Connecticut–Notre Dame women's basketball rivalry

Connecticut–Notre Dame women's basketball rivalry

Connecticut Huskies Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Sport	Women's basketball
First meeting	January 18, 1996 Connecticut 87, Notre Dame 64
Latest meeting	December 5, 2015 Connecticut 91, Notre Dame 81
Next meeting	TBD
Statistics
Meetings total	45
All-time series	Connecticut leads 34–11
Largest victory	Connecticut, 80–53 (2002)
Longest win streak	Connecticut, 12 (2005–2011)
Current win streak	Connecticut, 5 (2013–present)

The Connecticut–Notre Dame 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 45 times, including six times in the NCAA Tournament and twice in the NCAA Championship, with the Huskies holding a 34–11 advantage.

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 ten national championships,^[1][2] while the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have seven Final Four appearances,^[3] with a National Championship in 2001. 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 Women's Division I Basketball Tournament despite Notre Dame beating them three times during the regular season that year. Notre Dame hasn't beaten UConn since.

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]

Game results

Connecticut victories

Notre Dame victories

No.	Date	Location	Winner	Score		Series	Notes
				UC	ND
1	January 18, 1996	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	87	64	Connecticut 1–0
2	February 24, 1996	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	86	79	Connecticut 2–0
3	March 5, 1996	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	71	54	Connecticut 3–0	Big East Tournament
4	February 9, 1997	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	72	49	Connecticut 4–0
5	March 4, 1997	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	86	77	Connecticut 5–0	Big East Tournament
6	December 6, 1997	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	78	59	Connecticut 6–0
7	February 21, 1998	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	73	61	Connecticut 7–0
8	March 2, 1998	Piscataway, NJ	Connecticut	73	53	Connecticut 8–0	Big East Tournament
9	December 8, 1998	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	106	81	Connecticut 9–0
10	March 2, 1999	Piscataway, NJ	Connecticut	96	75	Connecticut 10–0	Big East Tournament
11	February 26, 2000	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	77	59	Connecticut 11–0
12	January 15, 2001	Notre Dame, IN	Notre Dame	76	92	Connecticut 11–1
13	March 6, 2001	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	78	76	Connecticut 12–1	Big East Tournament
14	March 30, 2001	St. Louis, MO	Notre Dame	75	90	Connecticut 12–2	NCAA Final Four
15	January 21, 2002	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	80	53	Connecticut 13–2
16	January 20, 2003	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	72	53	Connecticut 14–2
17	February 23, 2003	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	77	59	Connecticut 15–2
18	January 13, 2004	Notre Dame, IN	Notre Dame	51	66	Connecticut 15–3
19	January 12, 2005	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	67	50	Connecticut 16–3
20	January 30, 2005	Storrs, CT	Notre Dame	59	65	Connecticut 16–4
21	March 7, 2005	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	67	54	Connecticut 17–4	Big East Tournament
22	February 19, 2006	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	79	64	Connecticut 18–4
23	March 5, 2006	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	71	60	Connecticut 19–4	Big East Tournament
24	January 27, 2007	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	64	47	Connecticut 20–4
25	January 27, 2008	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	81	64	Connecticut 21–4
26	February 22, 2009	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	76	66	Connecticut 22–4
27	January 16, 2010	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	70	46	Connecticut 23–4
28	March 1, 2010	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	76	51	Connecticut 24–4
29	March 8, 2010	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	59	44	Connecticut 25–4	Big East Tournament
30	January 8, 2011	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	79	76	Connecticut 26–4
31	February 19, 2011	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	78	57	Connecticut 27–4
32	March 8, 2011	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	73	64	Connecticut 28–4	Big East Tournament
33	April 3, 2011	Indianapolis, IN	Notre Dame	63	72	Connecticut 28–5	NCAA Final Four
34	January 7, 2012	Notre Dame, IN	Notre Dame	67	74	Connecticut 28–6
35	February 27, 2012	Hartford, CT	Notre Dame	59	72	Connecticut 28–7
36	March 6, 2012	Hartford, CT	Connecticut	63	54	Connecticut 29–7	Big East Tournament
37	April 1, 2012	Denver, CO	Notre Dame	75	83	Connecticut 29–8	NCAA Final Four
38	January 5, 2013	Storrs, CT	Notre Dame	72	73	Connecticut 29–9
39	March 4, 2013	Notre Dame, IN	Notre Dame	87	96	Connecticut 29–10
40	March 12, 2013	Hartford, CT	Notre Dame	59	61	Connecticut 29–11	Big East Tournament
41	April 7, 2013	New Orleans, LA	Connecticut	83	65	Connecticut 30–11	NCAA Final Four
42	April 8, 2014	Nashville, TN	Connecticut	79	58	Connecticut 31–11	NCAA Championship Game
43	December 6, 2014	Notre Dame, IN	Connecticut	76	58	Connecticut 32–11
44	April 7, 2015	Tampa, FL	Connecticut	63	53	Connecticut 33–11	NCAA Championship Game
45	December 5, 2015	Storrs, CT	Connecticut	91	81	Connecticut 34–11	Jimmy V Women's Classic

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.