Top-ranked UConn women's basketball demolished fifth-seeded Creighton 100-51 in Sunday's Big East tournament semifinal. The Huskies advanced to Monday's championship game against Villanova.
Sophomore forward Sarah Strong dominated in just 25 minutes on the court, finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three blocks, and six steals. KK Arnold added 18 points and four assists, while Azzi Fudd contributed 16 points and six assists.
The Huskies seized control immediately, opening with a 7-0 run before breaking the game open with a 17-0 surge that built a 29-9 first-quarter lead. UConn shot 12-of-19 from the field in the opening frame while forcing nine Creighton turnovers.
Creighton attempted a second-quarter rally with an 8-2 run, before UConn responded with a 26-5 burst to take a commanding 57-22 halftime advantage. Strong led the charge with 17 first-half points on 7-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range, while tying her career-high with six first-half steals.
"Just having so many people being able to come in and contribute — looking at this stat sheet today, seeing that everyone came in, scored, got a rebound, got a steal, they did something," Fudd said postgame.
"Being on a team this deep has been a lot of fun... I feel like we're in a great place."
The margin expanded to 82-38 entering the fourth quarter, with UConn shooting 40-of-70 from the field and 14-of-22 from 3-point range. The Huskies defense forced 19 turnovers and recorded 13 steals, extending UConn's conference tournament winning streak to 38 games.
Kennedy Townsend led Creighton with 13 points, with the Bluejays shooting 18-of-54 from the field.
How to Watch UConn Women's Basketball in the Big East Tournament Final
UConn tips off its 24th championship game on Monday at 7 PM ET, live on Peacock and NBCSN.
UConn women's basketball completed a perfect 31-0 regular season on Sunday night, as the top-ranked Huskies dominated St. John's 85-49 at Madison Square Garden to cap their undefeated 2025/26 NCAA campaign.
UConn notably notched its 11th undefeated regular season in program history, riding a 47-game winning streak. Their run is tied the fifth-longest in DI history, while the team also owns five of women's basketball's all-time Top 6 winning streaks.
"When you are fortunate enough to go through 31 games and win them all, there is something to be proud of," legendary coach Geno Auriemma said.
On Sunday, the Huskies played in front of 9,612 fans, shooting 57% from the field while forcing 22 turnovers. UConn also outscored St. John's 24-9 in the first quarter, with six players putting up at least nine points in the balanced effort.
UConn last lost on February 6th, 2025, when the team fell to Tennessee amid injury woes. However, the Huskies went on to post a +37.8 scoring margin this season — the third-highest in DI history.
National player of the year candidate Sarah Strong praised her team's accomplishment in her postgame remarks.
"Coach came in and said he was proud of us," she said. "We also have a lot to work on to get ready for the Big East tournament."
The Huskies have been named the No. 1 overall seed in both early NCAA tournament bracket reveals. However, Auriemma acknowledged the postseason brings different challenges, after UConn won the 2025 NCAA championship despite three regular-season losses.
The program's previous two undefeated teams fell in the 2017 and 2018 Final Fours.
How to watch UConn women's basketball in the 2026 Big East Tournament
After a first-round bye, UConn will face either Georgetown or Butler in Saturday's Big East tournament quarterfinals. The matchup tips off at 4 PM ET, live on Peacock.
The ongoing dominance of UConn basketball has started to break records, as the top-ranked Huskies humbled unranked Notre Dame 85-47 on Monday — keeping their perfect 2025/26 NCAA season intact.
Monday's 38-point margin of victory marked the largest in the teams' 20-year rivalry, with the win also snapping the Huskies' three-game head-to-head losing streak against the Fighting Irish.
"UConn showed why they're the best team in the country," Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey said postgame.
Even more, UConn sophomore forward Sarah Strong added her own individual history to Monday's tally, becoming the third-fastest Husky to reach 1,000 career points, with the 19-year-old trailing only program legends Maya Moore and Paige Bueckers — who each did so in 55 games to Strong's 59 — in the race to reach that stat.
"I would love to see if anybody has scored 1,000 points by taking less shots than she's taking," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma. "She's so efficient."
"It means a lot to me I guess, but I wouldn't be able to do it without my teammates," Strong said after leading the Huskies with an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double on Monday night.
How to watch UConn basketball this week
UConn now returns to Big East play, with the No. 1 Huskies taking on unranked Georgetown at 7:30 PM ET on Thursday, airing live on TNT.
No. 1 UConn has aced every test in the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season so far, as No. 23 Notre Dame looks to disrupt the undefeated Huskies' national title defense in Monday's nonconference lineup.
Fresh off a 79-66 ranked loss to No. 9 Louisville on Thursday night, the Irish will lean hard on star guard Hannah Hidalgo on Monday.
