STORRS — With nearly three months left in the 2025-26 season, the UConn women’s basketball team already has another marquee non-conference matchup on its schedule for 2026-27.

Coach Geno Auriemma said Sunday that the Huskies are planning to face LSU next season, confirming the report initially shared by UConn great Rebecca Lobo, now an analyst at ESPN, during an interview on the A Touch More podcast hosted by fellow former Husky Sue Bird and fiancee Megan Rapinoe. Lobo told Bird and Rapinoe the game will be played in Nashville and televised by ESPN.

Auriemma said a date has not yet been set for the matchup. It will be the first meeting between the programs since 2016.

“People join the media and they can’t keep a secret, not that it’s a secret anyway,” Auriemma joked. “You’re starting to get more of (those games) on a regular basis now. That’s kind of the way it goes, and it’s a game that I think players look forward to as well.”

The Huskies are already set to play multiple neutral site showcases against top teams in 2026-27, continuing a growing trend in college basketball. UConn will resume its rivalry series with South Carolina in the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena on Nov. 24, and it will play an opponent to be determined in the Women’s Champions Classic at Barclays Center. The team is also scheduled to head south to Charlotte, North Carolina in Nov. 2027 to face the Gamecocks in the Ally Tipoff.

LSU has faced criticism for several years over playing a weak non-conference slate — the Tigers are No. 282 in non-conference strength of schedule in 2025-26 — but Auriemma said the major neutral site games have become more appealing for many programs. The events often come with an appearance fee for the teams involved, so they provide an additional source of income for athletic departments amid the era of NIL and revenue sharing.

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“One thing that’s happening is coaches used to have a lot of say in who they played,” Auriemma said. “Now some promoter comes (and says), ‘We’re going to give you X amount to play them.’ And you go, I don’t know if I want to do that, play them. Then your (athletic director) goes, ‘What time is the game?’ So that is kind of the interesting thing that’s happened in college basketball. Coaches don’t have as much say in who they’re playing and who they’re not playing when it comes to getting paid to play in that game.”

UConn and LSU have met nine times dating back to 2000, and the Huskies’ only loss was in the 2007 Elite Eight to the Tigers squad led by Hall of Famer Sylvia Fowles. The teams last faced off in the 2016 regular season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and UConn won that meeting 76-53. The Tigers are currently ranked No. 6 in the country and have reached at least the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for three consecutive seasons.

The Huskies have more recent history with LSU coach Kim Mulkey, who previously led Baylor from 2000-21. Auriemma had a 5-4 record against Mulkey’s Bears, and UConn won the final meeting before Mulkey’s departure for LSU in the 2021 Elite Eight. Next season’s game will be the first time UConn has faced the Tigers or Mulkey at a neutral site outside of the NCAA Tournament.

“If an event organizer is going to have a game, and they want to entice somebody to play it they’ll go, ‘Hey look, it’s at a neutral site, because that’s where we can make the most money,” Auriemma said. “And more people will be willing to play two of those games as long as it’s not a home-and-home where you don’t have to deal with that … We’ll go play anywhere, anytime against anybody, if the price is right.”