UConn Inks Home-And-Home Series with SEC Foe
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The UConn Huskies want to face the best teams in women's basketball each season and have added a top non-conference opponent for the future.
UConn announced in a press release that they will face off against Vanderbilt for a home-and-home series in the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons.
The Huskies will host the Commodores for the first meeting in the 2027-28 campaign and then the SEC team will have their Big East foe come to Nashville, Tenn. in the 2028-29 season.
Both programs have connections with each other and are currently two of the top programs in women's basketball this season.
Familiar Faces Between Both Programs
Vanderbilt has a few players that UConn fans will know well and cherish for their time with the program.
Shea Ralph is the head coach of the Commodores, but she excelled during her time as a player for the Huskies from 1996-2001.
Ralph ranks amongst the best players in program history, including second with 473 free throws made,10th with 270 steals, 57.9% field goal shooting and 81.4% free throw shooting, plus 21st with 1,678 points.
Her 1999-2000 season was her best, leading UConn to their second National Championship, while winning the Final Four Most Outstanding Player Award. She scored 20.1 points, dished out 6.9 assists, grabbed 5.3 rebounds and made 3.6 steals per game that campaign.
Injuries derailed her playing career, but she soon became a coach and joined the Huskies in 2008 as an assistant, following five seasons as an assistant at Pitt.
Ralph spent 13 seasons with UConn in that role, leading the program to six National Titles, before becoming the head coach at Vanderbilt in 2021.
She led the Commodores to back-to-back NCAA Tounrnament appearances the past two seasons and now has them at 18-0 and 5-0 in the SEC, ranked No. 5 in the latest AP Poll.
Vanderbilt also has other UConn connections, with assistant Kevin Demile a former practice player, graduate assistant and manager, junior guard Aga Makurat the sister of former guard Anna Makurat, plus Kaili McLaren a player for the program from 2006-10.
Series History Between UConn and Vanderbilt
UConn leads the all-time series 6-2, with Vanderbilt winning the first two games, a 75-47 blowout in the Second Round of the 1992 NCAA Tournament and then 57-37 in Hilton Head, S.C. later that year on Dec. 29.
The Huskies have won the past six matchups, including their most recent meeting on Nov. 13, 2019, a 64-51 victory in Nashville.
UConn enacted revenge on Vanderbilt in the 1996 Elite Eight, winning 67-57, then won at home the next two meetings, 69-50 in Storrs, Conn. on Nov. 18, 2001, plus a 77-44 blowout in the Second Round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
The other two matchups took place on a neutral court, with the Huskies getting their biggest win in the series, 91-52 over the Commanders on Nov. 29, 2014 in the Gulf Coast Showcase semifinals in Estero, Fla. then an 80-42 victory at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. on Nov. 17, 2018.
