The UConn women’s basketball team will end a historic regular season in historic fashion on Sunday night, facing St. John’s at Madison Square Garden for the first standalone women’s college basketball game ever at the iconic arena.
It won’t be the first time the teams have met on one of the biggest stages in the country. The Huskies have played St. John’s twice at the Garden, most recently in 2015 when they won 70-54, but previous matchups have always been part of a tournament or doubleheader with a men’s game.
“To have our first standalone game is a big deal,” St. John’s coach Joe Tartamella said Friday. “It’s always been special to me as a New Yorker in terms of what The Garden has meant, not just for basketball, but for sports in general. Anytime you get a chance to play there and get in that elevator that all the greats have been in, to get to a locker room or dressing room, you get those goosebumps.”
It’s not uncommon for Big East opponents to relocate to higher-capacity arenas when the No. 1 Huskies are in town. Creighton hosted UConn this season in front of more than 6,000 fans at CHI Health Center instead of at its 3,000-seat arena on campus. Providence played the Huskies at Amica Mutual Pavilion, which has almost seven times the capacity of its usual home at Alumni Hall.
UConn coach Geno Auriemma began advocating for the move to Madison Square Garden back at Big East Media Day in October because of the spotlight that it brings to a smaller program like St. John’s. Tartamella said Friday that more than 8,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday’s matchup.
“I do think we should aspire to play a game or two (at MSG) every year, whoever it is, and I think it’d be great exposure for St John’s,” Auriemma said back in October. “Joe and I have talked about putting together an event, like a four-team event, to play, so there’s a lot of lot of options, but I know the people here have been very responsive to that, very positive in their response. So I’m hoping that it happens sooner rather than later.”
The trip to the Garden is a fitting end for the Huskies’ 2025-26 regular-season run, which has been one of the most dominant in the program’s history. With a win on Sunday, UConn will complete its third straight undefeated season in the Big East, its first undefeated regular season since 2018 and its 11th all time. The Huskies have gone on to win a national championship seven times after finishing the regular season unbeaten.
The first time UConn and St. John’s met this season, UConn dominated 88-43 behind 24 points from All-American sophomore Sarah Strong and 16 from star guard Azzi Fudd. The Huskies had one of their best defensive performances of the year with 23 steals including a season-high six from Strong, and they put up 46 points off of St. John’s turnovers.
At Madison Square Garden, nicknamed “Storrs South” thanks to the massive contingent of Huskies fans in New York as well as those that travel, UConn will look to put on another show. The team currently leads the country in scoring margin, beating opponents by an average of 37.9 points per game, and Fudd is on an especially dominant run over the last month. Since the start of February, the redshirt senior is averaging 21.9 points shooting 50.8% from three-point range on top of 3.4 assists and 3.3 steals, and she has scored at least 20 points in five of the Huskies’ last eight games.
“We know how much of an honor it is with the teams that have played (at MSG), so to be able to play there with this team, I’m excited,” Fudd said Thursday after a win over Georgetown in Hartford. “It’s my last year, so to go out with the last regular season game, I think that’s going to be so much fun. I know a bunch of people have tons of family and friends coming … so it’s gonna be an exciting way to end the regular season, and it’s such a privilege.”
UConn can also tie the fifth-longest winning streak in college women’s basketball history with a 47th straight win — which also happens to be the fourth longest in the program’s record books. The Huskies previously won 47 in a row from 2013-15.
“I don’t think you go into any season thinking, ‘We’re gonna go undefeated this year,’” Auriemma said. “You don’t keep track of how many. It’s just, when’s the next one? Those couple of years where we won 111 in a row, we never talked about, ‘Oh, this is going to be number 97, this is going to be really cool.’ Nobody knew the number. Nobody knew anything other than we got a game coming up, and let’s get ready for it … and we try to stay consistent with that.”
How to watch
Site: Madison Square Garden, New York
Time/date: 7:30 p.m., Thursday
Team records: UConn 30-0 (19-0), St. John’s 11-8 (21-9)
Series record: UConn leads 53-18
Last meeting: 88-43 UConn, Jan. 7 at PeoplesBank Arena
TV: TNT, truTV
Streaming: HBO Max
Radio: UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9