One of the best things about college basketball are the rivalries. Heated games where it doesn’t matter how good either team is that year, all that matters is that the teams are sharing the floor. Rivalries don’t just pop up out of nowhere and they can’t be forced. They’re born out of years of conflict, close games and developed mutual hatred.
After spending decades in the Big East from the late 1970s into the early 2010s, UConn has done some bouncing around. First it was the American Athletic Conference and now the Big East again, which has a much stronger Midwestern flavor than it did during the Huskies’ first stint in the conference. Still, there are rivalries.
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Once again, the Huskies are looking into making a conference swap, this time to the Big 12. The move is primarily a money and football-based one, though the quality of basketball won’t diminish. The Big 12 has been the nation’s premier hoops conference for the past decade or so and has claimed the most recent pair of non-UConn championships. Adding UConn only increases their juggernaut status in the sport.
One of the biggest holdups from the Connecticut fanbase about making the move is the impact it’ll have on rivalries. Even though the Big East would be better titled the Big North at this point (the conference’s east-west midpoint is in Indiana), the rivalries are clear and heated. Let’s review UConn’s biggest Big East rivals, along with who their biggest rivals would be if they were to be accepted into the Big 12.
BIG EAST
Over the past few years, the most menacing Big East opponents have been the ones that are geographically furthest. Marquette has been excellent over the past two campaigns, but this is not much of a rivalry. Connecticut has won 8 of the last 10 games the schools have played, stretching from Tyler Polley’s explosive second half in a 2021 comeback win to this year’s three-game sweep of the Golden Eagles. There’s hardly any hatred from Storrs and the long distance doesn’t help.
Creighton has been a different story, a regular Achilles heel for the Huskies. Though the teams have split their past four matchups, the Bluejays won the first five, sparking a healthy amount of animosity from Husky fans. The majority of Connecticut’s losses have been excruciating, though the most recent one was just plain bad. The last time UConn was defeated in the 2024 campaign came as Creighton drained 14 of 28 threes. It was a case of the Huskies having an unlucky night and the Jays capitalized on it. This is a newish, but heated rivalry that will only get more heated if UConn doesn’t leave.
Villanova is the best non-UConn Big East team historically, but they’ve been searching for answers ever since Jay Wright left. There have been countless memorable moments in the rivalry, whether in Philadelphia, Connecticut, the Big East tournament or March Madness. Many fans will remember Shabazz Napier’s deep three in 2012 that secured the Huskies an away victory in overtime.
Even after UConn left the conference for the AAC the rivalry continued, with the 7-seeded Huskies nabbing a NCAA tournament victory over 2-seed Villanova in 2014. In non-conference matchups afterwards the Wildcats dominated, and it took until the Huskies’ second year back in the conference to beat Villanova. That victory came in a contest that saw Dan Hurley ejected and assistant Kimani Young take over, leading the home squad to a top 10 win. Aside from a close defeat in the BET that year, Connecticut has been on cruise control since, winning the past four by a combined 45 points. Even then, this is still the strongest rivalry with the teams’ histories together and traded stretches of dominance.
Providence and St. John’s have had good coaches and runs over the past few years, along with the benefit of being charter Big East members. However, UConn sees those schools as being more of a little brother given their lack of success on the national stage in the past few decades. Georgetown is also a historic rival, but their 73 losses over the past three seasons have hardly made them a formidable competitor.
BIG 12
Connecticut has history in the NCAA tournament against many Big 12 schools, but most of their rivalries will stem from their years playing in the AAC and the Big East.
The biggest such rivalry comes against Cincinnati, a school that the Huskies are 14-16 against all time. With their first meeting coming in an NCAA tournament win in 1995, these two universities shared time in the Big East and American. Connecticut emerged victorious in the first five matchups, but the Bearcats swept both games in 2010. One of the series’ more intriguing bouts came during the 2011 season, when they played in the NCAA tournament second round, despite being conference foes. UConn ultimately won en route to their third championship, but it was a unique situation and a great game.
Throughout the Huskies’ time in the AAC, fans looked forward to this matchup, as Cincinnati was a school that always gave Connecticut a fight. Ryan Boatright, in his last win as a Husky, memorably hit a toilet-bowl three over the Bearcats in the 2015 American tournament to advance to the championship game. The following year, freshman Jalen Adams sunk a shot from over 60 feet away in triple OT to send the game to a fourth extra period. UConn won that one and Adams’ miraculous shot was questioned postgame by UC coach Mick Cronin, one of the coaches that Husky fans hate the most. The teams most recently met in Hurley’s second year, as Connecticut won in OT and left for the Big East. This is a rivalry that would be fun if renewed.
While Houston is over 1500 miles away from Storrs, that’s another squad the Huskies learned to hate during their time in the American. The Huskies took both games in a home-and-home in 1999 and 2000, but UConn’s introduction to the Cougars as conference foes came on New Year’s Eve of 2013. Houston, a team considered much worse than Connecticut, upset the Huskies. It was a low moment for the championship squad, but they returned the favor with an 80-43 win in Storrs a month later.
Houston became an exceedingly difficult place to play for Kevin Ollie’s Huskies and even Hurley never managed to win there. The Cougars ended up excelling under Kelvin Sampson right as the Huskies were at an all-time low. They even ended Hurley’s first season at the help in the AAC tournament, crushing UConn by 39. Hurley got the last laugh though, beating ranked Houston at home in the second to last game before COVID shut down the season. With Houston as the reigning Big 12 champs in their first year in the league, that’d be an exciting rivalry to watch with some frustration for the Huskies to take out from their time in the American.
West Virginia is another former Big East foe in the Big 12, though they’re coming off one of their worst years in recent history. Connecticut is 15-6 versus the Mountaineers all time with the most recent matchup coming in the Big 12-Big East Challenge in 2022. WVU won a close, ugly contest, along with the previous one the teams played in Puerto Rico. The programs couldn’t have more different trajectories right now, but it could be an exciting rivalry if West Virginia picks up their act and rediscovers their identity.
Baylor and Kansas aren’t anything close to rivals with the Huskies either, but they have more potential than Texas does. The Bears won the 2019 championship and faces Connecticut this upcoming December. This is the teams’ first matchup since 1965. Kansas and UConn have played just twice, with the Jayhawks winning both times. The first came in the second round of the 2016 NCAA tournament and the second in the Huskies first loss last year. UConn was notably without Stephon Castle and had a hobbled Cam Spencer too. The pedigree of Baylor and Kansas are high and it would just take a few exciting games to get the wheels turning on this rivalry.
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