UConn, USC women's basketball sign two-game series beginning next season
UConn and USC signed a two-game series agreement, beginning next season, according to a team release.
It’ll pit two of the top programs in the sport and feature a few stars on the court. The first game is scheduled for December 21st in Storrs.
Stars like UConn’s Paige Bueckers and USC’s Juju Watkins will lead the Huskies and Trojans into next season as some of the favorites to win a national title.
The second game in the series, scheduled for the 2025-26 season in Los Angeles, has a to-be-determined date. At least for the coming season, UConn and USC bring in some of the most loaded rosters.
While Bueckers was happy someone like Caitlin Clark brought in new fans to the sport, she hoped the media could spread the spotlight.
“Media coverage is important for the game. I think it grows the game,” Bueckers said in April. “I know freshman year I was like the media darling. Everybody was focused on me and what I did at UConn my freshman year.
“But, I think it’s more important for the game to share the spotlight to grow the game and show all the stars of college basketball and not just focus on one particular player, whether it be me, Caitlin, JuJu [Watkins], Angel [Reese]. There’s so many names in college basketball now that are huge, that are stars that deserve credit.”
In her debut campaign at UConn, Bueckers was the face of women’s basketball. It was impossible to scroll social media without seeing the first-year standout.
Leading into the UConn-USC matchup in this year’s NCAA Tournament, there was a lot of buzz. Although, Iowa and LSU drew most of the attention.
The viewership numbers reflected the discrepancy. The game only drew in 6.7 million viewers; still higher than usual, but a far cry from the record-shattering numbers Iowa-LSU raked in.
Bueckers hopes media around the country can provide similar attention to other deserving candidates.
“It’s not my job, but the media can do a better job of just making sure everybody gets love, everybody gets not equal amount of attention but try to spread it out more,” Bueckers said. “I honestly hope next year I’m not the focal point and the only person that gets attention. And I hope, as media, as players we can spread the love a little bit more.”