Dan Hurley isn’t backing away from anybody, and UConn’s 2025-26 nonconference slate makes that plain.
The Huskies open with three home games that should be manageable, but the real test arrives fast. From Nov. 15 through Dec.
12, UConn is staring at a six-game run that could define the season: BYU, Arizona, Illinois, Kansas, Florida and Texas. Every one of those teams made the previous NCAA Tournament.
That kind of stretch gives UConn a real shot to stack an elite résumé early. It also leaves almost no margin for error as the Huskies try to bounce back from their earliest NCAA Tournament exit since 2022.
The biggest circle-on-the-calendar game comes against Florida on Dec. 9 at Madison Square Garden. The Gators knocked UConn out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a 77-75 win in the second round, ending the Huskies’ bid for a third straight title while Florida kept rolling to the national championship.
That rematch won’t undo what happened, but it does give UConn an immediate chance to answer back against the team that stopped its title defense.
It’s also part of a busy run at Madison Square Garden. Less than two weeks before Florida, UConn meets Illinois there on Nov.
- That matchup brings back a familiar opponent from the 2024 Elite Eight, when the Huskies handled Illinois on their way to the national championship.
The gauntlet starts in Boston, where UConn faces BYU at TD Garden on Nov. 15. Four days later, Arizona comes to Storrs for the first game of a home-and-home series between programs that played for the 1999 national championship.
The only true nonconference road game on the schedule is at Kansas on Dec. 2. UConn has dropped all four previous meetings with the Jayhawks, including a 69-65 loss at Allen Fieldhouse in December 2023.
Texas closes the stretch on Dec. 12 in Hartford at PeoplesBank Arena. UConn beat the Longhorns 76-65 in Austin last season, with Alex Karaban scoring 21 points.
Before the regular season starts, the Huskies will play exhibitions against Boston College and Michigan State. Their season opener comes at home against New Haven, followed by games against UMass Lowell and Columbia.
According to Geoff Magliocchetti of Huskies Report, UConn’s schedule includes six opponents from the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
It’s a brutal road on paper. It’s also exactly the kind of path that can tell you right away whether this team is built to chase another championship.
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Bill Self still has one obvious counterpoint for anyone ready to write the Jayhawks off: the incoming freshman class looks promising, and there is at least a path back toward national relevance if those pieces come together quickly. Kansas fans have every reason to push back on a preseason snub like this, even if the recent record says the skepticism is not coming out of nowhere. [Read more 🡒]