University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn and Illinois Agree To Two-Game Series
8/15/2025 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
STORRS – The UConn men's basketball team has announced a two-game neutral-site agreement with Illinois. The series will commence on Nov. 28, 2025 at Madison Square Garden before the return game in the 2026-27 season at the United Center in Chicago.
The match-up with the Illini will be a rematch of the 2024 East Regional Final in Boston – a 77-52 victory for the Huskies highlighted by an historic 30-0 run. Connecticut is 3-1 all-time against Illinois, dropping the first meeting in the 1938-39 season before sweeping a home-and-home played between 1992-1994 ahead of the Elite Eight battle. The Huskies have won their last five contests against teams currently in the Big 10.
Illinois has been one of the strongest programs in the Big Ten in recent years, making the last five NCAA Tournaments and posting four top-20 Kenpom finishes in that span. Returning starters Tomislav Ivisic (13.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg) and Kylan Boswell (12.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 3.4 apg) headline the Illini returners to go along with a highly-touted transfer class. The Illini are a consensus top-25 team in the 'way-too-early' preseason rankings.
UConn will be making its first of two 2025 non-conference appearances at Madison Square Garden when it visits for the Black Friday showdown, also taking on Florida in the Jimmy V Classic on Dec. 9. The World's Most Famous Arena is the most played in venue outside of Connecticut for the Huskies all-time. UConn is 77-62 all-time at 4 Penn Plaza and Dan Hurley is 15-8 at MSG as the Connecticut head coach.
Illinois is the sixth announced non-conference opponent on UConn's 2025-26 slate. The Huskies will challenge themselves as much as any program nationally with games against; BYU (Nov. 15 in Boston), Arizona (Nov. 19), Illinois (Nov. 28 at MSG), at Kansas (Dec. 2), Florida (Dec. 9 at MSG) and Texas (Dec. 12). CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein recently called the UConn gauntlet 'the toughest non-conference schedule in UConn history.'
