UConn, Notre Dame ready to resume rivalry

COLUMBUS, OHIO» It wasn’t long ago when Geno Auriemma and Muffet McGraw were constantly on each other’s mind.

That’s what happens when you’re the coaches of two of the nation’s best teams and play in the same conference. UConn and Notre Dame would meet four times a season, heightening the intensity of one of the best rivalries in women’s college basketball.

Now with the two powerhouse programs in different conferences, the intensity has diminished. They meet only once a season, with a second meeting usually coming on the grand stage of the Final Four.

“The neat thing about it is after every game in December now I will say to her, ‘I’ll see you in March. If I see you in March, it will be in the Final Four, so that’s cool,’ ” Auriemma said.

The unbeaten Huskies and Irish meet Friday night in the national semifinals; all four top seeds advanced there. The winner will face Louisville or Mississippi State for the NCAA title Sunday.

There was a stretch between 2010 and 2013 when the two squads met 15 times. The Irish won seven times, twice knocking UConn out of the Final Four.

“I think now that we only play them once a year, there is some distance to the rivalry,” McGraw said. “I think it always, of course, will be a rivalry just because they’re the best team in the country right now. But I think it’s not that intensity that we had when we were in the Big East, because you’re constantly watching in your conference.

“Now we’re in the ACC, and we’re focused on that, and that’s the best conference in women’s basketball. We can’t really afford to be watching a lot of other teams. We really focused on that.

“So I think it definitely has lessened the intensity of the rivalry, but that could change tomorrow.”

In the title game of the 2013 season, with both teams unbeaten, the Huskies beat the Irish. UConn has won the five meetings since, including a 80-71 victory on Dec. 3 this season. Notre Dame led that game by double digits in the fourth quarter before the Huskies rallied to win despite two ailing All-Americans — Gabby Williams sat out the second half with a migraine; Katie Lou Samuelson reinjured her foot in the final period.

“I think we could take a lot from that,” McGraw said. “Where we went wrong, where we went right. I think we changed some things since then.”

While the Huskies are Final Four fixtures, the Irish are back in the national semifinals for the first time since 2015. This may have been one of McGraw’s best coaching jobs, having to overcome knee ligament injuries to four players during the season.