The UConn women’s basketball team is set to begin a home-and-home series with Vanderbilt in 2027-28, the program announced Wednesday.
The Huskies will host the Commodores for the first meeting, and they will return the favor with a trip to Nashville in 2028-29.
The 2027-28 matchup will be a homecoming for Vanderbilt coach Shea Ralph, who played for coach Geno Auriemma at UConn from 1996-2001. Ralph was the 2000 Big East Player of the Year and a first-team All-American, leading the Huskies to their second NCAA Championship in 2000 as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Ralph also helped UConn to six national titles while serving as an assistant on Auriemma’s staff from 2008-2021.
Ralph’s Vanderbilt staff includes several other UConn connections. Assistant coach Kaili McLaren was coached by Ralph as a player at UConn from 2007-10, and she was part of the program’s national championships in 2009 and ’10. Assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Kevin DeMille was a practice player and student manager for the Huskies from 2009-13 as an undergraduate student at UConn, and he spent an additional two years on staff as a graduate assistant and assistant director of operations.
Geno Auriemma speaking with Shea Ralph, left, then a Huskies assistant, and Marisa Moseley during a game 2010. (Courant File)
Ralph was hired at Vanderbilt in 2021-22 and rapidly turned the program into a serious contender. The Commodores made the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons after missing it for nine straight, and they finished sixth in the SEC in 2023-24 for their best placement since 2011.
This season, Vanderbilt and UConn are the only two remaining unbeaten teams in Division I, and Vandy’s 19-0 start is the best in program history. The Commodores currently have their highest ranking in the AP poll since 2002 at No. 5 with wins over No. 6 LSU and No. 7 Michigan.
“To go down there and do what she’s done in such a short period of time I think is really cool,” Auriemma said after Ralph’s Commodores beat Michigan on Monday. “I’m really happy for all of them. It’s not easy to do what she’s done, and she’s so detail-oriented. She’s so competitive in so many ways. She’s a great teacher, and so many guards that have come through (UConn) were impacted by Shea.”
UConn is 6-2 all-time against Vanderbilt, and the Huskies won the last meeting 64-51 on Nov. 13, 2020 when current Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White was leading the Commodores. Vanderbilt’s last win in the series was in Dec. 1992, and legendary coach Jim Foster took the team to its lone Final Four in program history that season.
The Huskies now have two matchups with SEC team on the schedule for 2027-28. They are also set to continue their rivalry series with South Carolina at the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte, North Carolina in Nov. 2027.
