Sitting side-by-side at the postgame podium after the UConn women’s basketball team routed Ohio State 100-68 on Sunday, Blanca Quinonez pulled sophomore superstar Sarah Strong’s box score towards her and pointed to the line next to Quinonez’s name with a rueful smirk.
Strong followed the freshman’s finger and clapped a hand over her mouth to suppress a giggle, quickly assuring Quinonez, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
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What caught Strong’s eye?
“I don’t know if it meant to say five turnovers. I think that was a typo,” Strong joked, and Quinonez was laughing as she covered her face with a hand. “She’s good. We’re gonna shake back.”
“That you called her out is crazy,” senior guard Azzi Fudd added with a grin from the other end of the table.
Quinonez’s five turnovers weren’t the first thing anyone outside the Huskies’ locker room noticed about her performance in just her second collegiate game. The freshman forward dropped 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and went 2-for-3 on 3-pointers, also adding four rebounds, two steals and a block. But this is UConn, and the players knew as soon as they saw the stat sheet that Geno Auriemma would have something to say.
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Career performance from Sarah Strong powers UConn women’s basketball in rout of Ohio State
Quinonez, an Ecuador native, attended high school while playing professionally in Italy, and the Huskies coach quipped after the team’s first exhibition game that she “leads the free world in turnovers.” He couldn’t resist another jab on Sunday.
“It’s a little bit slower game here, but in some way it’s a faster game because of how we play,” Auriemma said. “And I don’t think she’s used to being up this much, so that’s why she throws the ball to the other team a lot. But once we fix that, I think we’re going to be okay. She’s pretty unique right?”
Auriemma’s point was fair, because Quinonez’s turnovers did lead the team, but the Huskies could afford a little chaos in a game where they logged 14 steals and scored 37 points off of Ohio State turnovers. No one else on UConn’s roster gave up more than two turnovers, and Strong compensated for Quinonez by herself with a team-high five steals.
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“I need to just work on less turnovers, because I can do nothing more now,” Quinonez said, chuckling. “Just working on taking care of the ball.”
Though he may not always lead with praise, Auriemma knows exactly how special Quinonez is. It’s the reason he’s nitpicking at her mistakes even after a showing that earned her Big East Freshman of the Week honors. Quinonez already so many elite skills for a player her age, and there’s no telling how high her ceiling can be if Auriemma can help her build more discipline in her decision-making.
“It’s going to be a little bit of a battle, like I know this is how you play, but this is how I coach, so we’re going to have to meet somewhere in the middle,” Auriemma said. “I wouldn’t take anything away from her. I wouldn’t tell her to stop doing this or stop doing that, not at all. I just need for her to constantly be aware what’s a good decision and what’s a bad decision … I asked her one time, I said those last couple shots, you think that’s a good shot, bad shot, great shot? She goes ‘Huh?’ Like she couldn’t understand what I was asking. ‘I shoot it, it’s a good shot.’”
Quinonez’s impact was most noticeable on Sunday when Auriemma ran bigger lineups with her and Strong on the court together sometimes alongside 6-foot-4 center Serah Williams. Quinonez and Strong both played the majority of the second quarter during which UConn outscored Ohio State 23-6, and the Huskies went on a 9-0 run early in the third after Quinonez checked in beside the two starting forwards. Quinonez and Strong went on their own 10-0 almost single-handedly later in the third, accounting for five points apiece with three forced turnovers between them over a 50-second stretch.
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“This is one of the most talented and deep teams that I think I’ve seen with UConn in a while, and I think what also makes them a little bit different this year … is they’re long and more athletic around the basket,” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “I think on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively, that adds another element that they necessarily haven’t had here in the past couple years.”
It’s hard to compare anyone to Strong, who was spectacular against Ohio State with 29 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, five steals and three blocks shooting 70.6% from the field and 2-for-4 on 3-pointers. But Auriemma described Quinonez as almost interchangeable with Strong because the freshman’s skillset is similarly versatile for her size. She can give Strong a break off the bench when the sophomore phenom needs one, but they’re most valuable playing next to each other, effectively giving the Huskies four guards on the floor with the length of a three-forward lineup.
“It’s amazing to see her on the court playing the way she is, and it’s how she’s been playing all preseason in practice,” Fudd said. “Playing here your freshman year, it is a little daunting with the fans, just a new atmosphere especially being so far away from home, so to see her immediately just looking incredible, being comfortable, I’m super proud of her … She’s only going to get better as an individual and (with the) collective unit, so to know that this is kind of the start for her, it’s exciting.”
