University of Connecticut Athletics
University of Connecticut
UTSA
No. 1 UConn to Host No. 16 UTSA in NCAA First Round
3/20/2026 12:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball
STORRS, Conn. – The top-seeded UConn women's basketball team (34-0) hosts No. 16-seed UTSA (18-15) in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship First Round on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Gampel Pavilion. The game will air on ABC and the UConn Sports Network from Learfield (FOX Sports 97.9).
UConn enters the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the 23rd time in program history and as the No. 1 overall seed for the 15th time in program history. The Huskies are 32-2 all-time in the First Round and have won 31 straight First Round games.
UConn is 142-24 overall in the NCAA Tournament, which is the winningest record in the sport. The Huskies won the 2025 NCAA Championship, the program's 12th title.
Graduate student Azzi Fudd and sophomore Sarah Strong were named AP and USBWA First Team All-Americans this week.
The Huskies won the BIG EAST Tournament championship with a 90-51 win over Villanova on March 9. Fudd had 19 points, Strong had 18 points and eight rebounds and freshman Blanca Quiñonez had 13 points. Strong was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player while Fudd and junior KK Arnold were named to the All-Tournament Team.
This is the first meeting between UConn and UTSA. UConn faced UTSA head coach Karen Aston four times when she was the head coach at Texas, winning all four meetings.
No. 16-seed UTSA earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the American Conference title as the No. 6-seed with a win over No. 1-seed Rice, 54-40. This season, Cheyenne Rowe leads the Roadrunners with 14.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Aston is in her fifth season at UTSA.
