Taking an early look at UConn's non-conference schedule

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Headlines

News

• Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen commits to UConn

• Amari DeBerry and Inês Bettencourt find new homes; Raegan Beers picks Oklahoma

Analysis

• With Kaitlyn Chen, UConn is leaving nothing to chance

Last week’s Weekly

• The final step in Paige Bueckers' development? Being more selfish

Early look at UConn's non-conference schedule

While in Knoxville for Maya Moore’s induction into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame this past weekend, Geno Auriemma told the Knoxville News that UConn will renew its series with Tennessee this upcoming season.

While Hearst CT reported that in March, the Vols have a new head coach, so Auriemma’s confirmation means the change in leadership hasn’t affected those plans — unlike when the Huskies tried to play Pitt in Toronto, only for the new head coach to back out.

That news provides the perfect opportunity to take an early look at where UConn’s non-conference schedule stands.

Official games

USF (home)

UConn will begin a two-year, home-and-home series with former conference mate USF in Connecticut this season. After the Huskies moved to the Big East, Auriemma expressed a desire to keep at least one Florida team on the schedule because of their large fanbase in the state. UConn used to make at least one, often two trips to the Sunshine State for AAC matchups with the Bulls as well as UCF.

The Bulls are coming off a down year in which they failed to make the NCAA Tournament for just the third time since 2013. UConn is 33-0 all-time against USF.

At the moment, this is the lone home game on the Huskies’ non-conference slate.

South Carolina (away)

UConn will travel to Columbia for the second consecutive season to finish up a four-game series. This trip was originally scheduled for the 2021-22 season but the two schools mutually agreed to push it back because the Huskies were hammered by injuries and both sides needed to make up conference games that were postponed due to Covid.

Unlike the last few meetings, UConn will hopefully have a full roster available when it takes on the defending national champions. This matchup typically happens in February.

Notre Dame (away)

UConn will also wrap up a four-game series with Notre Dame this season when it travels to South Bend. The Fighting Irish have the potential to be a national title contender next season. Olivia Miles is set to return from a knee injury, top-ranked recruit Kate Koval will arrive, while Hannah Hidalgo, Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld are all back as well.

As good as done

Tennessee (away)

UConn will travel to Knoxville to face a Tennessee program in transition. The Vols fired Kellie Harper this offseason and replaced her with Marshall’s Kim Caldwell, the first head coach without previous ties to Rocky Top.

Tennessee went out in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and lost its best player, Rickea Jackson, to the WNBA. It’d be a surprise if the Huskies faced much of a challenge from the Vols.

Since the series was first renewed in 2020, UConn and Tennessee have faced off in late January each time.

Louisville (Barclays Center)

The fact that UConn will play in the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic at the Barclays Center is official, but its opponent has still not been announced. However, Auriemma revealed in March that “it’s probably gonna be Louisville”.

The Huskies began a four-game series with the Cardinals this past season, but that’ll likely be pushed back a year to accommodate the game in Brooklyn.

This is the only set date on the Huskies’ calendar so far: Saturday, Dec. 7.

UNC (Greensboro)

This game hasn’t been formally announced yet, but both coaches have both said it’s happening. UConn will play UNC in Greensboro to finish up a pseudo home-and-home series after the two sides met at Mohegan Sun this past season. Neither team will get a game on their home floor, but they’ll both play in their home state.

The rest of the slate

UConn currently has seven games lined up, leaving approximately four spots open along with an early-season tournament. There’s a few staples on the Huskies’ schedule that still haven’t been revealed.

A multi-team event

This is the classic early-season tournament — think the Cayman Islands Classic last year or PK85 in 2022-23. There’s almost always a marquee opponent for the Huskies to face (UCLA in 2023, Iowa in 2022), they typically play 2-3 games and often go to the Caribbean.

The Mohegan Sun game

UConn has played at least one regular season game at Mohegan Sun every year dating back to 2014-15 (excluding the Covid campaign, when those games were canceled due to a team shutdown). The opponent is usually a middle-tier power conference squad — like UNC, Florida State and Oklahoma in recent years.

Homecoming games?

UConn doesn’t have any homecoming games on tap, in part because it doesn’t have any true seniors. The Huskies went to Minnesota for Paige Bueckers last season and the other players that have been around for 3+ years — Aubrey Griffin, Caroline Ducharme, Azzi Fudd — all either grew up close enough to Storrs or are served by a conference game.

Unless UConn sets up a last-minute contest with one of the LA schools for incoming Princeton transfer Kaitlyn Chen — a native of San Marino, California — it seems unlikely that there will be a homecoming game this season.

Other possibilities

UConn has opened each of the last two seasons with weaker teams — Dayton in 2023 and Northeastern in 2022. We’ll see if that trend continues.

To fill out the rest of the slate, the Huskies could go with a program they have either ties to or a good relationship with like Vanderbilt (Shea Ralph), Princeton (Carla Berube), Syracuse, Maryland, Texas and NC State. Those are just guesses, though. They could go also off the board and begin a series with a new foe as well.

Timeline

There’s timeframe that UConn’s non-conference schedule is usually released. In 2018, 2019 and 2022 it came out in June. Last year it was August. In 2021, we had to wait until September.

Best of social media

Aaliyah Edwards threw out the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game to fellow UConn alum Matt Barnes:

…then she went to a Washington Spirit game:

Afro Geno:

Hall of Famer Maya Moore:

A big honor for one of UConn’s assistants:

Nika Mühl doing Nika Mühl things:

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