The UConn women's basketball team has a certain reputation that has been built over decades of work from players, coaches, fans, families, and the school. The UConn Huskies are one of the best, if not the absolute best, in the NCAA. Other teams know they have to play their best basketball when the Huskies come into town, and Geno Auriemma regularly leads his teams well into the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four.
While preseason exhibition games aren't the most serious part of the season, they're still important matches that offer a glimpse of things to come. That certainly seemed true Monday night, when the Huskies played the Texas Longhorns.
The teams have something in common: they're both experiencing mild rebuilds. While the Huskies have Sarah Strong and KK Arnold on the roster, and the Longhorns continue to tout Madison Booker, both teams saw beloved players graduate at the end of the 2025-26 season, and saw other players move on to other programs.
So that gave fans something to ponder ahead of the match. The Huskies in particular have a new player on the team who is especially exciting: Jovana Popovic.
Popovic, who hails from Serbia, racked up 22 points, 5 assists, and six rebounds Monday night. She also made mistakes (she definitely contributed to several turnovers), but the evening was a success: in around 36 minutes on the floor, Popovic went three for three on her 3-pointers and was 7 for 11 from the field.
Auriemma, who is typically quite reticent when it comes to offering his team praise this early in the season, told reporters after the game that he feels the Huskies are "a little bit ahead of where I thought we'd be." For Auriemma, that's high praise — it also indicates that this season may end up being an enormously exciting one for the team.
On one hand, that's not too surprising: we're talking about UConn. But on the other, for Auriemma to have something positive to say so early in the year likely indicates the team is even better than he's letting on. Strong has only grown as a player; she put in another 27 points and ultimately helped knock back the Longhorns 83-61.
Of course, it's also clear both teams have plenty of work to do. The teams exchanged the lead over 10 times, and for most of the game, neither ever had more than a five-point lead over the other. But the Huskies gave fans something to hold onto Monday night, and there's very likely more in store.
Add us as a preferred source on Google