One day after it was officially revealed that the UConn men’s basketball team will play Kansas at Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 12, the UConn women’s basketball program took center stage on the scheduling front on Thursday.
The women’s program announced that it will play LSU as part of the espnW Invitational on Dec. 20 in Nashville, Tenn.
Advertisement
We already knew that the Huskies and Tigers were going to play, but the date had not been previously confirmed. We also know that UConn will play South Carolina, the team that eliminated them from the NCAA Tournament this past season.
Here’s more of what you need to know:
One of the top programs in the country, the Tigers went 29-6 last season, finishing at 12-4 in the highly-competitive SEC.
The Tigers, coached by Kim Mulkey, have been to the Elite 8 or better in three of the last four years – and won the national title in 2022-23. LSU has been to the NCAA Tournament 31 times and has advanced to the Final Four six times.
Advertisement
They were eliminated by No. 3 Duke in the Sweet 16 last season.
Louisiana State Tigers head coach Kim Mulkey argues a call against the Duke Blue Devils during a Sweet Sixteen game of the Sacramento Regional 2 of the women’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Golden 1 Center. Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images
UConn ran through a perfect regular season and swept through the Big East Tournament en route to the Final Four, but they were upended by South Carolina once they got there.
As always, UConn figures to be very good, but it will be a different team without Azzi Fudd, who was the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft of the Dallas Wings.
Sarah Strong, the reigning Player of the Year, returns to anchor things, but she’s coming off an injury, as is Blanca Quinonez, who was very dynamic as a freshman in 2025-26.
Haylen Ayers, one of the top prospects in the women’s basketball Class of 2027, has set her official visit to UConn.
Advertisement
That trip to Storrs, Conn., is scheduled for Nov. 6, 247Sports’ Dushawn London reported Monday. The five-star recruit also has a visit planned for Oct. 24 to Vanderbilt, whose head coach, Shea Ralph, played at UConn.
Vanderbilt and UConn are two of her five finalists. The others are Texas and Kentucky of the Southeastern Conference, and Duke of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
UConn is the only one of those finalists in the northern half of the country.
She is rated by the 247Sports composite as the No. 1 player at her position: shooting guard. She plays at the University School of Jackson in Tennessee.
Per industry reports, head coach Geno Auriemma has offers out to the top three players. as ranked by the 247Sports composite.
