Geno Auriemma first stepped foot in Thompson-Boling Arena 29 years ago. He doesn’t recall much about that Jan. 6, 1996 meeting in Knoxville, Tennessee, the third time in 12 months his UConn Huskies faced Pat Summitt’s Tennessee Lady Vols. But he remembers how electric the environment was, how there wasn’t an arena of that size, with that energy, on any other college campus in the country.
The matchup, a rematch of the 1995 title game that the Huskies had won, generated a fervor that only intensified in the years to come. As the Huskies and Lady Vols duked it out for women’s college basketball supremacy, combining for 12 national titles from 1995-2010, they built the sport’s fiercest rivalry, growing the game to new heights along the way.
But entering Thursday’s showdown between No. 5 UConn and No. 19 Tennessee (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), “rivalry” might not describe the series in 2025. Players on both sides are too young to remember what it once was: Paige Bueckers, the oldest player on either roster at 23, was 5 when the schools played for the final time with Summitt on the sidelines in 2007. The presumptive No. 1 overall pick in April’s WNBA draft, Bueckers said Tuesday that UConn-Notre Dame, which peaked in the 2010s, resonates more as a rivalry to her and her teammates.
Auriemma, whose clashes with Summitt were a crucial part of the rivalry, is effectively the only remnant of those legendary battles. And since the series was revived in 2020, he has gone out of his way to emphasize it isn’t what it once was — nor should it be.
“It became something that wasn’t normal,” he said Tuesday, referring to the acrimony that grew between the fanbases, coaches and programs. “It just became stupid and became something I didn’t want to be a part of anymore. I think our fans are stupid. I think their fans are stupid, and how they reacted to the whole thing, it just became something other than a basketball game, and after a while that just got old.”
Summitt’s successors following her 2012 retirement, Holly Warlick and Kellie Harper, were program alumni, Warlick also Summitt’s longtime assistant. Now, Kim Caldwell is in her first season as the Lady Vols’ coach and has no previous Tennessee ties, which shocked the women’s basketball world when she was hired in April. Thursday marks Caldwell’s first UConn-Tennessee game as a participant.
“My biggest memory [of the series] would be just how it took over your whole week of when that game was on the schedule, and you would talk about it at school, and you would talk about it at practice, and you would just be looking forward to it, and then you would watch it, and you would record it, and it was just such a big deal,” said Caldwell, who was in grade school when Auriemma first visited Knoxville. “And I think that that is something that was great for women’s basketball, and it’s very humbling to now be a part of it.”
Rivalry or not, ESPN’s Michael Voepel, Alexa Philippou and Charlie Charlie examine why the game still matters — and what’s at stake this time around.
What does this game mean in 2025? Is UConn-Tennessee still a rivalry?
Philippou: It’s not as much an active rivalry, and it’s far from what it once was, when there was clearly bad blood between the sides. But I don’t think anyone at either school views this as a run-of-the-mill nonconference game. Want proof? Look back to when Auriemma gave a fiery halftime interview in their meeting two seasons ago, complaining about the officiating after Tennessee narrowed UConn’s lead, and saying, “This is what you get when you come down here.”
Sure, the players don’t fully understand what the series was like in its heyday, and other powerhouse programs and rivalries have emerged over the past 18 years. But history and tradition are passed down when you don the national flag blue and white for UConn, and the orange and Summitt blue for Tennessee. And that means beating the other team on the court.
“When you walk in here, you kind of know that the blue hates the orange, and the orange hates the blue, so it’s definitely something,” Bueckers said. “And you talk to all the alum, and they’re like, ‘You need to beat Tennessee for us.’ So it’s a very important game.”
Voepel: Auriemma might talk about “stupid fans,” but he stirred the pot on this rivalry a great deal himself. Just as he did with former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw, Auriemma used wisecracks in news conferences to get in digs at Summitt. Did he truly intend them in a mean-spirited way? I don’t think so; he can’t resist the quips that are just natural to his personality. Plus, sometimes what’s said verbally in obvious jest comes across much harsher in print.
But take a situation like at the 2000 Final Four in Philadelphia, when reporters asked him about the cheesesteak restaurants in town across the street from each other called Pat’s and Geno’s.
“Pat’s is older and more dilapidated,” Auriemma said at the time. “Geno’s is bigger and brand new.”
The quote went the equivalent of viral in the days before social media. Auriemma could say something like that about colleagues he was very friendly with, like Louisville’s Jeff Walz or former Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale, and they would have just zinged him right back in their news conference. To Summitt and Tennessee fans, it sounded personal and insulting.
But Auriemma and his wife, Kathy, have been very supportive financially of The Pat Summitt Foundation for Alzheimer’s research, and he has talked sincerely countless times about what Summitt meant to the sport. Tennessee fans know that. But if they are old enough, fans on both sides remember the white-hot rivalry days. It isn’t like that now, and never will be again, but remnants still exist.
2:55
Pat vs. Geno was a rivalry for the ages
Geno Auriemma and Pat Summitt’s relationship was less than amicable, which led to UConn vs. Tennessee being one of the most heated rivalries in college basketball.
Does the series still matter?
