For the second-straight year, the No. 4 UConn non-conference schedule is a veritable murderers row. They’ll face the No. 2, 3, 6, 9, 16, and 17th ranked teams in the AP Preseason poll, all before the calendar turns to 2027.
To get ready for the gauntlet, we divided the stretch into November and December matchups.
Here’s a breakdown of three things to know about the December matchups.
No. 3 Illinois (Friday, Dec. 4)
Dan Hurley can’t keep getting away with this, right? Illinois is a proud basketball program, and the Huskies have owned the last three matchups. This fourth test, at the United Center in Chicago, will be the toughest yet.
Overs Everywhere
UConn will face a lot of tough teams this year, but none with the offensive capabilities of the Illini starting five. Provided David Mirkovic is out of the boot from the foot injury he picked up in preseason, the 6-foot-9 sophomore can bully smaller matchups inside or space the floor at a 35% clip. He’s a top-five player in the country with a good chance to be an All-American as the hub of the Illini offense.
Tomislav Ivisic is a pick-and-pop maven that hit 50 threes last year. His brother Zvonimir regressed as a shooter last year but you still have to leave the paint and guard him.
If you have the horses to stay with that trio, good luck containing a backcourt of Stefan Vaaks and Quentin Coleman. The former, a Providence transfer, averaged 15.8 points per game last year as a freshman. He has ‘in-the-gym’ range and no conscious. Coleman, a five-star freshman, has the craft of Keaton Wagler and has shown poise in the preseason running pick-and-rolls.
Don’t forget Peja’s kid, Andrej, who may not be the shooter his father was but is elite at pressuring the rim. That entire starting five has game-breaking individual ability. If Brad Underwood can toe the lie between sets and off-script, look out.
Depth
Jake Davis is one of the best three-and-D glue guys in the country, and a luxury off the bench. Zvonimir Ivisic is a skilled 7-footer that excels in drop coverage and clogs up the paint. Not many of those in the country as a backup. But after that? Brad Underwood will have to rely on unproven freshmen. It’s not a crime to go only seven deep in college basketball, especially when that unit is so talented. But that leaves the margin for error with injuries and foul trouble extra thin.
Defense?
Illinois was transcendent on offense last year. It was their defense that ultimately did them in against the Huskies last April. The unit was fine (Top 20 in KenPom), but not suffocating and stop-generating when it needed to be.
They lost some valuable pieces from last year’s defense; Wagler was a plus defender, and Kylan Boswell was a point-of-attack bulldog.
The twin towers inside and Mirkovic’s versatility are great starting points. Stojakovic is a plus defender.
Vaaks…doesn’t do defense. Coleman will have to play Boswell’s disruptor role, something he seems capable of but is a lot to ask for a freshman. The defense will be Top 25 without a doubt. But Illinois’ ceiling depends if that unit can become a nasty, tone-setting top 10 unit.
No. 17 Kansas (Saturday, Dec. 12)
The Huskies waltzed into Allen Fieldhouse last year and took down an incomplete Jayhawks squad. Can they complete the home-and-home sweep? All of college basketball will be rooting for them, as the Jayhawks are one of the villains of the season for their exploitation of the NCAA’s wanton use of eligibility.
Reinforcements
In the summer, Kansas had a lot of question marks. Christian Reeves had undergone labrum surgery, Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White were awaiting eligibility questions. But the college basketball gods refused to let Bill Self go out (allegedly) with a lackluster team.
Now, Council and White can play, and in walks Purdue transfer Trey Kaufman-Renn, back in college after not signing an NBA contract. TKR changes the Jayhawks trajectory, while also giving college basketball fans an easy target to root against, because how on earth is this okay?!
Anywho, those three collegiate vets (borderline retirees) can imbue potential No. 1 pick Tyran Stokes, who Bill Self is touting as his ‘best passer ever.’ Hyperbole aside, provided the long arm of the law doesn’t reverse the rulings, Kansas now is big, old and talented.
TKR is a 24-year old 6-foot-9 bruiser that operates in those high post creases that Self likes to exploit, creases that made KJ Adams so devastating a few years ago. With Stokes’ playmaking also in tow, the Jayhawks can now operate as an inside-out unit with enough size and switchability on the wings defensively.
