After Yale beat UConn in 2014, the Huskies stopped playing them. On Monday, UConn will be the University of New Haven men’s basketball team’s first D-I opponent.
3:25 am, Nov 03, 2025
Staff Reporter
David Schamis
For decades, Yale versus UConn was a staple of Connecticut basketball. The programs met 14 times between 1987 and 2014. But the rivalry ended in December 2014, when the Bulldogs, winless against the Huskies until then, stunned them 45-44 on a buzzer-beating game winner. The Storrs–New Haven matchup hasn’t been played since.
Until now. Sort of.
On Monday night, the Huskies will face a New Haven–affiliated team again. But it won’t be Yale. They’ll face the University of New Haven — a private university located in West Haven — which is newly elevated to college basketball’s top tier.
The Chargers have spent decades in Division II, a level below the NCAA’s main stage, but were promoted to Division I last spring after several strong seasons. Their first test: No. 4 ranked UConn, a six-time national champion and back-to-back title winner in 2023 and 2024.
The hour-long trip to Storrs is one the Bulldogs would gladly make again –– if they were invited. Despite Yale’s being the state’s most successful program outside the Huskies over the past decade, UConn has refused to schedule them since the 2014 upset, Yale head coach James Jones said.
“They don’t want to play a team that’s dangerous like we are,” Jones told the News. It’s a symptom of what Jones calls the “curse of the mid-major.” The Elis, unanimously picked to win the Ivy League for the third straight season, don’t bring the national buzz of a Big Ten or SEC opponent, but they’re also too good to expect an easy win.
That makes it difficult to book games against powerhouse teams who fill their schedules in one of two ways: with marquee opponents that draw headlines, or games that guarantee wins.
Teams like the Huskies are willing to pay for the latter. According to a game contract obtained by the News, UConn will pay a combined $305,000 to three low-ranked opponents this season, including the University of New Haven, as part of a multi-team event arranged through the Basketball Hall of Fame.
The deal specifies that each opponent must have finished last season with a NCAA evaluation tool — or NET — ranking outside the top 250.
UConn is just one opponent of a star-studded cast of them on New Haven’s first Division I schedule. The Chargers, ranked 360th out of 365 teams by kenpom.com, will also play Penn State, Vanderbilt, Boston College and Seton Hall, matchups that are likely to bring in around $100,000 each.
“It’s a great financial impact for the university and also more recognition for the entire program,” New Haven head coach Ted Hotaling said. “We’re gonna be on ESPN.”
Yale, meanwhile, fresh off back-to-back March Madness appearances, including a stunning 2024 upset over No. 4 seed Auburn, will face only one Power Five opponent this year: No. 15 Alabama. The Bulldogs typically schedule one or two high-major teams a season, most of them programs whose coaches have a personal relationship with Jones, like Alabama’s head coach Nate Oats.
UConn men’s basketball did not respond to request for comment.
The Elis will earn $85,000 for making the trip to Tuscaloosa, an arrangement that benefits programs like Alabama that pay visiting teams but keep every dollar of ticket and broadcast revenue.
Yale and the University of New Haven were originally scheduled to play this season, but New Haven canceled the matchup, according to Jones. The Chargers have a 0.04 percent chance of victory against UConn on Monday, according to kenpom.com.
As for the odds of the Yale–UConn matchup returning anytime soon, Jones made clear what it would take.
“We’d have to stink,” he said.
At home, the University of New Haven basketball teams play in the Jeffery P. Hazell Athletic Center.
Ben Raab is the Managing Editor of the Yale Daily News. He previously served as the faculty and academics beat reporter, and also covers the Yale men’s basketball team. Originally from New York City, Ben is a junior in Pierson college majoring in history and political science.
