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The UConn men’s basketball team’s all-time great nonconference schedule will wrap up with a pre-Christmas “gift” at Madison Square Garden.
The Huskies will host Virginia on Sunday, Dec. 20, in the finale of a brutal non-league slate before Big East play begins.
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Like UConn, the Cavaliers figure to be a preseason national top-10 team. All-American candidate Thijs de Ridder leads a group of four returning starters, augmented by high-scoring UC Irvine transfer Jurian Dixon. Virginia went 30-6 overall last season and 15-3 in the ACC, earning a 3-seed for the NCAA Tournament and losing to Tennessee in the Round-of-32.
UConn is 6-2 all-time against Virginia in a series dating back to 1965. The sides last played on Dec. 10, 1997, the back half of a home-and-home series swept by the Huskies. UConn has won the last five in the series. While it has been nearly 30 years since a regular season meeting, the squads took part in closed scrimmages during the 2022-23 and 2023-24 preseasons.
The contest will serve as UConn’s first of at least three games at Madison Square Garden in 2026-27, with potential for up to four more as the World’s Most Famous Arena is set to host both the Big East Tournament and the NCAA East Regional. The Huskies are 81-64 all-time at MSG, while Dan Hurley has compiled a 19-10 record at the Mecca with the Huskies. UConn has won 13 of its last 17 in Manhattan and went 4-2 in the big city a season ago.
The Virginia game joins a monstrous non-conference assembled by Hurley and the Huskies that now includes games against: Michigan (Nov. 6 in Boston), Ohio State (Nov. 13 at home), Arizona (Nov. 18 in Tucson), Duke (Nov. 25 in Las Vegas), Illinois (Dec. 4 in Chicago) and Kansas (Dec. 12 at home). All seven of those foes finished in the top-25 of the final 2025-26 Kenpom rankings, including the top three and four of the top five.
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This article originally published at UConn men’s basketball team will play Virginia at Madison Square Garden in December.
