The UConn women’s basketball team finalized its 2025-26 schedule last week, setting the team’s path to a potential repeat NCAA championship.
The Huskies’ nonconference slate features 10 NCAA Tournament teams from 2025, including six who finished last season ranked in the AP Top 25. They will also play 20 Big East games compared to 18 the past two years. In total, UConn has 16 games at home: Eight at Gampel Pavilion and eight at PeoplesBank Arena.
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UConn may face some growing pains early as it adjusts to the absences of three-time All-American Paige Bueckers, who was recently named the WNBA Rookie of the Year. The Huskies also lost starting point guard Kaitlyn Chen, and it has five newcomers on the roster with three freshmen and two incoming transfers. But with star guard Azzi Fudd and sophomore phenom Sarah Strong back as the team’s centerpieces, UConn will be a favorite to secure their 13th national title in 2026.
From old rivalries renewed to long-awaited revenge games, here are the biggest matchups on the Huskies’ schedule.
1. Feb. 1 vs. Tennessee
The greatest rivalry in the history of women’s college basketball is officially back.
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UConn had dominated nearly every meeting since the series was resurrected after a 13-year drought in 2020, but Tennessee pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the 2024-25 season when it beat the Huskies 80-76 in Knoxville for its first win in the rivalry since 2007.
This season, the matchup at PeoplesBank Arena won’t just be about revenge as it might be the most difficult game on UConn’s schedule. The Lady Vols brought in the No. 2 2025 recruiting class in the country highlighted by three prospects ranked in the top 20, and they also signed a pair of big-name transfers in UCLA’s Janiah Barker and LSU’s Jersey Wolfenbarger. Tennessee will be battle-tested facing the Huskies in the middle of SEC play, and it could be the first top-10 meeting in the series since 2022.
2. Jan. 19 vs. Notre Dame
On paper, the Fighting Irish don’t look like a major threat to UConn this season. After a late-season meltdown and early NCAA Tournament exit, Notre Dame lost nearly its entire 2024-25 roster with three graduating seniors and four players entering the transfer portal. Junior star Hannah Hidalgo — who had career games both times she’s faced UConn — is the team’s only returning starter.
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But this year’s game at Gampel Pavilion is less about the matchup and more about pride. The Huskies have lost three straight meetings in the rivalry, and the last time Notre Dame came to Storrs in January 2024, it delivered UConn its first home loss in the series since 2013. That loss also came on the day the program honored four NCAA championship teams with Huskies legends including Diana Taurasi, Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart all in attendance.
3. Dec. 13 at USC
UConn plays most of its big games at home this season, but its first test on the road will be a big one against USC in Los Angeles. The Huskies have eliminated the Trojans from the past two NCAA Tournaments in the Elite Eight, but USC won their regular-season meeting in Hartford last year. UConn hasn’t played in L.A. since 2003, when it escaped with a narrow 72-69 victory.
The absence of superstar JuJu Watkins due to an ACL tear takes some shine off of the marquee matchup, but USC will still have plenty of talent on the floor. The Trojans added Jazzy Davidson, the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class, and they signed a pair of key veterans from the transfer portal in former Georgia Tech star Kara Dunn and UCLA point guard Londynn Jones.
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4. Nov. 16 vs. Ohio State
The Huskies will likely play their first ranked game against Ohio State, kicking off a new home-and-home series in Hartford. UConn has struggled against top opponents early in the season over the last several years, losing to NC State and UCLA in November 2023 and dropping top-10 meetings with Notre Dame and USC last December.
The matchup is also something of a revenge game for the Huskies’ upperclassmen. Four current players were on the team when the Buckeyes pulled off a stunning victory to eliminate them in the Sweet 16 of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. That loss ended a 14-year streak of Final Four appearances for the Huskies, and it remains their only exit before the Elite Eight since 2005.
5. Dec. 20 vs. Iowa
The Hawkeyes likely won’t be a top-25 team in December, but the matchup is another chance to heal an old wound for the reigning national champions. Iowa eliminated UConn in a heartbreaker from the 2024 Final Four, and though now-WNBA star Caitlin Clark is no longer on the roster, the Hawkeyes are still anchored by forward Hannah Stuelke, the leading scorer in that game with 23 points.
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The Huskies haven’t lost a regular-season game against Iowa since 1990, and this year’s meeting comes with some extra stakes as part of the Women’s Champions Classic. The teams will face off at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in the second game of a double-header after Tennessee and Louisville play, and both matchups will air on FOX leading into the network’s Saturday NFL slate.
Big East games to watch
Dec. 17 vs Marquette: The Golden Eagles overachieved under first-year coach Cara Consuegra in 2024-25, and they return All-Big East first-team forward Skylar Forbes, who led the conference in blocks last year. The Golden Eagles are one of two Big East teams to beat UConn in the last three years, and this year’s first meeting falls during a tricky stretch of schedule for the Huskies directly between the road trip to USC and the matchup with Iowa in Brooklyn.
Jan. 11 at Creighton: The Bluejays are a perennial NCAA Tournament team, and they were the only conference opponent to finish a game within 15 points of the Huskies last year. Creighton graduated four senior starters in 2025, but it signed a top-25 recruiting class and brought back starting guard Kiani Lockett.
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Jan. 15 vs Villanova: The Wildcats are a sneaky talented team with star sophomore Jasmine Bascoe back, and they also landed Notre Dame’s Kylee Watson and Iowa State’s Kelsey Joens out of the transfer portal. UConn’s first game against Villanova comes four days before they host Notre Dame, so the Huskies could easily get caught looking ahead.
Three observations from UConn women’s basketball team’s first open practice of 2025-26
