Full 2019-20 schedule released
Dates and times for all 16 conference games included
UConn’s full 2019-2020 women’s basketball schedule, including dates and times for all 16 conference games, was released Thursday afternoon.
UConn, which enters the season with a 120-0 record against American Athletic Conference opponents and six consecutive conference tournament titles, will look to finish with a perfect AAC record before officially departing the conference for the Big East next summer.
More intriguing is the Huskies’ non-conference slate. Previously announced in June, the schedule features matchups against the other three 2019 Final Four teams — Oregon, runner-up Notre Dame, and reigning national champion Baylor — as well as a renewed series with former rival Tennessee.
Seven of UConn’s 201920 opponents finished the season in the RPI’s top 50: Notre Dame (1), Baylor (2), Oregon (5), UCF (15), South Carolina (17), DePaul (18), and Cal (42). UConn was slotted at No. 6 in the RPI, ending the regular season with a 31-2 record after losses to Baylor and Louisville. The Huskies eventually fell to Notre Dame in their 12th-straight Final Four appearance.
UConn will play five AAC teams (UCF, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, USF) twice (both home and away) and the other six once, three at home (Tulane, Tulsa, Wichita State) and three on the road (ECU, SMU, Temple).
Games to circle
Dec. 8 vs. Notre Dame: UConn is no stranger to the Fighting Irish, but this Notre Dame team is fairly unfamiliar to them, All five of Notre Dame’s starters from last season left for the WNBA after the Irish fell to Baylor in the national title game. Then two of its main reserves, Jordan Nixon and Danielle Patterson, entered the transfer portal. Notre Dame is left with only three players who averaged over five minutes of playing time per game last season, though it does add two graduate transfers.
Jan. 9 vs. Baylor: Baylor snapped UConn’s 126 regular-season game win streak last January, defeating the Huskies, 57-68, in Waco behind a 20-point, 17-rebound performance from Kalani Brown and a 29 percent shooting clip on UConn’s part. The Huskies will have a chance to avenge that loss and get a statement win against the defending national champions, ranked one spot ahead of UConn at No. 2 in ESPN’s “way-tooearly” preseason poll, when they host the Lady Bears on January 9. Baylor, whose only loss last year came Dec. 3 against Stanford, lost Brown and Chloe Jackson to the WNBA Draft but returns players responsible for two-thirds of its scoring and more than 75 percent of its rebounding.
Jan. 22 vs. Tennessee:
Longtime rivals - the teams have combined to win 19 national titles - haven’t played since 2007.Kellie Harper takes over as coach with a chance to add a new chapter to the Lady Vols’ lore that began with the late Pat Summitt.
Feb. 3 vs. Oregon: A matchup of old guard versus new. While UConn has been a fixture in the sport since the mid-90s, the Ducks have recently been on the rise, winning the Pac-12 regular-season title two years in a row before making their first Final Four appearance last season. Oregon is ranked No. 1 in ESPN’s “way-too-early” preseason poll, and it’s easy to understand why:. The team, which lost in national semifinals to eventual champion Baylor, beat out UConn for a key transfer in Sedona Prince, returns Satou Sabally and Ruthy Hebard, and managed to keep likely No. 1 WNBA draft pick Sabrina Ionescu in Eugene for her senior year.
Feb. 10 vs. South Car
olina: With the majority of UConn’s toughest opponents traveling to Connecticut to face the Huskies, South Carolina ends up being perhaps the toughest away game. If history serves as any indicator, the Huskies shouldn’t need to fret. UConn has defeated South Carolina in all eight meetings, with the Huskies handing the Gamecocks losses of 18 points or more in each of their last three matchups. But a team coached by DawnStaley can never be underestimated. Though South Carolina loses seven players, including three transfers, from last year’s Sweet 16 team, it brings in the top recruiting class in the country.
Home games
With home games against Notre Dame, Baylor, Tennessee, and Oregon, UConn’s 2019-2020 lineup offers what the program has dubbed “the best home schedule in program history.” Seven regular-season games will be held at the XL Center and another seven at Gampel Pavilion. Though technically at a neutral site, UConn will only have to travel 30 miles to Uncasville’s Mohegan Sun Arena when it faces Oklahoma in late December at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase.
Away games
UConn lucks out this season by not having to face its toughest opponents on the road, but it will get a taste of playing in a tough environment when it travels to Columbia to face South Carolina, which leads the country in attendance each of the last five seasons. Other road trips include Vanderbilt, Ohio State, DePaul, and UCF.