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The Weekly: Geno comes out victorious in his fight for good pizza
While UConn faced off against second-place Villanova and arch-rival Notre Dame over the last seven days, Geno Auriemma’s biggest battle of the week happened off the court.
Daniel Connolly
January 22, 2026
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Photo: Ian Bethune
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After losing three straight games to its arch-rival Notre Dame, UConn made up for it on Monday by claiming the largest margin of victory for either team in the series history with an 85-47 win.
While Sarah Strong did her thing with 18 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks — hitting 1,000 career points in the process — and Azzi Fudd added 15 points, KK Arnold stole the show for the Huskies. Despite going up against a two-time All-American and national player of the year candidate in Hannah Hidalgo, Arnold was the best point guard on the floor as she finished with 12 points and five assists while wreaking havoc everywhere she went.
The Irish had no answer for UConn. While the hosts only went into halftime up by nine, the Huskies stopped trying to be perfect on the offensive end in the second half and quickly ran away with the contest.
After winning the program’s ninth national championship there in 2014, UConn is going back to Nashville twice in the next three years. In 2026-27, the Huskies will take on LSU in a neutral site matchup in the Music City before returning there in 2028-29 as part of a home-and-home with Shea Ralph’s Vanderbilt squad.
UConn now has seven non-conference contests scheduled next season: Louisville, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Florida State on the road, then South Carolina at Mohegan Sun Arena, LSU in Nashville and the Champions Classic in Brooklyn (opponent still TBD). In 2027-28, the Huskies will host Louisville and Vanderbilt while making the return trip to each school the following year.
On a day where UConn honored its 2015 and 2016 national championship teams, the current squad put in a performance reminiscent of those years. The Huskies throttled Villanova — who came in as the second-best team in the Big East — in a 99-50 win.
KK Arnold starred in front of her idol, Moriah Jefferson, tying her season-high in both points (13) and assists (seven). Sarah Strong put up 24 points, nine rebounds, five blocks, four assists and three steals in 28 minutes while all 11 Huskies scored in the victory.
Geno comes out victorious in his fight for good pizza
While UConn faced off against second-place Villanova and arch-rival Notre Dame over the last seven days, Geno Auriemma’s biggest battle of the week happened off the court.
After the win over the Wildcats on Thursday, the head coach came into his press conference ranting about the poor quality of the pizza his team received postgame.
“Pizza capital of the world, my ass,” he said on Thursday as he sat down, referencing the highway signs that anoint Connecticut as such when coming into the state from New York.
“Excuse me. Just commenting on the pizza they brought to our locker room,” he continued. “I think they brought it at shoot-around this afternoon. Poured some red stuff on the box and called it pizza… We’re going to get better pizza, I promise you. I’ll bring some for you guys to taste it — the good stuff, when we get the good stuff. Not the crap we’re passing off as pizza now… Being Italian and being from Philly — no, sorry. It doesn’t live up to the standards of UConn or the State of Connecticut.”
Fast forward to Monday and Auriemma didn’t just come out victorious with the Huskies’ win over the Irish — he also claimed victory in his pizza battle. Frank Pepe’s delivered its famous pies for his team and the school ensured there was enough for the media in attendance and even the clean-up crew at Gampel Pavilion.
“We have high standards here,” Auriemma said about the pizza. “And when you have high standards, you have to get the best.”
In case you missed it
Why UConn’s 2016 national title was ‘the most difficult run’ of Geno’s career: The coach revealed the physical toll the Huskies’ fourth straight national championship took on him.
Paige Bueckers set to return to Hartford: Despite leaving as a UConn national champion last April, Paige Bueckers will return to her former home court this summer — one of them, at least. As part of the WNBA’s schedule release, the Connecticut Sun announced it’ll host Bueckers and the Dallas Wings at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford on Tuesday, July 2 at 8 p.m. ET.
Chasing Perfection
This week on the podcast: Megan and I dig into UConn’s win over Notre Dame, discuss KK Arnold’s ascent and speak the Vanderbilt series into existence.
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Rankings and awards
AP Poll: UConn is still unanimous No. 1. Elsewhere, Louisville is up to No. 8, Iowa entered the top-10 at No. 10, Ohio State rose to No. 12, while Tennessee jumped to No. 17.
Big East weekly honors: Another week, another honor for Sarah Strong. The sophomore earned Big East Player of the Week for the fifth time after recording 24 points on 10-17 shooting, nine rebounds and five blocks in the win over Villanova.
Photo of the week
Photo: Ian Bethune
Shoutout to Tarris Reed:
Pretty crazy to imagine:
KK Arnold has been unstoppable with the mask on:
A look back at the Huskies of Honor ceremony for the 2015 and 2016 national champions:
Geno being Geno:
Elsewhere in the world of UConn women’s basketball
Paige Bueckers had a good week at Unrivaled. The superstar dropped a career-high 37 points on 14-19 shooting to go with eight rebounds and five assists, then won $50,000 by coming out on top in the league’s inaugural Free Throw Challenge — given to a player with the highest free throw percentage through the first five games — thanks to a perfect 13-13 start from the line on the season.
Meanwhile, Dorka Juhász picked up the first EuroLeague weekly award after putting up 23 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Recruiting corner
Olivia Vukosa, a member of UConn’s 2026 recruiting class, played at the HoopHall Classic in Springfield last weekend. The Huskies’ entire staff watched as she put up 14 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocks in a 53-39 loss to Mater Dei (alma mater of Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Katie Lou Samuelson).
On Wednesday, Vukosa was named to the Naismith Girls’ High School Player of the Year Midseason Team.
Trivia question
Before Maya Moore, who was the fastest UConn player to reach 1,000 points, doing so in 63 games? |
Last week’s results
Question: What was the best UConn team ever?
2016 — 31.0%
2002 — 29.6%
2025 — 11.3%
1995 — 9.9%
2015 — 8.5%
2010 — 4.2%
2000, 2014 — 2.9%
2009 — 0%
The week ahead
Thursday: UConn at Georgetown — 7:30 p.m. ET on truTV/TNT/HBO Max
Sunday: UConn at Seton Hall — 12 p.m. ET on Peacock/NBC Sports Network
Wednesday: UConn vs. Xavier (Gampel Pavilion) — 8 p.m. ET on Peacock
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