Five things to know ahead of UConn’s second round matchup with Syracuse on Monday night:

For the fifth time in the last 10 tournaments, UConn will take on Syracuse. The Huskies beat the Orange in the 2016 national championship and are now slated to meet in the second round for the fourth time, joining 2017, 2021 and 2024.

Those are the only March Madness meetings all-time between these teams. Despite that, Syracuse is now UConn’s fourth-most common opponent in the NCAA Tournament behind only Notre Dame (eight games), Tennessee (seven) and Stanford (six).

Syracuse coach Felisha Legette-Jack has only been in charge for the latter two contests, but this will be her third time bringing a team to Storrs. In 2019, she squared off with the Huskies while at Buffalo.

“One thing is for certain, if I get [to the NCAA Tournament], I'm going to be at UConn. It's the only place I get to go. So I don't know how big the world really is or this country really is because this is where I always end up,” Legette-Jack laughed. “I think Geno wants me on his staff and he just don't know how to ask me. So we'll talk after this, Geno.”

While the two teams last battled just two seasons ago, few players are remain from that matchup. For UConn, KK Arnold and Ashlynn Shade will be the only ones to suit up in both contests. Azzi Fudd, Caroline Ducharme and Ayanna Patterson were all out injured in 2024 while Ice Brady will sit out Monday’s game. On Syracuse’s side, only Sophie Burrows remains.

“I definitely remember just the atmosphere,” Burrows said. “I'd never played with that big of a crowd or anything like that. So that definitely stood out to me.”

Burrows wasn’t just there, either. She made six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points.

“I think having Dyaisha Fair there on the court, she drew so much defensive pressure that those threes were wide open a lot of the time because she drew all the players,” she said. “That was my role going into that game: Shoot wide open three, shoot my shot. That’s what I did.”

Meanwhile, Shade and Arnold combined for the biggest sequence of the game. With UConn leading by three, Shade forced a steal with 50 seconds remaining and on the ensuing possession, Arnold drilled a 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to seal the victory.

“Being able to get that stop and then KK being able to hit that (three), it’s like roles reversed,” Shade said. “I usually hit the three and then she usually gets the stop, but no.”

Geno Auriemma and Legette-Jack go way back. Long before either helmed their own program, the pair met on the recruiting trail. Auriemma was a young assistant at Virginia while Legette-Jack was a frontcourt prospect out of Syracuse, New York.

“I do remember going up to Syracuse and Nottingham High School and her coach, [Willetta] Spease, was really a delight to work with,” Auriemma said. “Everybody knew Felisha was a really good player and was going to be a really good college player. So that's when I first had any contact with her.”

Initially, Legette-Jack didn’t know much about Auriemma, though that wasn’t the case with Spease.

“I remember how my high school coach just thought he was the most handsome guy she ever saw in her life,” Legette-Jack laughed. “I'm, like, ‘I don't know what's going on.’ She goes, ‘He's so cute.’”