The junior is averaging 6.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists on the season, while Hidalgo's 25.1 points-per-game rate trails only No. 19 Iowa State star Audi Crooks on the NCAA stat sheet.
"It's a long season, and I can't dwell on the loss for too long because my team needs me," Hidalgo said after Thursday's fall to the Cardinals.
On the flip side, UConn is racking up blowout wins, with the team's last single-digit victory dating back to a pre-Thanksgiving 72-69 win over No. 8 Michigan on November 21st.
The Huskies are now riding a 34-game winning streak, fueled by consistent output from sophomore Sarah Strong and senior Azzi Fudd.
"I've been trying to tell the girls that UConn is a different beast," Hidalgo said. "If we think certain teams that we have lost to were tough, then we're going to have a rude awakening [against] UConn."
How to watch Notre Dame vs. UConn women's basketball
The No. 1 Huskies will host the No. 23 Fighting Irish at 5 PM ET on Monday, with live coverage airing on FOX.
The No. 1 UConn Huskies kept their unbeaten streak alive in Brooklyn on Saturday, taking down the No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes 90-64 while continuing to run the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season's AP Top 25.
The Huskies spun a tale of two halves in the victory, as senior guard Azzi Fudd and sophomore forward Sarah Strong combined for 50 points — Strong with 20 in the first half, followed by Fudd's 21-point second-half show.
"That's an example of why our team is so special — any moment anyone can go off and make shots," Fudd said postgame. "We do a great job of playing unselfish basketball."
While they aren't the only team standing tall against top NCAA competition this year, UConn is averaging a 20.4-point margin of victory through five Top 25-ranked wins — and showing few signs of slowing down.
"We've had a lot of identities over the years, a lot of people are more talking about us offensively," said longtime Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma following Saturday's win. "We had to play the way the hand was dealt, we played a little bit differently. Now we're back to where we play the way I like playing."
How to watch UConn basketball in action
The No. 1 Huskies now move fully into conference play, squaring off against unranked Butler on Sunday.
The Big East matchup will tip off at 4 PM ET, airing live on TNT.
Jordan Brand Basketball has signed another top collegiate women's basketball talent, with the Nike sportswear subsidiary announcing UConn sophomore star Sarah Strong as part of their NIL Class of 2025 on Monday.
"Being part of Jordan Brand is honestly a huge honor," Strong said in a statement. "Jordan is a symbol of greatness and confidence, so being part of the family feels very surreal."
Strong entered her second season with the Huskies earlier this month after a stellar rookie NCAA campaign that saw the forward earn the 2024/25 season's National Freshman of the Year award as well as second-team All-America honors.
The 19-year-old reigning national champion adds to the company's already stacked NIL roster, with Strong joining Jordan Brand Basketball's previous year class partners like UCLA senior guard Kiki Rice — the brand's first-ever NIL signee — as well as Penn State sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller, LSU junior guard Mikaylah Williams and freshman teammate Bella Hines, and USC's 2026/27 recruit Saniyah Hall.
The partnership further punctuates Strong's rising stardom and Jordan Brand's continued commitment to the women's game.
The iconic brand's professional roster currently features more than 10 WNBA players, including Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier and Atlanta Dream guard Rhyne Howard.
The top-ranked UConn Huskies are gearing up for their stiffest competition yet in the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season, as the defending national champions welcome the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines to Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday.
Both teams enter the game with undefeated records and a ranked win under their belts, with the Huskies taking down No. 21 Louisville in their season-opener before Michigan dramatically humbled No. 24 Notre Dame last weekend.
"Based on what I've seen from Michigan, they will be, for sure, the best team we play this year by a long shot at this time in the season," said UConn head coach Geno Auriemma.
While UConn arrives armed with national talents like last season's Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong and the 2025 Final Four's Most Outstanding Player Azzi Fudd, rising NCAA basketball star Michigan will look to prove they can hang with college basketball's big dogs.
"They are all incredibly unselfish — they don't care who scores," longtime Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico said of her squad. "The really good teams like UConn and South Carolina are the same way."
"Connecticut is really, really good," she added. "Our kids want to compete against the best. I always have a stomachache when those games are on our schedule."
How to watch No. 6 Michigan vs. No. 1 UConn on Friday
The Huskies will tip off against the Wolverines at 8 PM ET on Friday, with live coverage airing on FOX.
NCAA basketball is officially back in action, and the reigning champion No. 1 UConn Huskies will tip off their 2025/26 season against the No. 20 Louisville Cardinals in the recently relocated Armed Forces Classic on Tuesday afternoon.
The clash will make history as the first-ever women's edition of college basketball's military-site showdown, as UConn opens their season against a ranked opponent for the first time since 2017.
"It's going to be a lot of learning with five new players," Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma said earlier this week. "There's a lot of exciting things that are ahead of us… and I want to help them overcome some of those challenges we're going to have."
