Uconn Coach spotlight as Syracuse faces No. 1 UConn in Monday night NCAA Tournament test
uconn coach Geno Auriemma and Syracuse head coach Felisha Legette-Jack meet again in March Madness as No. 9 seed Syracuse faces top-ranked, undefeated UConn (35-0) on Monday in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Tournament at 6 p. m. ET on.
What happens when Uconn Coach Geno Auriemma and Felisha Legette-Jack meet again in March?
Monday’s game adds another chapter to a matchup that has become a recurring NCAA Tournament stop for Syracuse and UConn. It is the fourth time in the last five tournaments that the programs have met in the second round, with three of those matchups taking place in Storrs.
The history between the two head coaches stretches back well before this bracket. Legette-Jack’s connection includes the fact that Geno Auriemma recruited her when he was an assistant at Virginia in the mid-1980s. Legette-Jack ultimately stayed home, becoming an All-American at Syracuse, while Auriemma later built his program at UConn.
Syracuse is still searching for a breakthrough in the series. The Orange are 12-41 all-time against the Huskies and have not defeated them since Jan. 2, 1996, when Legette-Jack was an assistant on the Syracuse coaching staff. Monday marks the second NCAA Tournament meeting between Legette-Jack and Auriemma in three years, with Syracuse trying to turn familiarity into a result.
What if Syracuse’s current momentum carries into the toughest test of the tournament?
Syracuse arrives in the second round after a 72-63 first-round win over Iowa State. Freshman center Uche Izoje delivered a dominant performance with 23 points, and sophomore guard Olivia Schmitt posted a career-high 15 points. Schmitt’s run of five straight three-pointers in the second quarter helped Syracuse put the game away.
The Orange’s tournament consistency has been a defining feature of the program’s recent profile: Syracuse has advanced to the second round in eight of its last nine NCAA Tournament appearances. This season, Syracuse is 24-8 after being picked to finish 13th in the ACC preseason poll, a gap between expectation and performance that has framed the team’s path into this matchup.
The opponent, though, is the highest possible bar in the bracket. UConn enters Monday’s second-round game top-ranked and undefeated at 35-0. That reality makes the Orange’s task straightforward to describe and difficult to execute: Syracuse must find a way through an opponent that has repeatedly ended its March hopes, including in the deepest meeting between the programs.
What happens when history and stakes collide in a familiar March matchup?
The programs’ most notable postseason meeting remains the 2016 National Championship game, when a 4-seed Syracuse team reached the title game and fell 82-51 in Indianapolis. For Syracuse, that season is still the reference point for the program’s highest March peak and the challenge of facing UConn on a major stage.
On Monday night, Syracuse is chasing a benchmark tied to that earlier run. A win would be the program’s second Sweet Sixteen appearance and its first since that historic 2016 season. With so many recent second-round meetings, the stakes also carry a familiar edge: this is a chance for Syracuse to change what the series has been, not just extend the season.
Legette-Jack is now in her fourth year leading Syracuse, and the program enters the game positioned as a confident underdog with a recent first-round performance that highlighted both interior scoring and perimeter shot-making. Across the sideline is uconn coach Geno Auriemma with a top-ranked, undefeated team, setting up a Monday night game shaped by current form, recurring tournament history, and the weight of a long-running series.
