{"id":545745,"date":"2026-01-19T01:06:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/545745\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T01:06:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T01:06:33","slug":"uconn-women-aim-to-end-notre-dame-losing-streak-how-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/545745\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn women aim to end Notre Dame losing streak: How to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORRS \u2014 A win or loss against Notre Dame<\/a> in January won\u2019t make or break the season for the UConn women\u2019s basketball<\/a> team, but pride is on the line for the Huskies when the Fighting Irish come to Gampel Pavilion on Monday night.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been 1,505 days since the last time UConn earned a win in the rivalry in Dec. 2021, and the last four meetings with the Notre Dame all carry heavy baggage for the program. The Irish delivered the Huskies their only double-digit loss of the 2024-25 season with a 79-68 upset in South Bend, Indiana<\/a>, putting them on a three-game losing streak in the series for the first time since 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a pretty game overall for us,\u201d sophomore star Sarah Strong<\/a> said Sunday with a grimace. \u201cIt was really ugly, so we\u2019ll hopefully not make it ugly tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Irish also pulled off an upset the last time they played in Storrs in Jan. 2024, dominating UConn 82-67<\/a> on the day it inducted the 2003-04 and 2013-14 NCAA Championship teams in the Huskies of Honor. It was the Huskies\u2019 first home loss to the Irish in more than a decade with generations of legendary alumni in attendance, including Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart.<\/p>\n

Even UConn\u2019s 2021 victory is colored by the knee injury suffered by then-sophomore Paige Bueckers in the final minute<\/a> of the fourth quarter. Star guard Azzi Fudd<\/a> sustained her own knee injury during the Huskies\u2019 74-60 defeat<\/a> in South Bend, Indiana the following season \u2014 then the team\u2019s first loss in the series since the Irish\u2019s victory in the 2019 Final Four.<\/p>\n

Tennessee has long been considered UConn\u2019s marquee rivalry, but coach Geno Auriemma said the Notre Dame matchup has become the one players circle at the beginning of every season in recent years. The programs have eliminated each other seven times from the NCAA Tournament since 2011, and the Huskies lead the series just 14-12 during that stretch.<\/p>\n

\"NotreNotre Dame forward Liatu King (20) grabs a rebound as UConn forward Sarah Strong (21) defends during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo\/Michael Caterina)<\/p>\n

\u201cStewie\u2019s group was here 10 years ago, and it was a huge rivalry back then,\u201d Auriemma said Sunday. \u201cIt\u2019s been going on for quite some time, and what\u2019s made it interesting is that generally speaking when we\u2019ve played them, it\u2019s been two top-5 teams or something like that, so it kind of is reminiscent of the old Tennessee rivalry. This one is, in this group, I think it\u2019s probably the rival that they look forward to the most, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

If there was ever a year for the Huskies to snap the streak of humiliating losses, this is it. The unanimous No. 1 team in the country enters Monday\u2019s matchup undefeated on a 13-game streak of victories by at least 25 points.<\/p>\n

No. 23 Notre Dame meanwhile has struggled frequently throughout the early part of the season as it adjusts to a new-look roster following major losses both to graduation and the transfer portal. The Irish have just six players averaging more than 20 minutes per game after veteran guard KK Bransford was ruled out indefinitely with a knee injury in December. Two of their five losses are against unranked opponents, and they don\u2019t\u00a0 have a single win over a current top-25 team.<\/p>\n

For all their flaws, the Irish still have an X-factor in junior Hannah Hidalgo<\/a>, who always seems to unlock another level when she plays UConn. The star guard put up 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as a freshman at Gampel Pavilion, and she powered Notre Dame again last season with 29 points on six made 3-pointers plus 10 boards, eight assists and three steals. Her career field goal percentage is 46.1%, but she has averaged 53.7% across her two games against the Huskies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re kind of in the situation that we\u2019ve been in the last couple of years: Their their rotation is limited, they\u2019ve lost a lot of scorers from the last couple of years, so it\u2019s taken them a little while to kind of figure everything out,\u201d Auriemma said. \u201cI think offensively, they make you have to figure out a lot of different ways to guard Hannah, and how you decide to guard her either gives their other guys a ton of opportunities, or you limit everybody else\u2019s opportunities so they put you in a tough spot \u2026 It\u2019ll be kind of a jigsaw puzzle tomorrow, trying to put it all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UConnUConn head coach Geno Auriemma shouts towards the court during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against UConn Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo\/Michael Caterina)<\/p>\n

But UConn also has an ace up its sleeve in Fudd, who has played a total of just 13 minutes against Notre Dame in the last four seasons. The Huskies\u2019 sharpshooter was sidelined by a foot injury in 2021 when the Irish came to Storrs, then missed the 2023 game with an ACL tear and last year\u2019s meeting with a knee sprain. Fudd has been spectacular in all of UConn\u2019s ranked games this season, averaging 24.3 points against top-25 opponents.<\/p>\n

The Huskies continue to preach their \u2018one game at a time\u2019 mentality entering the matchup, but Auriemma doesn\u2019t necessarily dissuade players from leaning into some of the intensity of the rivalry. Strong said the coaching staff has spent the week reminding the team of about the history between the two programs, trying to instill a fire that will translate on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot, especially with how much the coaches talk about it and how big it is for UConn,\u201d Strong said. \u201cIt\u2019s just like, we don\u2019t like Notre Dame. It\u2019s a rivalry, so we\u2019ve got to bring out best \u2026 so we\u2019re really excited to play tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to watch UConn women\u2019s basketball vs. Notre Dame<\/p>\n

Site:\u00a0Gampel Pavilion, Storrs<\/p>\n

Time\/date: 5 p.m., Monday<\/p>\n

Team records: UConn 18-0, Notre Dame 12-5<\/p>\n

Series record: UConn leads 39-16<\/p>\n

Last meeting: 79-68 Notre Dame, March 9, 2025 in South Bend, Ind.<\/p>\n

TV: FOX<\/p>\n

Streaming:\u00a0FOX Sports app<\/p>\n

Radio:\u00a0UConn Sports Network on FOX Sports 97.9<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STORRS \u2014 A win or loss against Notre Dame in January won\u2019t make or break the season for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3723],"tags":[14628,6114,7,217,2340,925,25028,6108,4116,2680,2679,68003,231,772,1544,33300,783,7391,6115,923,6107,6112],"class_list":["post-545745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-ashlynn-shade","tag-azzi-fudd","tag-basketball","tag-college-basketball","tag-connecticut","tag-ct-news","tag-gampel-pavilion","tag-geno-auriemma","tag-hannah-hidalgo","tag-hartford-courant","tag-local-news","tag-max-image-preview","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-niele-ivey","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-notre-dame-womens-basketball","tag-sarah-strong","tag-uconn-huskies","tag-uconn-womens-basketball","tag-womens-basketball"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115919086965268210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}