Stifling defense leads UConn to a dominant win in NCAA tournament opener against Arkansas State

By Canadian Press on March 22, 2025.

STORRS, Conn. (AP) — When UConn hit the court in its NCAA Tournament opener, there were times when the game resembled a track meet instead of a basketball contest.

Jana El Alfy had the first of UConn’s NCAA Tournament program record 13 blocked shots just 44 seconds into the game. It was a sign of things to come.

By the end of the first quarter, the Huskies had seven steals and five blocked shots. The 41 fast-break points and 34 points off 20 Arkansas State turnovers told the story of the Huskies’ first-round blowout with the Huskies winning 103-34 in a game when no player was on the court for more than 22 minutes.

“I haven’t had a feeling like that in a long time when we were (creating) that much chaos, got out in transition and got easy layups,” UConn senior guard Paige Bueckers said. “We were trying to deny everything and make things difficult for the other team.

“We fuel off of each other’s energy and everybody contributed.”

Many of freshman Sarah Strong’s 20 points came when she beat the Arkansas State players down the court for fast-break layups as the Huskies made quick work of the Sun Belt tournament champions.

Each of the first UConn starters had at least two combined steals and blocked shots. It resembled the glory days of UConn women’s basketball when defense was turned into offense.

“I feel like that is our identity, creating things on our defensive end and that creates things for our offense,” UConn sophomore guard KK Arnold said.

Strong, who joins Maya Moore as the only UConn player to rank in the top 10 among freshmen in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots, finished with five blocked shots as the Huskies made life miserable for the undersized Arkansas Red Wolves.

“It was a lot of fun being out there with my team,” Strong said. “Everything was pretty much going our way, so that really helped. Excited for the next one.”

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Jim Fuller, The Associated Press

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