Notre Dame–UConn women's basketball rivalry

The Notre Dame–UConn women's basketball rivalry is a college rivalry series between the UConn Huskies women's basketball team of the University of Connecticut and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball team of the University of Notre Dame. The Huskies and Fighting Irish have met 53 times, including eight times in the NCAA Tournament and twice in the NCAA Championship, with the Huskies holding a 39–14 advantage.

Notre Dame–UConn women's basketball rivalry
UConn Huskies
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
SportWomen's basketball
First meetingJanuary 18, 1996
Connecticut 87, Notre Dame 64
Latest meetingDecember 4, 2022
Connecticut 60, Notre Dame 74
Statistics
Meetings total53
All-time seriesConnecticut leads 39–14
Largest victoryConnecticut, 80–53 (2002)
Longest win streakConnecticut, 12 (2005–2011)
Current win streakNotre Dame, 1 (2022–present)
🌍
Locations of Notre Dame and UConn

Background

The Connecticut Huskies and Notre Dame Fighting Irish women's basketball teams are two of the more successful teams in women's collegiate basketball. The UConn Huskies have won eleven national championships,[1][2] while the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have nine Final Four appearances,[3] with two National Championships in 2001 and 2018. Both teams formerly played in the Big East Conference, and appeared in the title game of the Big East tournament multiple times, with UConn appearing 23 times between 1989 and 2013, and Notre Dame appearing seven times in the same time period.

From April 2011 to March 2013, Notre Dame won seven out of its eight match-ups with UConn, the best performance of any team against UConn since Tennessee.[4] However, Notre Dame fell to UConn in the 2013 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament despite Notre Dame beating them three times during the regular season that year.

In 2014, UConn and Notre Dame both went into the national championship undefeated. This is the first time two undefeated teams went to the title game in men's and women's NCAA Division I basketball history. [5] This was also their first meeting in a championship game. UConn won that game handily. The next year, both teams made it to the title game again, where UConn won its tenth national championship and third national championship in a row. New York Times reporter Harvey Araton observed that in this "latest showdown between the premier women’s programs" there was an "absence of the mutual hostility" that had characterized the previous year's matchup.[1]

After seven consecutive wins by UConn over Notre Dame, the Irish beat the Huskies in the semifinals of the 2018 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, in a controversial 91–89 overtime contest where Notre Dame had 23 free throw attempts to UConn's 6. Despite losing in a regular season matchup the following year, Notre Dame defeated UCONN again in the 2019 Final Four matchup 81-76. From the start of the 2011–2012 season to the end of the 2018–2019 season, UConn has only 15 losses, with 8 of them coming against Notre Dame.

Game results
UConn victoriesNotre Dame victories
No.DateLocationWinnerScoreNotes
1 January 18, 1996 Notre Dame, IN UConn 87–64
2 February 24, 1996 Storrs, CT UConn 86–79
3 March 5, 1996 Storrs, CT UConn 71–54 Big East tournament
4 February 9, 1997 Storrs, CT UConn 72–49
5 March 4, 1997 Storrs, CT UConn 86–77 Big East tournament
6 December 6, 1997 Notre Dame, IN UConn 78–59
7 February 21, 1998 Storrs, CT UConn 73–61
8 March 2, 1998 Piscataway, NJ UConn 73–53 Big East tournament
9 December 8, 1998 Notre Dame, IN UConn 106–81
10 March 2, 1999 Piscataway, NJ UConn 96–75 Big East tournament
11 February 26, 2000 Storrs, CT UConn 77–59
12 January 15, 2001 Notre Dame, IN Notre Dame 92–76
13 March 6, 2001 Storrs, CT UConn 78–76 Big East tournament
14 March 30, 2001 St. Louis, MO Notre Dame 90–75 NCAA Final Four
15 January 21, 2002 Hartford, CT UConn 80–53
16 January 20, 2003 Notre Dame, IN UConn 72–53
17 February 23, 2003 Storrs, CT UConn 77–59
18 January 13, 2004 Notre Dame, IN Notre Dame 66–51
19 January 12, 2005 Notre Dame, IN UConn 67–50
20 January 30, 2005 Storrs, CT Notre Dame 65–59
21 March 7, 2005 Hartford, CT UConn 67–54 Big East tournament
22 February 19, 2006 Notre Dame, IN UConn 79–64
23 March 5, 2006 Hartford, CT UConn 71–60 Big East tournament
24 January 27, 2007 Storrs, CT UConn 64–47
25 January 27, 2008 Notre Dame, IN UConn 81–64
26 February 22, 2009 Hartford, CT UConn 76–66
27 January 16, 2010 Storrs, CT UConn 70–46
28 March 1, 2010 Notre Dame, IN UConn 76–51
29 March 8, 2010 Hartford, CT UConn 59–44 Big East tournament
30 January 8, 2011 Notre Dame, IN UConn 79–76
31 February 19, 2011 Storrs, CT UConn 78–57
32 March 8, 2011 Hartford, CT UConn 73–64 Big East tournament
33 April 3, 2011 Indianapolis, IN Notre Dame 72–63 NCAA Final Four
34 January 7, 2012 Notre Dame, IN Notre Dame 74–67 OT
35 February 27, 2012 Hartford, CT Notre Dame 72–59
36 March 6, 2012 Hartford, CT UConn 63–54 Big East tournament
37 April 1, 2012 Denver, CO Notre Dame 83–75 NCAA Final Four, OT
38 January 5, 2013 Storrs, CT Notre Dame 73–72
39 March 4, 2013 Notre Dame, IN Notre Dame 96–87 3OT
40 March 12, 2013 Hartford, CT Notre Dame 61–59 Big East tournament
41 April 7, 2013 New Orleans, LA UConn 83–65 NCAA Final Four
42 April 8, 2014 Nashville, TN UConn 79–58 NCAA Championship Game
43 December 6, 2014 Notre Dame, IN UConn 76–58 Jimmy V Women's Classic
44 April 7, 2015 Tampa, FL UConn 63–53 NCAA Championship Game
45 December 5, 2015 Storrs, CT UConn 91–81 Jimmy V Women's Classic
46 December 7, 2016 Notre Dame, IN UConn 72–61
47 December 3, 2017 Hartford, CT UConn 80–71 Jimmy V Women's Classic
48 March 30, 2018 Columbus, OH Notre Dame 91–89 NCAA Final Four, OT
49 December 2, 2018 Notre Dame, IN UConn 89–71 Jimmy V Women's Classic
50 April 5, 2019 Tampa, FL Notre Dame 81–76 NCAA Final Four
51 December 8, 2019 Storrs, CT UConn 81–57 Jimmy V Women's Classic
52 December 5, 2021 Storrs, CT UConn 73–54
53 December 4, 2022 Notre Dame, IN Notre Dame 74–60 Jimmy V Women's Classic
Series: UConn leads 39–14

References
  1. Araton, Harvey (April 7, 2015). "UConn's Win Isn't Pretty, but Title Is a Perfect 10th for Geno Auriemma". The New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  2. "UConn overcomes 12-point first half to squeeze past Stanford for second straight title". ESPN. April 6, 2010.
  3. "Women's Basketball Gameday Central – #9/7 Notre Dame vs. #1 Connecticut (NCAA Women's Final Four)". CBSSports.com. April 3, 2011.
  4. "UConn vs. Notre Dame: Rivalry brings attention to sport". Yahoo.com. April 7, 2015.
  5. "UConn, Notre Dame bring lots of history to title showdown". USA Today. April 7, 2014.
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