The UConn women’s basketball team rang in the new year on a high note, dominating Seton Hall 84-48 at PeoplesBank Arena on Sunday to continue its undefeated start in 2025-26.
The No. 1 Huskies are one of seven unbeaten teams left in Division I, and Sunday’s win marked their 53rd consecutively against Big East opponents. The team’s 15-0 record is its best start since 2017-18, when it went undefeated in the regular season.
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Superstar forward Sarah Strong led the way with 18 points, shooting 7-for-11 and 3-for-4 from 3-point range. It was the sophomore’s fourth time in five games hitting at least three shots from beyond the arc. She did a bit of everything for UConn, adding eight rebounds, four assists and four steals to her final stat line.
“She’s had a lot of opportunities (on the perimeter), and she’s taken advantage of them,” coach Geno Auriemma said postgame. “She’s really being aggressive, aggressively hunting down those shots, whereas there were times in games where she would be constantly looking to get a better shot. Which I’m thinking, that’s a pretty good shot right now that that you have.”
Redshirt senior Azzi Fudd had another standout offensive performance, adding 16 points on four made 3-pointers plus two assists and a steal. Sophomore guard Allie Ziebell joined the star duo in double digits with 12 points hitting 4-for-6 from the perimeter and logging a pair of steals.
Starting point guard KK Arnold returned to the court wearing a clear face mask after she was sidelined last game with a nasal fracture, and the junior didn’t miss a beat with five assists and a team-high five steals in the victory. She helped anchor another dominant defensive effort from the Huskies, who combined for 20 steals and forced 32 total turnovers that they converted into 36 points. It was the fifth time this season UConn generated at least 30 opponent turnovers.
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“Having her back and what she’s able to create on the defensive end for us, obviously it adds a lot to what we’re doing,” Auriemma said. “It also gives everyone else (a chance) to just play their normal role and not have to also do her part. So I was happy to hear that she was going to play, because with these things you’re not quite sure how long it’s going to be. I’m really proud of her that she wanted to jump out there this quickly.”
The Huskies got out to an early 11-5 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers from Fudd, but a sluggish shooting start allowed Seton Hall to stay in the game. UConn missed six consecutive field goal attempts during a four-minute scoring drought, and the Pirates took advantage with a 7-0 run to tie the game at 11.
Part of the issue was another turnover-heavy start for the Huskies, who gave up five in the first quarter and 10 of their 17 before halftime. UConn has had two of its three worst turnover performances of the season in its last two games, and Auriemma said he sees the team sometimes trying too hard to make passes when it has open looks available.
“We go from the best passing team in the country with the best assist-to-turnover ratio to all of a sudden just trying to make plays that are hard instead of just making plays that are easy,” Auriemma said. “One of the not-so-perky perks of coaching women’s basketball at UConn is you get a lot of unselfish players … It’s a good problem to have that they want to be very unselfish, but there’s a fine line there.”
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UConn quickly found a response after the brief scare when Ziebell knocked down an open 3-point look from the corner. Fudd added her third make of the game off a Ziebell steal a few moments later and Strong ended the quarter draining a long jump shot to send the team into the second on an 8-0 run.
The Huskies kept the momentum rolling, holding Seton Hall scoreless for more than three minutes and extending their run to 15-0 early in the second quarter. Auriemma went to one of his biggest lineups with Strong, center Serah Williams and forward Blanca Quinonez all on the floor together, and the trio smothered the Pirates’ offense holding top Seton Hall forward Mariana Valenzuela to just two field goal attempts and a single made 3-pointer in the quarter.
UConn’s scoring began to heat up late in the second with Strong leading the charge on a solo 8-0 run. Fudd and Williams followed Strong up with a layup apiece off a pair of Seton Hall turnovers, and the Huskies entered halftime with 21 points off 20 forced turnovers. They held the Pirates scoreless until the final seconds when Valenzuela sank her 3-pointer to end the drought, and Fudd and Strong combined for 25 of the team’s 38 first-half points.
“Sometimes the shots go in, sometimes they just don’t and you get 10 wide-open shots where none of them go in,” Auriemma said. “You’re going to have days like that, but as long as you can play good defense and rebound the ball, then you have a chance to win every single game that you play. We’ve improved a lot in that regard.”
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Fudd set the tone for the second half draining her fourth 3-pointer before Strong took control of the offense once again. The sophomore kicked off a UConn run with a no-look pass to center Jana El Alfy through the paint for a layup, then added six straight points of her own including her third make from beyond the arc.
The Huskies went on to score 18 unanswered, and their defense fully shut the door on the Pirates holding them to just four points until Fudd and Strong checked out of the game with three minutes left in the third. They outscored the Pirates 29-8 in the third and shot a combined 62.1% across the second and third quarters, going into the fourth with a 41-point lead.
Fudd and Strong have yet to play a single minute in the fourth quarter in Big East play, and UConn’s bench put together a solid final frame. El Alfy recorded double-digit points for the second straight game, finishing with 10 on 4-for-5 shooting plus six rebounds, and the reserves combined for 33 points in the win. Redshirt senior Caroline Ducharme scored in her first appearance since a shoulder injury sidelined her for the previous three games, and the Huskies got points from 10 of the 11 players who saw the court.
