The University of Iowa women’s basketball team will begin a two-game non-conference series with UConn during the 2026-27 season, the programs announced Tuesday. Iowa will travel to Connecticut next season before hosting the Huskies during the 2027-28 season inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The matchup will bring UConn to Iowa City for the first time since 1999, adding another high-profile game to a Hawkeye home schedule that has become one of the sport’s biggest draws in recent years.
The arena location for next season’s game — either Gampel Pavilion or PeoplesBank Arena — along with tip time and television designation, will be announced later.
UConn leads the all-time series, 7-4, but the recent history between the programs has been far more even — and far more dramatic. Iowa and UConn have split the last two meetings, including Iowa’s 71-69 win over the Huskies in the 2024 NCAA national semifinal in Cleveland, a game that sent the Hawkeyes to the national championship game for the second straight season.
The Huskies answered with a 90-64 win over Iowa in the 2025 Women’s Champions Classic.
The new series also comes at a time when both programs remain central figures in the national women’s basketball spotlight.
Iowa’s rise included back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game in 2023 and 2024 behind Caitlin Clark, who became one of the most famous players in the history of the sport before becoming the No. 1 overall pick of the Indiana Fever and the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year. Even after Clark’s departure, the Hawkeyes remained nationally relevant, earning a No. 2 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament before being upset by Virginia in double overtime in the second round.
UConn, meanwhile, returned to the top of the sport in 2025, winning its 12th national championship with an 82-59 victory over South Carolina. The Huskies reached the 2026 Final Four as well before South Carolina ended their 54-game winning streak with a 62-48 semifinal win.
Like Iowa, UConn has recently sent a major name into the WNBA spotlight. Paige Bueckers, who helped lead the Huskies back to a national title, became the No. 1 overall pick of the Dallas Wings in 2025 and was later named the 2025 WNBA Rookie of the Year.
That gives the upcoming Iowa-UConn series some extra juice: two national brands, two passionate fan bases, recent Final Four history, and two programs tied directly to the current boom in women’s basketball.
For Iowa, the home game in 2027-28 will be another chance to bring one of the sport’s blue-blood programs into Carver-Hawkeye Arena. For UConn, the series continues a loaded national scheduling approach under longtime coach Geno Auriemma.
For fans, it means one more marquee matchup in a sport that keeps getting bigger.