UConn men’s basketball announces full 2026-27 nonconference schedule
· Yahoo Sports
The UConn men’s basketball team announced its full nonconference schedule on Thursday, loaded with seven blockbuster matchups against high-major opponents.
Visit afnews.co.za for more information.
After its third trip to the national title game in the last four years, the program will open up with three exhibitions against Syracuse, Michigan State and Purdue before getting into its 12-game nonconference slate, which features five teams in ESPN’s latest “way-too-early top 25” rankings. The Huskies’ nonconference schedule includes seven home games, one true road game and four neutral site contests.
The action begins with a return to Mohegan Sun Arena for an exhibition against old rival Syracuse, led by new head coach Gerry McNamara, on Oct. 13. UConn will then travel to East Lansing to return the home-and-home exhibition series with Michigan State on Oct. 20 before returning home to host Purdue in its third and final exhibition on Oct. 27.
Less than a week later, the Huskies’ season begins with a home matchup against Gardner-Webb on Nov. 2, giving the team a fourth chance to get right before its first major matchup of the season. That, of course, is the rematch of the 2026 national championship game against Michigan, to be played at TD Garden in Boston just a week into the season on Nov. 6.
The Huskies will host Wagner on Nov. 9 before welcoming Ohio State to Connecticut on Nov. 13, which will be the first matchup between the two programs since 2016. UConn will then travel to Arizona for its second of three games against fellow 2026 Final Four participants on Nov. 18, and its only true road game in the nonconference, completing the home-and-home series that began with an Arizona win at Gampel Pavilion last year.
The replay of Braylon Mullins’ game-winning shot to send the Huskies to the Final Four will be on a loop leading up to the rematch of that Elite Eight game against Duke at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Nov. 25, a day before Thanksgiving. A Nov. 30 matchup against Rider is sandwiched between the Duke matchup and another Final Four rematch as the Huskies visit Illinois in Chicago on Dec. 4.
They will return to CT to host Mississippi Valley State on Dec. 8 before one of the biggest on-campus games of the year as Kansas comes to Gampel Pavilion on Dec. 12, a year after Mullins’ first standout performance helped UConn win its first-ever game at Allen Fieldhouse. The penultimate game of the nonconference season will take place three days later as Delaware State visits on Dec. 15.
The nonconference finale will take place at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 20, when UConn and Virginia meet for the first time since 1997.
UConn’s full 2026-27 schedule, including tip-times, TV information, remaining venue designations and the Big East conference slate will be released at a later date.
UConn’s 2026-27 nonconference schedule:Tues, Oct. 13 – vs. Syracuse (Exhibition, Mohegan Sun Arena)
Tues, Oct. 20 – at Michigan State (Exhibition)
Tues, Oct. 27 – Purdue (Exhibition)
Mon, Nov. 2 – Gardner-Webb
Fri, Nov. 6 – vs. Michigan (TD Garden, Boston)
Mon, Nov. 9 – Wagner
Fri, Nov. 13 – Ohio State
Wed, Nov. 18 – at Arizona
Wed, Nov. 25 – vs. Duke (T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas)
Mon, Nov 30 – Rider
Fri, Dec. 4 – vs. Illinois (United Center, Chicago)
Tues, Dec. 8 – Mississippi Valley State
Sat, Dec. 12 – Kansas
Tue, Dec. 15 – Delaware State
Sun, Dec. 20 – vs. Virginia (Madison Square Garden, New York)