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Arkansas has added perennial powerhouse UConn to its women’s basketball schedule.
The Razorbacks will host the Huskies inside Bud Walton Arena next Thursday, a move made possible by Vanderbilt’s decision to end its season because of COVID-19 concerns earlier this week.
Tip off is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on ESPN2. Originally, Arkansas was scheduled to host the Commodores that day, Jan. 28, while UConn was slated to play Providence two days earlier, on Jan. 26.
“We entered this season knowing cancellation of games could be a possibility, so we started early conversations with our friends in the game that had a similar desire to play the best competition possible with COVID protocols in mind,” head coach Mike Neighbors said in a statement. “When Vanderbilt opted out of the season Monday, we were lucky enough that UConn had a common open date as ours. A few texts and a couple of calls later, we got it all set.”
It will be just the second time the teams have ever met in women’s basketball. Led by a freshman point guard named Sue Bird, UConn beat Arkansas 100-64 at an early-season tournament in 1998-99.
The Huskies are the most successful program in the history of the sport, winning 11 national titles - three more than any other women’s basketball team - and owning the two longest winning streaks in Division I basketball history, men’s or women’s.
Legendary coach Geno Auriemma recently passed Pat Summitt for second on the Division I women’s basketball all-time wins list. Now in his 36th season, he is 1,099-142 at UConn, which gives him an .886 winning percentage.
That includes a perfect 8-0 mark so far this season, with the wins coming by an average margin of 41.1 points. The Huskies are No. 3 in the latest AP Poll.
It will be yet another tough non-conference matchup for the No. 15 Razorbacks, who lost to current No. 7 Maryland in the Gulf Coast Showcase in the opening week of the season and knocked off current No. 9 Baylor at home in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
“We are so proud of our team for wanting to play against the best teams in the country,” Neighbors said. “They embrace the challenge of playing against the team that has set the standard for play in our game over the last 25 years."
UConn, on the other hand, will have played just two non-conference games before facing Arkansas. It crushed UMass Lowell to open the season and will play at No. 25 Tennessee on Thursday, but has lost games against No. 19 Mississippi State, No. 1 Louisville and No. 9 Baylor because of COVID-19 and is also scheduled to play No. 4 South Carolina on Feb. 8.
It will be a homecoming of sorts for junior Christyn Williams, a former standout at Central Arkansas Christian. She is a starter and the Huskies’ third-leading scorer, averaging 14.9 points.
