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Former UConn pitcher PJ Poulin called up to majors with Washington Nationals

2025-08-04T14:56:16-04:00

Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog

Poulin is the ninth Husky to reach the big leagues under Jim Penders.

Another Husky is heading to the majors. On Monday, the Washington Nationals called up left-handed pitcher PJ Poulin, making him the ninth UConn baseball player to reach the major leagues during the Jim Penders Era.

Drafted in the 11th round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies, Poulin was traded to the Detroit Tigers in March 2024. He began the current season with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens and was added to the Tigers’ 40-man roster in early July, only to be designated for assignment on the final day of the month. The Washington Nationals claimed Poulin on waivers and will now add him to the major league roster.

In 35 appearances with the Mud Hens this season, he owns a 3.38 ERA and 2.23 WHIP while limiting opponents to a .233 batting average in 42.2 innings.

A native of Marion, Massachusetts, Poulin pitched at UConn from 2016-18. As a junior, he set the Huskies’ program record with 16 saves while making 31 appearances. With a 3.62 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 49.2 innings, he earned ABCA/Rawlings Third Team All-American honors.

Poulin is the 22nd UConn baseball player to reach the major leagues all-time and the ninth to play under Penders, joining George Springer, Ben Casparius, Matt Barnes, Nick Ahmed, Scott Oberg, Anthony Kay and Mike Olt.

WNBA photo gallery: New York Liberty @ Connecticut Sun - 8/3/25

2025-08-03T19:24:11-04:00

Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog

Tina Charles led the Sun in scoring in the loss.

Sabrina Ionescu had a double-double of 36 points and 11 rebounds to lead the New York Liberty to an 87-78 win over the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on Sunday afternoon.

Former UConn star Tina Charles led the Sun with 17 points. Bria Hartley added 12 points while Olivia Nelson-Ododa had eight points.

Husky legend Breanna Stewart missed the game as she out indefinitely with a bone bruise in her knee for the Liberty.

Photo ©: Ian Bethune

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UConn women’s basketball releases 2025-26 non-conference schedule

2025-08-02T10:27:04-04:00

Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog

The fun part of the Huskies’ upcoming slate is finally out.

UConn women’s basketball’s 2025-26 non-conference schedule is set. The Huskies will play 11 contests (plus two exhibitions), with five at home and another two at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

Before the action begins in earnest, UConn will face Boston College on Oct. 13 at Mohegan Sun Arena as part of a doubleheader with the men’s squads. After that, the Huskies will get one final tune-up against Southern Connecticut State on Oct. 26 (venue TBA).

The regular season begins in Germany when UConn battles Louisville in the Armed Forces Classic at Ramstein Air Base. The Huskies then return stateside for their home opener against Florida State on Nov. 9 at Gampel Pavilion. That kicks off a three-game homestand that includes matchups with Loyola Chicago on Nov. 12 (venue TBA) and Ohio State at PeoplesBank Arena (formerly the XL Center) on Nov. 16.

From there, UConn remains in the state for the Women’s Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena. The Huskies will play Michigan on Nov. 21 followed by Utah on Nov. 23 — a recent change after the event switched from a tournament-style format.

UConn’s first true road contest won’t come until December when it returns to Tampa — the site of its recent national championship victory — to play former conference foe USF on the 3rd. 10 days later, the Huskies will go cross-country for an Elite Eight rematch with USC.

Later in the month, UConn will line up against Iowa in the Champions Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Dec. 20. While the Huskies won’t play in a Thanksgiving week tournament this season, they have three high-profile neutral site events with the Armed Forces Classic, Hall of Fame Showcase and Champions Classic.

UConn’s two arch-rivals both come to Connecticut after the new year. Notre Dame will venture to Gampel Pavilion for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day showdown on Jan. 19 while Tennessee will travel to the XL Center on Feb. 1.

One notable series omitted from the Huskies’ non-conference slate is South Carolina, which had been a feature in every regular season over the last decade. Geno Auriemma previously hinted that the annual meeting wouldn’t be renewed when they faced off back in February, though.

“We’ve always been pretty good at trying to spread our brand around, not get stuck just playing regional type games,” he said. “So we’ve got the USC thing, right? That’s a new one. You want to try to keep adding new ones.”

UConn also has two fewer non-conference openings than recent years after the Big East decided to move from an 18-game conference schedule to a 20-game, double round robin. On top of that, Auriemma wanted to play fewer marquee matchups after the new year so his team could get a break over the second half of the season. In 2024-25, the Huskies didn’t have more than three days between contests during a stretch from Dec. 29 and Mar. 2.

“In a real world, I’d like to keep all of [the big non-conference games] but there has to be enough time so that we don’t have to do two of these in February,” Auriemma said ahead of the trip to South Carolina.

Tip-times and television designations will be released at a later date, as will the venues for Southern Connecticut and Loyola Chicago.

Ready to get the 2025-26 season going.

The non-conference schedule is HERE pic.twitter.com/Nw6ChZjzgM
— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) August 1, 2025

WNBA photo gallery: New York Liberty @ Connecticut Sun - 8/1/25

2025-08-01T23:20:00-04:00

Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog

The Sun’s UConn connection combined for 35 points in the win.

