The University of Connecticut women's basketball team rolled over another Big East opponent on Thursday night, downing Villanova 99-50 at Gampel Pavilion. The No. 1-ranked Huskies are now 18-0 on the campaign and a perfect 9-0 inside league play.

Villanova, though blown out by nearly 50, is 14-4 and 7-2 in the Big East.

Before the game, the program honored the 2015 and 2016 national championship teams, and it's very apparent that the Huskies are the favorite to win this year's championship as well - which would be the program's second in a row and 13th overall.

Dynamic sophomore Sarah Strong led the way with 24 points for the Huskies, also pulling down nine rebounds and dishing out four assists. She added five blocks and three steals for good measure.

After the game, head coach Geno Auriemma had high praise - and a challenge - for his star.

As noted by Jake McCreven:

Geno Auriemma said Sarah Strong “is not even close” to being half the player she can be.

Strong, who recently drew comparisons to Basketball Hall of Famer Maya Moore, is in the running for Player of the Year already, so it's truly scary to imagine just how much better she can get.

She is averaging 18.7 ppg, and that would be significantly higher if she didn't sit much of the second halves of Connecticut blowouts. She's also pulling down more than eight rebounds and shooting a whopping 59.9 percent from the floor. Strong is hitting 42 percent of her three-pointers and 90 percent of her free throws.

She averaged 16.4 ppg as a freshman.

UConn will step out of conference play on Monday night in order to host No. 23 Notre Dame at Gampel Pavilion. The Irish are ranked No. 23 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll. Tip-off time is set for 5 p.m. ET.

Traditionally one of the best programs in the country, Notre Dame has been to 28 of the last 29 NCAA Tournaments. They won the national title in 2000-01 and finished as the national runner-ups in 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2018-19.

--The No. 3-ranked UConn men's basketball team is 17-1 overall and 7-0 inside Big East play. They'll be back in action on Saturday afternoon (12 p.m. ET) at Georgetown. They'll see Villanova themselves on Saturday, Jan. 24 in Hartford, CT.

--The NCAA football transfer portal closes on Friday, so we will have a much better idea of how Jason Candle's 2026 roster will look once the day concludes.

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