Breaking down UConn's non-conference schedule

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Breaking down UConn’s non-conference schedule

UConn women’s basketball’s non-conference schedule is officially live. Like most years, the Huskies loaded up on this portion of the slate to make up for Big East play, which doesn’t project to be all that interesting.

Let’s break it down:

Heavy hitters

UConn will once again feature one of the strongest non-conference schedules in the nation. Nine of the 11 opponents hail from power conferences while all but one (Loyola Chicago) made the NCAA Tournament last year.

This marks a shift from 2024-25 when the Huskies played just eight power conference foes in 13 contests. They also had three low-major matchups — Boston University, FDU, Holy Cross — compared to just the one this season.

Even with a breadth of quality competition, UConn’s schedule lacks a true marquee matchup. Louisville, Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan, Utah, USC, Iowa, Notre Dame and Tennessee should all be NCAA Tournament teams again, but none of those scream Final Four preview at this point in the calendar. The latter two hold some cache as former rivals but neither are national title contenders like the Huskies.

Somebody could always surprise and be better than expected but UConn doesn’t have a game that everyone already has circled on their calendar a la USC (with JuJu Watkins) or South Carolina a year ago.

International travelers

For the third straight season, UConn will travel outside the United States. The Huskies are set to open in Germany as part of the Armed Forces Classic at Ramstein Air Base against Louisville, which will be their first official game in Europe. They’ve played plenty of exhibitions overseas as part of international tours (like in 2023) but never a regular season contest.

The other recent trips outside the States were the Baha Mar Women’s Championship in The Bahamas, the Cayman Islands Classic and Aaliyah Edwards’ homecoming in Toronto.

Racking up airline miles

While UConn only has three games outside the northeast this season, it’ll have to journey quite a ways to those. The Huskies will fly 3,720 miles to Germany, 2,540 to Los Angeles and only 1,100 miles to Tampa — and that’s just one way. Add in short trips to Brooklyn (240 miles round trip) and Mohegan Sun Arena (50 miles round trip, twice) and UConn will travel 15,010 miles for non-conference games away from home — more than halfway around the globe.

Tournament talk

For the first time since the Covid pandemic, UConn won’t play in an early season tournament. The Huskies made that a staple on their schedule recently with multi-team events in The Bahamas (twice), the Cayman Islands Classic and the Phil Knight Legacy out in Portland, Oregon.

UConn makes up for it with plenty of other neutral site showdowns, though. The Huskies open with the Armed Forces Classic, have two games in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase and are set to appear in the Champions Classic.

Home sweet home

Given all those miles, it’s little surprise UConn has a home-heavy non-conference schedule. Five of 11 are at either Gampel Pavilion or PeoplesBank Arena (formerly the XL Center), two are still in the state at Mohegan Sun Arena while another is a short bus drive away in New York. The Huskies only have two true road games — USF and USC.

Calendar check

UConn’s non-conference games fall on all but one day of the week (Thursday), though some are more frequent than others. Including the exhibitions, the Huskies will play five times on Sunday, twice on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and once on both Tuesday and Friday.

Loyola’s lacking resume

Last season, every opponent on UConn’s non-conference schedule made the NCAA Tournament — with one exception. Loyola Chicago has never been a part of March Madness and only has one postseason appearance to its name: the 2021 Women’s Basketball Invitational.

If the schools sounds familiar, it’s because the men’s team made a Cinderella run to the 2018 Final Four, during which team chaplain Sister Jean became an internet sensation.

New opponents

UConn will play three teams for the first time: Loyola, Michigan and Utah. Loyola makes enough sense — the Huskies had no previous reason to schedule them. The latter two are a bit more surprising.

For starters, they’re power conference schools and UConn has faced off against all but eight programs in the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. The Wolverines are also coached by Kim Barnes Arico, who was previously at St. John’s, so there’s a connection there. As for the Utes, they’ve been to the NCAA Tournament 20 times since the Huskies made their first but they’ve never crossed paths.

Funny enough, UConn will play these three teams in a four game stretch.

No homecomings

UConn won’t have any homecoming games for a second straight season. Some of that is due to injury — the Huskies don’t have a single true, homegrown senior — and some of it is a matter of geography.

Caroline Ducharme and Azzi Fudd are fifth-years but neither need a homecoming since both are served by games already on the schedule. The same goes for Wisconsin transfer Serah Williams, a native of Brooklyn. As for Ice Brady, UConn can still set something up for her in San Diego next season (though it would’ve made sense to tag on something to the USC trip) while there’s plenty of time left for Ayanna Patterson as a redshirt sophomore.

Look ahead to next year

After UConn announced its non-conference schedule, both Ohio State and Florida State revealed those contests are part of a home-and-home series. That means the Huskies will travel to Columbus, Ohio and Tallahassee, Florida, respectively, next season, in addition to Louisville and (presumably though not officially) Notre Dame. UConn will also continue to feature in the Champions Classic.

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