Creme: While it would be naïve not to acknowledge that Notre Dame and South Carolina are bigger rivals for the Huskies these days, or that the Gamecocks, the standard-bearers in the SEC, are a more important competitor for the Lady Vols, this series absolutely still matters. UConn and Tennessee remain two of the biggest brands in the sport. Even if the Lady Vols haven’t been an elite program in many years, the casual college basketball-consuming public still thinks so. An acquaintance of mine who is a former college basketball player greeted me earlier this week with, “Hey, big game on Thursday night.” That was enough to convince me.
Philippou: Part of the reason the series mattered then, was both teams were the standard-bearers for the sport, some of their showdowns featuring slews of future Hall of Famers. Not only are there more strong programs and star players spread out across the country now — Tennessee has been outflanked by South Carolina and LSU in the SEC, alone — the Lady Vols haven’t been what they once were, having last been to an Elite Eight in 2016, and a Final Four in 2008. UConn has also dominated this series since it was revived, winning the four matchups by an average margin of 14 points.
That said, the more Tennessee continues to return to a national power under Caldwell — and if it can knock off the Huskies in the regular season or even the NCAA tournament — the more meaningful this series will be. And with the way Caldwell has started her tenure, not to mention the recruiting wins she has secured so far, the Lady Vols might already be well on their way.
Voepel: Part of the reason the series matters, to be frank, is we need to see UConn in nonconference games later in the season — like this month, when the Huskies play Tennessee and South Carolina. UConn has mostly dominated whatever league it has been in for the past three decades, with the exception of a few challengers in the “old” Big East, such as Notre Dame. UConn didn’t lose a single league game in its seven seasons in the American Athletic Conference before coming back to the current Big East, which no longer has teams like Notre Dame or Louisville (both now in the ACC).
Admittedly, South Carolina has dominated the SEC for the past decade, too. Baylor did so in the Big 12 for the decade before coach Kim Mulkey left for LSU; Stanford did it in the Pac-12 for much of the time the Cardinal were in that league. But those teams also tended to be pushed a little more at times in league play than UConn has been.
So it’s informative to watch the Huskies, who we know are always good, face at least a potentially harder match-up at this time of the season.
What’s new about the rivalry this season?
Creme: Tennessee. Caldwell’s pressing, board-crashing, 3-point shooting style has lit a spark in the program. These aren’t Summitt’s Lady Vols anymore. And, while there is a certain feeling of loss in a statement like that, Caldwell’s approach must be considered an early success. It also ignites a contrast in styles the rivalry has never seen. UConn commits the third fewest turnovers in the country. Tennessee forces the eighth most, and its 31.5 points off turnovers per game lead the nation. The Lady Vols want to play fast, and are second in the country in field goals attempted per game, and average the third most possessions per 40 minutes. The Huskies are 278th in that category. If styles make fights, this does have a chance to be a classic.
Philippou: Two years ago, Caldwell was scouting Division II opponents. She said she had a moment on the plane this week, as she started her UConn scout, when it sunk in: ‘Oh, we’re doing this.’ Facing Connecticut is not something she wants to get caught up about, and it helps that she and her team already have big game experience against the likes of LSU and South Carolina.
Auriemma and Caldwell don’t know each other super well, though they spent some time together in New York for the Women’s Champions Classic in December. But the 11-time national championship coach said he’s impressed with the job Caldwell’s done so far, and expects her team to challenge his squad.
“I think a lot of people were probably surprised when they saw [the Caldwell] hire, but a lot of times, that’s what’s needed,” Auriemma said, “to go outside and get a different point of view, different style. Their AD has made a lot of great hires and this looks like it’s going to turn out to be a really good one as well.”
What’s at stake in Thursday’s game?
Creme: Tennessee has been better than most expected this year, but the one missing piece of the résumé is that truly signature win. Valiant late rallies against Oklahoma, LSU and South Carolina fell short. There were also the losses at Texas and at Vanderbilt by a combined five points. As a result, Tennessee has a losing SEC record. If the Lady Vols have any hope for a top-four NCAA tournament seed, they need a game like this. UConn’s chances for a No. 1 seed hang in the balance with this game as well as the trip to South Carolina on Feb. 16. Losing both may keep the Huskies off the top line.
ESPN Analytics gives UConn an 80% chance to win. What’s your prediction?
Creme: UConn leads the country in offensive efficiency, assist-to-turnover ratio and field goal percentage. Much of that stems from being an experienced program with veteran leadership. Ultimately, that will rule the day. But it can’t be discounted that much of that data has also been built against a Big East with just one other NCAA tournament-caliber team. So, expect Tennessee to frustrate the Huskies at times. There just won’t be enough of those times, and the Lady Vols will fall short in yet another big game.
Philippou: I anticipate this game will go like Tennessee’s other big games this season, where the Lady Vols erase a big deficit to make things interesting toward the end, but can’t overcome the star power of their opponent — in this case, Bueckers, Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd. Tennessee hasn’t lost a game by more than seven points this season, and I don’t see that changing on Thursday. I predict UConn leaves Knoxville with a win, but only by six.
Voepel: Auriemma is surely happy to have this game, because he’s eager to see how his team at this point in the season reacts to being constantly pressed, having to defend against an opponent that is both up-tempo and shoots a lot of 3-pointers, and all with a large, hostile crowd. As Alexa said, the Lady Vols might get behind, but they never stop doing what Caldwell wants them to do: Keep their foot on the gas. UConn should win, and likely will. But if there’s going to be a breakthrough victory for the Lady Vols this season, maybe it’s this game. They’ve had a lot of preparation based on what they’ve faced in the SEC thus far.
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