STORRS — Opening the 2025-26 season with a ranked neutral-site matchup wouldn’t have been coach Geno Auriemma’s first choice. He couldn’t remember off the top of his head who the UConn women’s basketball team played first in 2024-25, and he prefers it that way.

Last season began on an 86-32 rout of Boston University in Hartford, a low-stakes starting point for the team’s 2025 NCAA championship run. No. 20 Louisville will pose a much bigger challenge to begin the year when they face the Huskies in the Armed Forces Classic at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland on Tuesday.

“I’d rather kind of ease into it,” Auriemma said with a chuckle after practice Friday. “It’s not like we planned for this. It’s just an opportunity that came up, and you can’t pass it up … It’s not the ea

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