Point…Forward
Are point guard duties really going to be thrust upon Taylen Kinney, the creator of the 6-7 gag? The 6-foot-3 guard is a talented five-star prospect; Stokes and Kinney combined for 41 points in their preseason loss to Duke. But how many freshman point guards step in and run an offense effectively? Kinney might be more effective as a secondary playmaker. Leroy Blyden Jr., a 6-foot-1 sophomore transfer from Toledo, is a more natural point guard but will have to handle the level up. Neither of them project as high-usage hubs, so who’s Bill Self’s guy?
The answer is Stokes. Blyden, Kinney, and NC State transfer Dennis Parker Jr all are plus shooters, so put the ball in the 6 ‘8 freshman Stokes’ hands and let him create, a la Cam Boozer at Duke last year.
Making Shots
Kansas’ best teams have always had a low-post operator. They have one now with TKR. A lineup of Kinney-Council-White-Stokes-TKR is positionless with lots of versatile pieces. But is there enough shooting to space the floor? Council shot 30% from three last year but has never met a shot he didn’t like. White can hit them, Kinney probably, but TKR and Stokes? The jury’s out.
It’s enticing on paper, but could be a disaster if shots aren’t falling.
No. 9 Virginia (Sunday, Dec. 20)
This will be UConn’s final game of its noncon gauntlet, and it’s a doozy. Virginia may not get the headlines of Duke or Michigan, but there’s a world where this is a top-five matchup.
Don’t Sleep on the Hoos
AP slots Virginia at No. 9, while most sites have them in the 10-15 range. Analytics site Bart Torvik agrees with me, ranking Virginia as the No. 5 team in the country. Crack open the tape and walk with me on this journey; the Hoos defend, share the ball, and shoot it at an elite clip. Ryan Odom has maybe three more months before the world notices what he’s done (30 wins last year in his debut at Virginia, taking four teams to the NCAA tournament.)
Maybe there are some depth concerns, maybe a lack of athleticism versus the Dukes of the world expose them, but there aren’t many warts on this roster. But roster continuity matters, and Virginia brings back effectively four starters. Factor in a rising star in Odom on the sidelines, and this is a ‘buy low’ team if I’ve ever seen one. Michigan was ranked No. 7 in AP last year to start and made quick work of that underseeding.
Their preseason detonation of Villanova only underscores my claims.
There’s a Pattern
Stop me if you’ve heard this before; a 6-foot-9, do-everything, inside-out mismatch nightmare paired with a 7-foot rim protector that’s also a pick-and-pop threat. Could be Arizona, Duke, or Illinois. But the team that does it best could be Virginia.
It starts up front with Thijs De Ridder, a 6-foot-9 beast who earned first-team All-ACC last year. The 24-year old sophomore shot 35% from three last year but is just as comfortable bulldozing inside. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him garner All-American buzz if the Hoos have the type of season the analytics are projecting.
Head coach Ryan Odom pairs De Ridder with Johann Grunloh, a 7-foot rim protector with that shot 35% from three last year. Grunloh and De Ridder are not afraid of contact inside but have enough finesse in their game to keep spacing intact.
Your Favorite Writer’s Favorite Player
This is my 2026-27 college basketball mancrush. Charlottesville product Chance Mallory is electric, appointment television. The 5-foot-10 waterbug is impossible to stay in front of, takes care of the rock and makes his teammates better. Put catch-and-shoot weapons like UC Irvine transfer Jurian Dixon and senior connector Sam Lewis around him and watch Mallory cook. A Mallory and De Ridder pick-and-roll could be devastating.
Odom runs some well-executed, layered sets that look like they were ripped from Luke Murray’s playbook. Mallory makes them sparkle.
He won’t get exposed on the other side of the ball, either. Since the 2007-08 season, Mallory is one of only 10 high-major players 6-foot or shorter in Bart Torvik’s database to have finished a season with both a defensive rebound rate of 12% and a steal rate above 3.5%.
There’s a chance that with more usage comes more exposure, and Mallory won’t sneak up on anyone now. But the eye test shows moxie, and in this system, it’s more likely to flourish.