playing 37 minutes and clearly determined to bounce back from the Michigan game. She then sat the entire second quarter against the Buckeyes due to foul trouble, just like she did against the Wolverines. But her second-half heroics show she’s learning how to dominate even when things aren’t going perfectly.
The Huskies get another shot at a top-five team on November 24, and if Strong and the crew keep battling through this ridiculous schedule, that No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament looks more and more like a real possibility. What a ride!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Swish Appeal.
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