Sarah Strong scored 24 points and added three rebounds and five assists as No. 1 UConn defeated St. John’s 88-43 Wednesday night in Hartford, Conn.

In many ways the performance seemed to be a carbon copy of so many other UConn games this season – a wire-to-wire win without a hint of suspense. But the Huskies (16-0, 7-0 Big East) actually outdid themselves against the Red Storm (13-4, 3-3) when compared to the season averages, in parentheses.

Margin of victory: 45 points (37.5)

It’s hard to play much better than the Huskies have this season, but the defending champs did, if possible, on Wednesday.

Strong led the Huskies in scoring for the ninth time this season. Her co-star, Azzi Fudd, has done it six times.

A sophomore, Strong leads the Huskies in four of five statistical categories: points (18 per game), rebounds (8.1), steals (3.5) and blocks (1.6). Her 4.5 assists are second to KK Arnold (4.7).

At halftime, head coach Geno Auriemma shared his appreciation for both his team’s defense and Strong with TNT Sports.

“I think our defense has been pretty good the entire time,” he said. “We went into a little bit of a lull there offensively the beginning of the (second) quarter but just love our energy and I love how active we are right now and everybody that's come in has made an impact, so I'm pretty happy with that right now.”

Strong had 19 points at the half, and Auriemma was impressed with the variety of ways she scored.

“When you look out there, you see how she's getting them. They're coming in a lot of different ways, and I just think we do a great job of finding her and she does a great job of making herself available. That's why she’s Sarah Strong because she can do all those things.”

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The Huskies return to play Sunday at Creighton, followed by a home game against Villanova on Jan. 15 as Big East action continues.

UConn will see St. John’s again on March 1 in the regular-season finale at Madison Square Garden. Including Big East Tournament games, the Huskies have won 54 consecutive conference games.

The Red Storm were the most recent Big East team to defeat the Huskies, that coming Feb. 21, 2023 – nearly three years ago.

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