How UConn landed Jovana Popovic

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Headlines

News

• UConn signs 2026 Serbian guard Jovana Popovic

• Chasing Perfection: What to make of UConn's close win over Michigan

Michigan coverage

• No. 1 UConn women’s basketball fights off No. 6 Michigan, 72-69

• Azzi Fudd saves the day to help UConn stave off comeback bid from No. 6 Michigan

• UConn set for first major test with No. 6 Michigan: 'They will be the best team we've played this year'

Utah coverage

• UConn mauls Utah, 93-41

Last week’s Weekly

• How Geno is managing UConn’s deep rotation

How UConn landed Jovana Popovic

When UConn announced the signing of 2026 Serbia guard Jovana Popovic last Thursday, the news came out of nowhere. She’d never been mentioned as a potential target for the Huskies, never posted about a scholarship offer from the coaching staff, never got spotted on a visit to campus.

That, Geno Auriemma admitted after UConn’s win over Utah, was partly by design.

“We've known about Jovana for quite some time,” he said. “It's always delicate over there (in Europe) when kids are on these club teams and there's contracts that they have with these teams, and then they're in school. It can get in the weeds. It gets complicated.”

Given that, the Huskies first focused their attention on recruiting American prospects. They specifically honed in on Olivia Vukosa, a 6-4 post player from New York ranked by ESPN as the No. 3 player in the class of 2026. After she committed to UConn, Auriemma and his staff made a push for Popovic and it ended up being a pretty easy sell.

“She’s the kind of kid — a little bit like Nika (Mühl) — she’s always wanted to come to the States and play basketball. Playing at UConn is a big dream for a lot of those kids now,” the coach explained.

While Popovic might’ve flown under the radar during the recruiting process, it’s not hard to understand why the Huskies were interested. At age 16, she led ZKK Art Basket to a championship in the First League of Serbia. The next season, she claimed league MVP and Best Shooter honors. Popovic is putting up 25.2 points, 6.5 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 3.3 steals through six games on the current campaign. On top of that, she’s already debuted with the Serbia senior national team.

Popovic is likely to draw some comparisons to Mühl, a native of nearby Croatia — but with more offense.

“I like the way she plays,” Auriemma said. “She's tough, she can score… an awful lot of things that I value, she possesses.”

That extensive experience at the club and international level should help Popovic with the transition to the college game, too. Mühl started as a freshman while Blanca Quiñonez has put up 18+ points in two of her first four games at UConn.

“She plays with older kids, kind of like Blanca,” Auriemma said. “She's the youngest kid that plays (on her teams).”

Popovic is the latest pickup in what’s become a robust recruiting pipeline out of Europe for the Huskies. She’ll be the six freshman from across the pond and the 10th player overall since 2019. The success rate has been high with the likes of Mühl, Lou Lopez Sénéchal and Dorka Juhász, while the early returns from Quiñonez have been positive as well.

UConn will hope to continue that trend with Popovic — even if she has no connection to the legendary head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

“First I was trying to find out if she was related to Coach (Gregg) Popovich in San Antonio,” Auriemma quipped. “I thought it was worth it just to do that.”

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