WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAMEDAY

No. 10 UCONN vs No. 7 TENNESSEE

When: Sunday, Noon

Where: XL Center

Records: UConn (14-4, 9-0 Big East), Tennessee (19-3, 8-2 SEC)

TV: FOX

Radio: UConn Sports Network

KEEP AN EYE ON

Geno’s return: After missing Wednesday’s game after not feeling well, Geno Auriemma is doing better and coached the team Thursday at practice. He was expected to be on the sideline for Friday’s game against Butler, but that game was canceled Friday morning due to winter-weather travel issues on Butler’s end.

Dorka’s return: Dorka Juhász will return Sunday after sitting out the last two games with a foot injury. The 6-5 graduate transfer participated in Saturday’s practice.

“Dorka hasn’t practiced all week so she’s just getting back into the swing of things and a little bit at a time,” Auriemma said Saturday. “I feel bad for her because she, like everybody else, she’s having one little thing after another since preseason and she was in a really good grove there for a while. And now, I guess, we gotta get back in there and kinda start all over one step at a time.”

In Juhász’s place, sophomore Aaliyah Edwards returned to the starting lineup. Edwards and senior Olivia Nelson-Ododa were the only two bigs to play in UConn’s game at Providence and at Creighton. Over the two games, Edwards averaged 25.5 minutes, 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. Nelson-Ododa averaged 31.5 minutes, 13.5 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Rivalry Renewed: After 13 years of not playing each other, UConn and Tennessee renewed the rivalry for a home-and-home series over the course of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. The Huskies won both games — in Hartford in 2020 (60-45) and in Knoxville in 2021 (67-61).

In the most recent meeting, fifth-year senior Evina Westbrook (who transferred from Tennessee as a junior) broke a fourthquarter tie with back-to-back 3-pointers that led to a nine-point lead for UConn. With three minutes remaining, then-freshman Paige Bueckers left the court after rolling her ankle. She returned moments later and drained her own 3-pointer to seal the Huskies’ win.

The series between the two programs was renewed again in June for another set of home-and-home contests for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. Sunday’s game in Hartford is the first of the two scheduled games.

Tennessee enters Sunday’s matinee after losing to two unranked opponents in its last three games, falling to Auburn on Jan. 27 and to Florida on Thursday. The Lady Vols’ only non-conference loss this season was on Dec. 18 against then-No. 3 Stanford, 74-63.

The Lady Vols’ last win over UConn was on Jan. 6, 2007, 70-64 in Hartford.