{"id":588480,"date":"2026-02-07T15:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588480\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T15:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T15:01:11","slug":"sarah-strong-out-for-uconn-womens-basketball-vs-butler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/588480\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarah Strong out for UConn women’s basketball vs. Butler"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time since Sarah Strong<\/a> arrived in Storrs last fall, the UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> team will have to figure out how to play without her.<\/p>\n

Strong was ruled out of the No. 1 Huskies\u2019 Big East<\/a> matchup against Butler on Sunday<\/a> for rest, marking the first game she has missed after 64 consecutive starts over the last two seasons. The All-American sophomore averages more than 27 minutes per game, but she played just 20 in UConn\u2019s 86-40 win at DePaul on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Strong leads the team in every major statistical category except assists, averaging 19.2 points, eight rebounds, 4.5 assists, 3.4 steals and 1.5 blocks per game, so there\u2019s no single player who can replace her presence. But fortunately for the Huskies, Butler shouldn\u2019t be a major challenge. The first time the teams met in Indianapolis on Dec. 28, UConn won 94-47.<\/p>\n

The Huskies could go several different directions to fill Strong\u2019s spot in the starting lineup, but sophomore guard Allie Ziebell<\/a> is the likely candidate. Ziebell made her first career start on Dec. 31 when point guard KK Arnold was out with a broken nose, and coach Geno Auriemma said he chose to have her start out of position to keep the rotation consistent with sophomore point guard Kayleigh Heckel<\/a> coming off the bench. UConn is comfortable running smaller lineups with four guards on the floor around a single post player, though Strong\u2019s absence will add some pressure to senior center Serah Williams<\/a> in the starting group. Redshirt sophomore forwards Jana El Alfy<\/a> and Ayanna Patterson<\/a> may also see increased minutes.<\/p>\n

UConn is down to 10 available players against the Bulldogs at PeoplesBank Arena with freshman Blanca Quinonez<\/a> and redshirt senior Caroline Ducharme<\/a> both out for the fourth straight game. Quinonez is the team\u2019s third-leading scorer averaging 10.7 points on 57% shooting, but she reaggravated a shoulder injury last week that also sidelined her for the first two games of the season. Auriemma said Quinonez\u2019s injury was less serious than the one she sustained in November, but she has now missed twice as many games over a period of 11 days after she was out eight days for the initial injury.<\/p>\n

Ducharme, who averages 8.5 minutes per game off the bench, has been out with a migraine since UConn\u2019s Jan. 28 game against Xavier. The redshirt senior has struggled to manage head and neck injuries<\/a> throughout her college career, and Auriemma said after the DePaul game that her status remains day-to-day.<\/p>\n

The Huskies tip off against Butler at noon Sunday at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.<\/p>\n

UConn women\u2019s basketball aims to extend 40-game win streak vs. Butler: How to watch<\/a><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since Sarah Strong arrived in Storrs last fall, the UConn women\u2019s basketball team will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[61699,7,3426,14251,1273,79082,7430,217,2340,925,6108,3636,2679,68003,231,772,1544,6115,6116,66,923,6107,6112],"class_list":["post-588480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-allie-ziebell","tag-basketball","tag-big-east","tag-blanca-quinonez","tag-butler-bulldogs","tag-butler-womens-basketball","tag-caroline-ducharme","tag-college-basketball","tag-connecticut","tag-ct-news","tag-geno-auriemma","tag-injuries","tag-local-news","tag-max-image-preview","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-sarah-strong","tag-serah-williams","tag-sports","tag-uconn-huskies","tag-uconn-womens-basketball","tag-womens-basketball"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116029953390953347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}