Paige Bueckers and UConn to host JuJu Watkins and USC in December

STORRS, Conn. — Southern California and UConn gave women’s basketball fans an early holiday gift Monday, announcing a two-game series that will start with a game in Connecticut just before Christmas next season.

The game, which will be played on Saturday, Dec. 21, will feature two of the college game’s biggest stars in USC’s JuJu Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers.

It also will be a rematch of a regional final in March that saw the Huskies beat the Trojans, 80-73 to advance to the program’s 15th Final Four in the past 16 years.

The schools did not say where in Connecticut the game will be played. UConn plays about half of its home games at Gampel Pavilion on campus and the other half at the XL Center in Hartford. The Huskies also have hosted teams at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.

UConn has agreed to face the Trojans in Los Angeles during the 2025-26 season.

The Huskies have won all three of the previous games between the two programs.