UConn's Geno Auriemma Makes Bold Statement On NYC Doubleheaders
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For decades, playing women’s basketball in New York meant sharing the spotlight. It has often meant pairing up with something else just to get people in the building.
This season, coming off the 12th championship, Geno Auriemma says that era is over, and UConn’s schedule, results and crowds back him up.
As Auriemma puts it, “I like the fact that it’s this time of the year. I like that you can bring in name programs that have had a lot of success and bring them to New York. They can’t just get on the phone and say, 'Hey, I want to play in New York City around Christmas time.' There are no takers. You have to have an event to bring them here and let them experience what my teams have experienced for a long, long time, because it’s pretty special. It’s pretty cool to come and play in New York.”
UConn, in fact, just visited New York this year. The Huskies had their last match at Barclays Center and faced Iowa in a Women’s Champions Classic game. The game ended with a 90–64 win for the Huskies. And no doubt, it was a spectacle.
Here come the Huskies! pic.twitter.com/ZdV9XTRYre
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) December 20, 2025
UConn in New York
Azzi Fudd scored 27, Sarah Strong added 23 with seven rebounds and six steals and UConn led wire to wire, with a 22–12 lead in the first quarter. The Huskies scored the first six points of the third quarter and never looked back.
“It’s always great to play in a pro arena, and the people at Barclays are unbelievable. They love having us here and do a fantastic job. It puts a little bit of a spotlight on women’s basketball at a time when it’s not quite basketball season yet. There’s still big college football playoffs and NFL games going on, so there’s a lot happening. To carve out a little spotlight for women’s basketball and give people something to look forward to in the tournament is important,” added Auriemma.
What Auriemma is describing is structure. UConn’s non-conference slate was intentionally built around national brands and neutral-site showcases. The Huskies played teams including Louisville, Michigan, Southern California and Iowa. Those games weren’t fillers. Instead, they produced wins, TV audiences and momentum.
“For instance, we played Louisville in the first game of the season in Annapolis at the Neighbor Camp. They’re not the same team they were then, so it was really cool to watch them and see where teams are at the beginning, the middle, late, and then at the end. People here appreciate basketball, as a Tri-State guy,” said Auriemma.
UConn entered the holidays unbeaten at 12–0, with four wins over ranked opponents, creating demand that no longer requires a men’s game to be attached to it. The numbers support that confidence.
Through this stretch of the season, UConn has drawn 57,195 total fans, averaging over 11,000 per game, while opponents averaged just over 6,000. And these are the Huskies faithful and repeat audiences responding to consistent winning. Barclays was a proof of concept.
“New York City people appreciate basketball, so it’s fun to have events like this in New York at a place like this that aren’t connected to anything else. The first game we ever played at the Garden years ago had to be a doubleheader with the men because nobody would come otherwise. I think we’re past that now. We’re at the point where we can have an event here to showcase women’s basketball,” added Auriemma.
That’s what makes this season feel different. UConn isn’t asking New York to care. It’s giving New York games that matter, and trusting the basketball to do the rest. In fact, the Huskies will soon play a game in Madison Square Garden.
Geno Auriemma Opens Up About Facing Big East Opponent in March
That same philosophy carries into March, when UConn closes its New York run with a Big East matchup against St. John's Red Storm at Madison Square Garden. It is one of two meetings between the programs this season, with the first one being played at the Peoples Bank Arena.
As Auriemma puts it, “March 1. I’m glad that St. John’s was able to pull that off and play at the Garden. Not crazy about Sunday night at 7 p.m., but having said that, I think there will be a lot of fans who maybe haven’t gotten to a game, and this will be their chance to get to one. St. John’s is having a great year so far, so anytime we can play here and expose the other team to an event like this, I think that benefits us, it benefits St. John’s, and it benefits the Big East. It helps everyone if we can create an event like that.”
History favors UConn heavily. The Huskies are 50–5 all-time against St. John’s, including wins in nine of the last ten meetings and a current five-game streak. They’ve averaged 79 points per game in the series and won recent matchups by margins of 20-plus.
The Match game, however, isn’t about imbalance. It’s about placement, and St. John’s gets the Garden stage. The Big East gets visibility. And UConn gets another standalone moment in a building that once required a co-headliner.
And that’s the story Auriemma is telling. New York is no longer an experiment. It’s home turf, and UConn doesn’t need anyone else to fill the seats
-fd44250df32912986cc6690f0b8bfa32.png "Shivani Menon")
Shivani Menon is a sports journalist with a background in Mass Communication and a passion for storytelling. She has written for EssentiallySports, College Sports Network, and PFSN, covering Olympic sports like track and field, gymnastics, and alpine skiing, as well as college football, basketball, March Madness, and the NBL Draft. When she's not reporting, she's either on the road chasing sunsets or getting lost in the rhythms of electronic soundscapes.