Last October, the UConn women’s basketball team began its 2024-25 season with a disaster behind closed doors.
The only public evidence of the secret scrimmage the team played against Columbia at Gampel Pavilion is a photo of a crinkled box score posted to X. The final score: Columbia 82, UConn 81.
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Less than six months later, the Huskies were standing alone at center court in Tampa, Florida hoisting their first NCAA championship trophy since 2016 after a dominant rout of 1-seed South Carolina in the title game.
As UConn prepares to play its first exhibition game of 2025-26 against Boston College on Monday, coach Geno Auriemma knows better than to put any real stock in October results. But even if the on-court product looks ugly, there’s always value in the experience.
“Last year when we lost our (scrimmage) at home, you go, ‘Oh, geez, maybe we’re not that good.’ So we’ll see. I think it’ll be alright,” Auriemma said with a chuckle after practice Friday. “It usually takes two weeks of practice before they get bored and don’t feel like practicing anymore, so these things come at just the right time for all of us, coaches and players. We just want to see what’s going on out there.”
This year’s first unofficial game will be completely different than the one against Columbia, providing a truer taste of what the regular season looks like. The team is spending the night in Uncasville ahead of Monday’s game at Mohegan Sun Arena, and there will be thousands of fans in the building when they take the court against the Eagles. For the Huskies’ three freshmen and two first-year transfers, the opportunity to play in a higher-stakes environment is especially important.
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“Normally these are the kind of things that you have nobody watching, and nobody really cares,” Auriemma said. “So I think the whole experience will be really good. It will really get to show how quickly people can adapt to playing in (front of a crowd) … It’ll be a pretty good dress rehearsal for going forward.”
Three questions UConn women’s basketball can answer in first exhibition game vs Boston College
The UConn men will also face Boston College for an exhibition after the women’s game (7 p.m. start), resurrecting old rivalries between original Big East members. The women haven’t faced the Eagles since 2005, the season after BC officially joined the ACC, and the men have played the matchup just once in the last two decades, in 2013. Teams typically play their exhibition games against lower-level opponents — the women hosted Division II Fort Hays State in 2024 — but the showcase at Mohegan Sun allows the Huskies to test themselves in a power conference matchup without the pressure of a result that counts.
“You really can’t expect a lot execution-wise in these things, but you can expect a lot of the energy level, the effort, the people that you have coming back from last year, what can they add to the group?” Auriemma said. “The new guys just kind of follow the leader and hope they blend in.”
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There is a palpable excitement inside the building as UConn enters the season with hopes of bringing home its second consecutive national title in 2026. The loss of three-time All-American Paige Bueckers is a major blow, but the Huskies returned two superstars from last year’s squad in redshirt senior Azzi Fudd and sophomore forward Sarah Strong. Fudd, who averaged 17.5 points on career-high shooting percentages in the second half of the season after returning from her 2023 ACL tear, had a fully-healthy offseason for the first time since she arrived at UConn, and Auriemma said her confidence has taken a leap after earning Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. The Huskies coach has also raved about Strong’s limitless potential in year 2 after she averaged 16.4 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.7 blocks last year.
“We have a lot of returners but five new faces, so I don’t think we really consider ourselves defending champs,” Fudd said after the team’s first official practice last week. “It’s more so like, same goal as last year, same mindset, but just some of us have the taste so now we want it even more … We stepped foot back on campus and it was time to lock back in.”
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How to watch UConn women’s basketball vs. Boston College
Site: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville
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Time/date: 2 p.m., Monday
Series record: UConn leads 37-14
Last meeting: 60-46 UConn, Nov. 17, 2005 at Gampel Pavilion
TV: NBC Sports Boston
Streaming: UConn+
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9
