Dan Hurley wasn’t kidding when he teased the difficulty of UConn’s 2026-27 nonconference schedule last month.
“If (people) thought last year’s was exciting and a big undertaking, this year’s will probably ending up blowing that away,” he said.
It was reported Wednesday night that the Huskies are working on adding a rematch of the national championship game against Michigan, according to Jon Rothstein, and a game against Ohio State, according to Adam Jardy of the Columbus Dispatch, to an already-loaded nonconference slate.
UConn’s list of opponents already included a pair of last year’s Final Four teams in Illinois and Arizona, along with blue blood matchups against Kansas and Duke.
The addition of Michigan would make it two years in a row that the Huskies’ schedule includes the reigning national champions. UConn beat Florida at Madison Square Garden last December in a rematch of the second round game that ended the program’s streak of 13 consecutive NCAA Tournament wins in 2025. The Huskies went 4-1 last season in nonconference games against teams that finished in the final AP top 25 poll.
It would be the sixth all-time meeting between UConn and Michigan in a series the Wolverines lead, 3-2.
Rothstein reported that the game will also be a return to Boston’s TD Garden on Nov. 6, making it two years in a row that the Huskies host a neutral site game at the home of the Celtics, where they held off top prospect AJ Dybantsa and BYU last season.
Both teams are set up to contend again as Dusty May is expected to return point guard Elliott Cadeau, who scored a game-high 19 points in the Wolverines’ 69-63 title game victory, along with Trey McKenney and LJ Cason. Michigan made noise in the transfer portal, adding Moustapha Thiam, JP Estrella and Jalen Reed as it loses a strong group of seniors in Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara and Nimari Burnett. The Wolverines also have a top-five class set to come in that includes three of the top 50 high school recruits in Brandon McCoy, Quinn Costello and Lincoln Cosby.
The Ohio State meeting, reportedly taking place in Connecticut in 2026-27 as the front end of a home-and-home series, will be the first matchup between the teams since Dec. 2016, when UConn went to Columbus and lost, 64-60. The Buckeyes have a 4-3 lead in the all-time series.
Ohio State, coached by Jake Diebler, has a roster that could very well be ranked in the preseason top 20 coming off of its first NCAA Tournament appearance in four years. Diebler was able to retain key players in John Mobley Jr. (15.7 points per game) and Amare Bynum while mixing in talented transfers Jimmie Williams (Duquesne), Justin Pippen (Cal), Curtis Givens III (Memphis) and Adrija Jelavic (Kentucky). The Buckeyes are also set to add Anthony Thompson, ESPN’s No. 11 recruit in the 2026 class, and four-star prospect Alex Smith.
UConn is 8-4 against the Big Ten under Hurley, including an eight-game winning streak that ended in the title game against Michigan.
