Dan Hurley, UConn Huskies Agree to Two-Game Series Against Big Ten Foe

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.

This will be the first of two appearances at MSG for the Huskies!

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.

Madison Square Garden 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. On UConn's schedule includes Brigham Young University (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.'