TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
The LSU women’s basketball team will face Connecticut in a blockbuster non-conference game in the 2026 ESPNW Invitational on Dec. 20, in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, LSU announced on Thursday.
Also playing in Bridgestone Arena will be Kentucky and Virginia. Game times and networks have not been announced.
The two winningest active women’s college basketball coaches, Kim Mulkey (783-130) and Geno Auriemma (1,288-166), will meet for the first time since the 2021 Elite Eight when Mulkey was at Baylor in her last season before coming to LSU.
Auriemma’s Huskies won that game, 69-67, on a controversial no-call on the game’s final shot. Mulkey is 4-5 against Auriemma all-time and 0-2 at neutral sites.
The pair also lead active coaches in national titles – Mulkey with four and Auriemma with 12.
It is the first meeting between LSU and UConn in a decade. The Huskies won the 2016 matchup, 76-53, and lead the all-time series 8-1. The Lady Tiger’s sole victory over the Huskies came in a 73-50 Elite Eight win led by interim and current associate head coach Bob Starkey.
The Huskies were 38-1 last season, with their lone loss coming to South Carolina in the Final Four. UConn has reached at least the Sweet 16 in 32 straight tournaments. Auriemma’s Huskies have made the Final Four 17 of the last 18 years and won seven national championships in that span, most recently in 2024.
Mulkey won LSU’s first basketball national championship in the 2022-23 season before reaching Elite Eights in 2024 and ’25 and the Sweet 16 last season.
LSU also has marquee non-conference games scheduled this season against Villanova in the Fort Myers (Florida) Tip-Off on Nov. 27 and North Carolina State at Fort Myers on Nov. 28 before North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Dec. 2.
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