With a conference schedule weakened even more by Louisville’s departure from the American Athletic Conference, UConn must face a much stronger non-conference schedule in the upcoming seasons. The Huskies took another major step in that direction, announcing home-and-home series with Ohio State and Arizona starting in 2015-15 and running through 2018-19.
Those are the type of scheduling moves UConn must make to keep its RPI competitive and qualify for the NCAA tournament every season.
Here are all the details, from UConn’s athletic communications department:
STORRS (Aug. 20, 2014) — The UConn men’s basketball program announced today that it has agreed to home-and-home series with Ohio State and Arizona, which will stretch over the next four seasons.
Ohio State, out of the Big Ten, and Arizona, out of the Pac-12, are perennial Top 25 programs and fixtures in the NCAA Tournament. Each has had memorable games against UConn in the past.
The series against Ohio State will begin in the 2015-16 season in Connecticut, with Huskies visiting Columbus the following season in 2016-17. Both games will be held during December.
UConn will travel to Tucson to play Arizona in the McKale Center during the 2017-18 season, and the Wildcats will return the game in Connecticut in 2018-19. Again, both games are tentatively set for December.
UConn is 2-3 all-time against Ohio State, but has not played the Buckeyes since its 64-58 victory on March 27, 1999, in the NCAA National Semifinals in St. Petersburg, Fla., as the Huskies went on to win their first National Championship. UConn’s other victory over Ohio State was also in a national tournament, a 72-67 triumph on March 30, 1988, in Madison Square Garden to capture the NIT Championship. UConn’s three losses to Ohio State came in 1983-84 in Columbus, in 1984-85 at the Hartford Civic Center, and in 1991-92 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Cincinnati.
The Huskies are a perfect 5-0 all-time against Arizona, the most recent game a 65-63 thriller on March 26, 2011, in the NCAA West Regional Championship in Anaheim, Calif., advancing UConn to the Final Four in Houston, where the Huskies won their third national title.
UConn’s other games against the Wildcats have taken place in 1999-2000 in the Great Eight Basketball Classic in Chicago’s United Center, in 2000-01 at Gampel Pavilion, in 2001-02 in Tucson, and in 2005-06 at the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.
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