Despite losing 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick Paige Bueckers to the WNBA last April, the Huskies enter the season with a healthy roster and more depth than recent years, centering the team around returning starters like top-ranked sophomore forward Sarah Strong and grad student guard Azzi Fudd.
"I have to learn how to sub again," Auriemma joked about having a complete bench to draw from. "We've had three or four years in a row there where there's nobody to sub."
Staying atop the NCAA rankings won't be easy, however — a lesson the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils learned after suffering the 2025/26 NCAA season's first top-ranked upset to the No. 16 Baylor Bears on Monday.
"I think you can learn a lot from the first game of the season, especially when you're playing a good team, because they expose a lot of things about you on both ends," said Duke head coach Kara Lawson about the 58-52 loss.
How to watch UConn vs. Louisville in the Armed Forces Classic
The No. 1 UConn Huskies will tip off the 2025/26 NCAA basketball season by taking on the No. 20 Louisville Cardinals at the US Naval Academy at 5:30 PM ET on Tuesday.
The clash will air live on ESPN.
UConn basketball continues to pile on the preseason accolades, with ESPN's annual Top 25 women's NCAA player rankings listing star Sarah Strong at No. 1 ahead of her sophomore season with the Huskies.
Even more, UConn emerged as the only program with two Top 10 players, as ESPN put Strong's teammate Azzi Fudd at No. 8 entering her final NCAA season.
New UConn transfer Serah Williams also made the cut at No. 18, as the preseason AP No. 1 Huskies attempt to repeat their 2024/25 title despite losing superstar Paige Bueckers to the WNBA.
Last season's Final Four participants No. 2 Lauren Betts (UCLA), No. 4 Madison Booker (Texas), No. 11 Joyce Edwards (South Carolina), and No. 17 Kiki Rice (UCLA) round things out, accompanied by more individual standouts like No. 3 Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame) and No. 5 Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU).
The lineup also featured big-name offseason transfers, including highly touted newcomers No. 6 Olivia Miles (TCU), No. 7 Ta'Niya Latson (South Carolina), No. 14 Gianna Kneepkins (UCLA), and No. 19 MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU).
Freshmen were not eligible for ESPN's preseason rankings, though NCAA debutants can make the updated list as it shifts throughout the year.
How to watch the ESPN Top 25 players in action
The NCAA basketball elite will tip off the 2025/26 season on Monday, with a full slate of games beginning at 11 AM ET.
The ESPN 2025/26 NCAA basketball preseason Top 25 players
1. Sarah Strong (UConn)
2. Lauren Betts (UCLA)
3. Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame)
4. Madison Booker (Texas)
5. Flau'Jae Johnson (LSU)
6. Olivia Miles (TCU)
7. Ta'Niyah Latson (South Carolina)
8. Azzi Fudd (UConn)
9. Mikayla Blakes (Vanderbilt)
10. Audi Crooks (Iowa State)
11. Joyce Edwards (South Carolina)
12. Mikaylah Williams (LSU)
13. Raegan Beers (Oklahoma)
14. Gianna Kneepkens (UCLA)
15. Kymora Johnson (Virginia)
16. Zoe Brooks (NC State)
17. Kiki Rice (UCLA)
18. Serah Williams (UConn)
19. MiLaysia Fulwiley (LSU)
20. Yarden Garzon (Maryland)
21. Talaysia Cooper (Tennessee)
22. Khamil Pierre (NC State)
23. Cotie McMahon (Ole Miss)
24. Toby Fournier (Duke)
25. Maggie Doogan (Richmond)
College basketball returns in less than two weeks, and the AP is gearing up for tip-off by dropping the 2025/26 preseason All-America First Team on Tuesday.
Reigning NCAA champion and last season's Freshman of the Year Sarah Strong made the preseason All-America Team cut, with the UConn Husky joined by Final Four participants Madison Booker (Texas) and Lauren Betts (UCLA) — the 2024/25 campaign's Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
Rounding out the elite five-player lineup are Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo and recent South Carolina transfer Ta'Niya Latson, who led Division I in scoring last season.
While the transfer portal produced a few major roster shakeups — including Latson leaving Florida State to join the 2023/24 NCAA champs — many of last season's top programs are picking up right where they left off.
"There isn't a day that goes by that one of the coaches and I don't look at each other and go, 'Man, there's just something about her right now,'" UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said of Strong.
Auriemma's reigning champs had some additional good news this week, with third-ranked 2026 recruit Olivia Vukosa, a 6-foot-4 center currently competing at the same Queens, New York, high school that produced basketball legends Sue Bird and Tina Charles, officially committing to UConn on Tuesday.
Ultimately, continuity could be the difference maker in the upcoming 2025/26 NCAA season, as known talents and newcomers alike look to prove themselves on the collegiate court.