Marina Mabrey had 18 points while Tina Charles had 15 points to lead the Connecticut Sun to a 78-62 win over the New York Liberty at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on Friday night

Former UConn star Olivia Nelson-Ododa had 16 points while Bria Hartley had four points. Husky legend Breanna Stewart missed the game as she out indefinitely with a bone bruise in her knee for the Liberty.

Photo ©: Ian Bethune

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UConn’s matchups for Women’s Hall of Fame Showcase changed

2025-07-30T11:52:44-04:00

Photo by Abigail Dean/NCAA Photos via Getty Images

The event switched from a tournament format to two scheduled matchups.

UConn women’s basketball’s schedule for the 2025 Women’s Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun Arena changed slightly after the event announced a format change on Wednesday. Instead of a tournament-style bracket, the Huskies will just play two pre-determined contests.

On Nov. 21, UConn will battle Michigan at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Two days later, the Huskies will take on Utah — originally their Friday night opponent — at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The tip-times and television information were released alongside the format change.

The move should benefit UConn, which is now guaranteed two compelling matchups. Michigan is a program on the rise thanks to rising sophomore stars Olivia Olson (Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year) and Syla Swords (All-Big Ten Second Team). Last season, the Wolverines went 23-11 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed.

Meanwhile, Utah has made four straight appearances in the field of 68 and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2023. The Utes are led by first-year head coach Gavin Petersen, though he took over as the interim last season when former head coach Lynne Roberts left for the same job with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

These are the first official tip-times on UConn’s schedule. Other dates include an exhibition with Boston College at Mohegan Sun Arena on Oct. 13, the season opener against Louisville on Nov. 5 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, trips to USF on Dec. 3 and USC on Dec. 13, as well as the Champions Classic against Iowa on Dec. 20 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

WNBA photo gallery: Golden State Valkyries @ Connecticut Sun - 7/27/25

2025-07-27T21:50:46-04:00

Ian Bethune/The UConn Blog

Kaitlyn Chen and Tiffany Hayes return to Connecticut was spoiled by the Sun.

Tina Charles had 24 points to lead the Connecticut Sun to a dominating 95-64 win over the Golden State Valkyries at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT on Sunday afternoon.

Former UConn star Bria Hartley had 15 points for the Sun while Olivia Nelson-Ododa didn’t score in just nine minutes of action due to foul trouble.

The Valkyries UConn contingent of Tiffany Hayes and Kaitlyn Chen had four points and three points respectively. For Chen, it was her first professional game in the state where she helped the flagship university win a national championship.

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Key details revealed on UConn’s home schedule

2025-07-24T23:04:02-04:00

Ian Bethune

The Huskies will split 16 home games between their two venues while Florida State has been added to the slate.

Some key details about UConn women’s basketball’s 2025-26 schedule were revealed in an email to season ticket holders on Thursday.

The Huskies are set to play 16 home contests this season, split evenly with eight games apiece at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and PeoplesBank Arena (formerly the XL Center) in Hartford. It didn’t say whether that included the exhibition against Southern Connecticut State, too.

While not all the matchups were revealed, it did mention that UConn will play Ohio State and Tennessee in Hartford while Notre Dame and Florida State will come to Storrs. The first three opponents were previously known but the addition of the Seminoles is new.

Florida State is coming off a trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, though it lost leading scorer Ta’Niya Latson to the transfer portal. The Huskies are a perfect 10-0 in the series, though this will be the first meeting between the schools since Dec. 18, 2022. UConn — helmed by Chris Dailey after Geno Auriemma fell ill pregame — came out with an 85-77 victory at Mohegan Sun Arena. They previously completed a home-and-home during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 campaigns.

With 16 true home contests, two regular season matchups and likely three Big East Tournament games at Mohegan Sun Arena along with the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament at Gampel Pavilion, the Huskies are slated to play inside Connecticut’s borders on 23 occasions this year. For reference, UConn played 20 games in the state last season.

UConn men’s basketball announces home-and-home exhibition series with Michigan State

2025-07-24T16:42:36-04:00

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Sparty will come to Connecticut for the first time since 1998.

UConn men’s basketball continues to assemble a loaded schedule for the upcoming season, but is doing so in a unique way. The Huskies announced a home-and-home exhibition series with Michigan State that will start this fall, with the Spartans heading to Hartford this year.

UConn and Michigan State will face off in Hartford at PeoplesBank Arena on Oct. 28, 2025, while the Huskies will head to East Lansing to take on Sparty in a 2026 on a date yet to be determined. With UConn set to play a men’s and women’s doubleheader against Boston College at Mohegan Sun on Oct. 13, it’s the first time UConn will play two exhibition games prior to the team’s season opener since the 2016-17 season.

The Huskies and Michigan State last squared off in 2021, where Dan Hurley and UConn fell to Tom Izzo’s Spartans in the semifinals of the 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis. The two schools have four wins each against one another in a series that dates back to 1998. After a home-and-home series in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, the team’s last six battles have come on neutral courts.

With the announcement of the exhibition against Michigan State, UConn also announced the location of two marquee non-conference games. Texas will come to Hartford on Dec. 12, 2025 while Arizona will head to Storrs to take on the Huskies at Gampel Pavilion on Nov. 19, 2025. The most up-to-date schedule can be found here.