UConn women’s basketball to renew historic rivalry series with Tennessee Lady Vols in 2024-25: Reports
The UConn women’s basketball team will renew a multiyear series with historic rival Tennessee in 2024-25, according to multiple reports.
The Huskies and the Lady Vols are two of the most storied programs in college basketball, though the rivalry has become less balanced since it was resurrected after 13 years under former Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper in 2020. Tennessee’s last win in the series was 70-64 in Hartford on Jan. 6, 2007, but legendary coach Pat Summitt canceled the regular-season matchup the following season over a dispute with Maya Moore’s recruitment to UConn.
UConn has won four consecutive meetings with Tennessee, including an 84-67 victory in their last matchup in Knoxville in 2023. The Huskies lead the all-time series 17-9, and that record includes a 5-2 against the Lady Vols in NCAA tournament games. The teams faced off in the 1996 and 2002 Final Fours, and the Huskies went 4-0 in national championship meetings in 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2006.
Tennessee underwent offseason upheaval, firing Harper after the team failed to reach the Sweet 16 for the second time in four seasons. The Lady Vols hired former Marshall coach Kim Caldwell, who won a Division II national title in 2022-23 but has coached only a single season at the Division I level. Star forward Rickea Jackson was also selected No. 4 overall in the WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks, so Tennessee is something of a mystery entering next season.
The return trip to Knoxville will be meaningful for Huskies star Paige Bueckers, returning for a fifth year in 2024-25. Bueckers missed the 2022-23 season with an ACL tear, and coach Geno Auriemma said during the NCAA Tournament that the only time her saw her emotional during the injury recovery process was when she was sidelined for the Tennessee game in 2023.
“She was always the most upbeat, positive person in the gym. You knew when she went home … it was killing her and tearing her apart,” Auriemma said. “I only saw it manifest itself once … You come to UConn, you want to play in the Tennessee game. Even though it’s not the same, it’s still UConn-Tennessee, and it’s at Tennessee. I saw her break down in the locker room that game.”
Bueckers has only played against Tennessee once in her career, in her 2020-21 Naismith Player of the Year season. The-then freshman her worst shooting performance of the year going 3-for-14 from the field, though she added eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals to her nine points. The superstar guard outpaced her rookie numbers in 2023-24, averaging a career-best 21.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game plus 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals.
UConn signed three top-20 prospects to its 2024 recruiting class — No. 1 Sarah Strong, No. 5 Allie Ziebell and No. 18 Morgan Cheli — and added standout Princeton guard Kaitlyn Chen from the transfer portal. The Huskies will also return 2021 No. 1 prospect Azzi Fudd next season after she suffered an ACL tear two games into 2023. UConn lost two players, junior center Amari DeBerry and sophomore guard Ines Bettencourt, to the portal, but neither averaged more than six minutes per game.
