University of Connecticut Athletics
10/19/2026 10:52:00โฏPM | Women's Basketball
UConn Head Coach Geno Auriemma
On UConn's response in the second half:
"Their style of play is very unique, very different from what you normally see. They spend a lot of their possession running Madison Booker off every kind of screen imaginable, I think you've got to fight through all of those, and you've got to work really, really hard. It's a really difficult assignment. Their size and their length was a little bit of an issue in the first half, but I think once we started to get better movement, things kind of opened up for us."
On Jovana Popovic's response to the step up in competition:
"She responded the way she responds to everything, just this icy stare. She has kind of a steely personality and doesn't really bend or break most of the time. Maybe because she's had so much experience playing against, and in practice she's constantly up against players longer, quicker, stronger. It took her a little while to figure out but as I said last week, every day that she's at practice, she's a little better than the day before."
On the 3-point shooting tonight compared to last week vs. Syracuse:
"I didn't worry about last week's numbers because I know we are a good three-point shooting team and I knew that we just needed to get a good rhythm going. I thought everybody today, the rhythm was great."
ย UConn Senior Guard Ashlynn Shade
On Allie Ziebell returning:
"I thought she did awesome, I think she is so confident and comfortable with her game, this year in general. She came out and she contributed so much and it's just good to have her back out there with us."ย
On the physicality of Texas and the toughness of UConn:
"I think we asserted a dominance that we're trying to emphasize this season. Texas is a physical team, they run a lot of screen actions and you're getting hit a lot, so we really buckled down and got those rebounds, we were physical with them when they were bringing the ball up the court, and we really tried to emphasize that pressure and being physical right back at them."
On her shots falling vs. Texas:
"What I've been trying to emphasize is being able to knock down those open shots when they're there. My teammates do a great job of attacking the paint and getting me those open threes. They draw a lot of attention when they get into the paint and it's just my job to hit them. It's exciting to see them go in and try to emphasize hitting the open shot when it's there moving forward."
ย UConn Junior Forward Sarah Strong
On what flipped for UConn defensively in the third quarter:
"We picked up our pressure, and we were talking and focusing on who was scoring, which was Madison Booker. We tried to do our best as a team to shut her down, but she still did what she did. Their sets have a lot of movement, so we knew we had to talk a lot, and we had a good gameplan."
ย On being a vocal leader in the huddle:
"I'm definitely trying to lead really hard, and after the last exhibition game I don't think I showed up in that way at all, so I wanted to make it known that I was here."
On the mentality coming into this game knowing she was going against All-American Madison Booker:
"It's our five against their five, so I just try to stick with the gameplan and support my team wherever I can."
ย Freshman Guard Jovana Popovic
On her confidence:
"I feel really good playing with these guys. I have confidence because I know they are here for me. I feel much more comfortable than I was when I came here and I would say it's because of them."
ย Texas Head Coach Vic Schaefer
Opening statement:
"I think, again, having an opportunity to play tonight, was good for us, and, hopefully, it was, it was good for Connecticut. You know, when I look at the game, our standard at Texas is 60. And we gave up 37 in the first half, and then 46, I think, in the second half. So, we obviously didn't live to the standard, but we're not going to live to the standard with all the new kids that we're playing right now. We're probably going to struggle in that area for a while. You know, your defensive chemistry is the last thing that you get. Now, offensively tonight we struggled. I thought we got, and again, I wear it, right? But I thought they were tough, like, I thought Connecticut was really tough tonight. I thought we got out toughed."
On developing his defense:
"We've had 17 practices, y'all. We're replacing maybe the best all-ball defender in the country. And I'm trying to find somebody on my team that can become our best on ball defender. And, you know, that's just a work in progress right now."
