By After finishing last season as the consensus player of the year, Sarah Strong is picking up where she left off.
In a top-10 matchup between No. 2 UConn and No. 10, the junior Huskies forward exploded for 39 points on the way to a confident 91-79 win over the Hawkeyes. The number surpassed Strong’s own career high by a significant margin.
Strong went 15-for-26 from the field, sinking five three-pointers while also pitching in 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. She played 37 minutes in the matchup, and surpassed her previous career-high (29) halfway through the third quarter.
Sarah Strong was on another level!
The @UConnWBB star shot 15-of-26 from the field en route to a career-high 39 points.@wsportsonfoxpic.twitter.com/dEqBTW7oai
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) November 8, 2026
The 39-point score line is the most scored by a UConn player against a top-10 team since 2000, per ESPN. Strong also becomes the fourth Division I player to ever hit that state line — 35-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and 5-plus three-pointers — against a top 10 team in the 2000s, per ESPN.
Alongside Strong’s dominant performance, sophomore forward Blanca Quiñonez pitched in 21 points off the bench, going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Hawkeyes guard Chazadi “Chit-Chat” Wright led Iowa in points with a 23-point, five-assist performance.
Unlike some other Power Four programs, UConn has front-loaded its schedule with ranked opponents, before starting (easier) Big East play next month. Before Sunday’s game against No. 10 Iowa, the Huskies played No. 5 Michigan on Thursday, a game that ended in a Wolverines upset.
Upcoming matchups include No. 18 Ohio State and No. 7 Louisville next week, No. 1 South Carolina and No. 4 Duke later this month, and No. 13 Notre Dame and No. 9 LSU in December. (All of those rankings, including UConn’s No. 2, are likely to change when the latest AP poll comes out on Monday.)
