UConn women’s basketball made a surprise addition to its 2026 recruiting class on Thursday, announcing the signing of Jovana Popovic (pronounced yo-vah-na PAH-poh-vich), a 5-8 guard out of Vrbas, Serbia.
“Jovana is a high-level guard with a lot of experience,” Geno Auriemma said in the release. “She can handle the ball, she’s a playmaker, she can score. Jovana is a really nice kid who will fit in great with our team.”
Popovic has played in a handful of prospect showcases over the last few years. In April, she faced off against fellow 2026 signee Olivia Vukosa in the Nike Hoop Summit in Portland. She also participated in the 2024 NBA Basketball Without Borders event in Malaga, Spain, where she was named girls camp MVP and an All-Star from a pool of 30 players from 23 European countries.
Born Oct. 5, 2007, Popovic will be 19 for most of her freshman season with the Huskies. She currently stars for ZKK Art Basket in Belgrade in the First League of Serbia. In 2023-24, Popovic helped lead the club to its first Serbian championship and the following season, she earned First League MVP and Best Shooter honors despite being only 17. Through five games this year, she’s averaging 26.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists.
On the international stage, Popovic spent time with Serbian youth national teams. She debuted at the 2021 FIBA U16 Women’s European Challenges and has since appeared at the 2022 FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship Division B, 2023 FIBA U16 Women’s European Championship as well as 2024 and 2025 FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket tournaments. In the latter competition, Popovic led Serbia to a bronze medal and landed on the All-Star 5.
Popovic earned her first appearance with the senior national team at the 2025 FIBA Women’s Eurobasket, averaging 5.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.7 steals against top competition.
She’ll be the first Serbian native to play for UConn, continuing the program’s trend towards international players. Since 2019, the Huskies have brought in nine players born outside North America: Blanca Quiñonez (Ecuador by way of Italy), Gandy Malou-Mamel (Ireland via New Jersey), Jana El Alfy (Egypt), Inês Bettencourt (Portugal), Lou Lopez Sénéchal (France), Dorka Juhász (Hungary), Nika Mühl (Croatia), Anna Makurat (Poland) and Evelyn Adebayo (England).
With Popovic, UConn now has just one scholarship open for next season. The Huskies are out of the running for Addison Bjorn (No. 10 in 2026), who committed to Texas, but are still finalists for Jerzy Robinson (No. 3 in 2026) and Sara Okeke (a 6-3 post player out of Spain).
