HARTFORD — It’s not often Geno Auriemma gets a real eye test of his team before the start of the regular season.

Preseason games have been reserved for secret scrimmages behind closed doors and exhibitions against mismatched opponents. The UConn women’s basketball team would play one or two lower-level programs, often a Division II team, and absolutely blow out the box score. Sure, it helped give players minutes and allowed Auriemma space to test out lineups, but it never put the Huskies in a competitive environment.

That wasn’t the case Monday against Texas.

The Huskies and Longhorns, both 2026 Final Four teams and led by All-American forwards, went back and forth throughout the first half. UConn’s tandem of Jovana Popovic and Sarah Strong dominated on offense, while Texas’ size frustrated the Huskies.

And even though the game counts toward nothing and won’t matter in any standings or postseason seeding, it forced the Huskies to work through adversity and step up. UConn won 83-61 and, most importantly, gave Auriemma a clearer understanding of his team heading into the final two weeks of the preseason.

UConn was led by Strong with 27 points, three rebounds, three assists, three blocks and one steal. Popovic followed with 22 points (7-of-11 shooting), a team-high seven rebounds, a team-high five assists and one steal. The Huskies shot better against the Longhorns than in their preseason opener against Syracuse (finished 3-of-22 from deep) last week. Against Texas, UConn finished 10-of-18 from the perimeter and outshot Texas 54% to the Longhorns’ 43%.

Texas was led by All-American Madison Booker with 23 points, six rebounds and one assist.

Just like last week against Syracuse, in their first preseason exhibition, the Huskies only had 10 available players. Blanca Quiñonez (shoulder) and Marine Dursus (ankle) remain out recovering, while redshirt sophomore Morgan Cheli was a late scratch to the injury report. A UConn spokesperson confirmed before the game that Cheli is “day-to-day,” but did not specify why.

Huskies close out their preseason slate on Sunday, hosting Army at 4 p.m. in Storrs. The 2026-27 regular season officially tips off two weeks from Monday, on Nov. 2, when UConn hosts Cornell in Hartford.

Here are the main takeaways from UConn’s exhibition win over Texas: