NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt and UConn women’s basketball teams announced a home-and-home series on Wednesday that will take place during the 2027-28 and 2028-29 seasons.
The first game of the home-and-home series will be in Storrs, Connecticut, on Nov. 14, 2027. The Commodores and Huskies play again a little over a year later at Memorial Gymnasium on Nov. 19, 2028. Tipoff times and television designations will be announced at a later date.
The home-and-home series brings two of the most historic programs in women’s college basketball together. Both programs sit inside the top-12 all-time for most NCAA Tournament appearances. UConn has the fifth-most March Madness appearances with 36, while Vandy’s 29 NCAA Tournament berths are the 12th-most in NCAA history.
The two schools share a major connection, as Vanderbilt women’s basketball head coach Shea Ralph played at UConn from 1996-200. Ralph guided the Huskies to a national title in 2000, and she was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. She was then an assistant at her alma mater from 2008-21, leaving Connecticut for the Music City to become the Vanderbilt women’s basketball head coach ahead of the 2021-22 season.
“I am so excited for this opportunity to compete against UConn and to return to the place where this journey began for me,” said Ralph, who is in her fifth season as head coach at Vanderbilt. “It will be special to see the fans, coaches, administrators, teammates and friends who have been part of my journey. Our mission at Vanderbilt is to compete for championships and this series will serve as another opportunity to prepare us for those goals.”
Ralph is currently in the middle of her fifth season with the Dores, where she holds a 92-59 overall record, which includes a 64-21 record and 22 wins over SEC teams since the start of the 2023-24 campaign. She has led one of the largest turnarounds in the nation at Vanderbilt, as she has guided the Dores to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since the school went to 15-straight from 1999-2014. This season, Ralph has the Commodores off to their best start in program history at 19-0 and has Vandy ranked inside the top five in both major polls for the first time since the 2001-02 campaign.
It will be the seventh and eighth times that Vanderbilt and Connecticut will match up on the hardwood. The Huskies hold a 6-2 advantage in the all-time series, which includes a 64-51 victory in the last game between the two on Nov. 13, 2019, at Memorial Gym. The last time the two met in Storrs took place on March 25, 2013, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where UConn posted a 77-44 victory.
Ralph has been involved in four of the contests in the Vandy and UConn series, all as an assistant coach for the Huskies. The former Connecticut All-American has coached against her alma mater eight times previously as an assistant at Pittsburgh during the 2003-08 seasons. This series will be the first time that she will face Connecticut as a head coach.
Vanderbilt and UConn are the last remaining unbeaten teams in NCAA Division I to open the 2025-26 season, as both teams stand at 19-0. The Commodores’ 19-straight wins mark the second-longest active winning streak in the nation, while the Huskies hold the longest active streak with 35-consecutive victories.
The No. 5/4 Commodores jump back into SEC action on Thursday, as Vanderbilt returns to Memorial Gymnasium to host Auburn. Tipoff against the Tigers is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and streams live on SEC Network+. Fans can click the link here to purchase tickets.
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