UConn women’s basketball releases 2019-2020 schedule

After much anticipation, UConn women’s basketball finally released its 2019-2020 schedule. While the Huskies’ loaded non-conference slate was already announced, the AAC took its sweet time in finalizing the conference schedule.

UConn first hits the court on Sunday, Nov. 3 in an exhibition against Jefferson at Gampel Pavilion before opening the regular season against Cal at Gampel a week later. The Huskies’ first road game is on Nov. 13 against Vanderbilt, Crystal Dangerfield’s homecoming.

Geno Auriemma’s squad begins its final season in the AAC with an early start, on Nov. 17 at Temple. The quirk in the schedule could be due to the Huskies’ four non-conference games in the middle of the season. UConn typically plays two games against big-name opponents to break up the monotony of the blowouts in AAC play, so it’s possible that doubling the number led to some scheduling issues.

The Huskies will return home to play Virginia before heading on a three-game road trip against Ohio State, Dayton and Seton Hall. UConn will end the first semester with a rematch of last year’s Final Four against arch-rival Notre Dame at Gampel Pavilion.

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The Huskies return to action on Dec. 16 against future conference-mate DePaul at Wintrust Arena before they come back to Connecticut for the Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun against Oklahoma on Dec. 22. After that, the Huskies kick off the new year against Wichita State at the XL Center on Jan. 2 before hitting the road against SMU.

On Jan. 9, UConn will look to get revenge against Baylor at the XL Center after the Lady Bears handed the Huskies their first regular season loss since 2014.

UConn will then go back into conference play for four games.

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On Jan. 23, UConn and Tennessee will face-off for the first time since 2007 at the XL Center as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Revival Series.

After games against ECU and Cincinnati, the Huskies will welcome Oregon to Gampel Pavilion on Feb. 3. The Ducks have become one of the top programs in the women’s college basketball since the two teams last met in the 2017 NCAA Tournament with Oregon expected to be the preseason No. 1.

After hosting Cincinnati at Gampel Pavilion, UConn will wrap up its non-conference schedule at South Carolina on Feb. 10. The Huskies will then head to Tampa for a battle against USF before home games against Tulane and UCF. The latter is the final game at Gampel Pavilion which means it will likely be as senior day for Crystal Dangerfield, Evelyn Adebayo, Batouly Camara, Molly Bent and Kyla Irwin.

UConn’s regular season wraps up with road games against Cincinnati and Houston before facing USF at the XL Center in the finale. The AAC Tournament will be held from Mar. 6-9 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

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The schedule is much more balanced than last season, when the Huskies spent most of the first half of the year on the road. The home games are split evenly with eight games each at the XL Center along with a de-facto home game at Mohegan Sun Arena.

UConn also doesn’t have any long road trips like the last two seasons when it played out on the West Coast. The furthest they will travel is Houston.

This schedule includes the three other teams from last year’s Final Four — all at home — and the last three national champions. Eight teams on the schedule made the NCAA Tournament last season as well.

Both UConn’s basketball teams will kick-off the season with First Night at Gampel Pavilion on Oct. 18.

Check out the full schedule below: