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On Wednesday, it was reported by Jon Rothstein that two old Big East rivals would be meeting in 2018. On Thursday, the UConn Huskies and Villanova Wildcats officially announced a restart of their rivalry in the form of a three-game series that’s set to take place over the course of the next three seasons.
Villanova & @UConnMBB announce three game series starting this season on Jan. 20, 2018 in Hartford!
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) June 15, 2017
Details: https://t.co/3mv1APEHFC pic.twitter.com/d1DBsUMBB2
RIVALRY RENEWED: UConn to play @NovaMBB in three games, starting this season and going through 2019-20.
— UConn Men's Hoops (@UConnMBB) June 15, 2017
STORY: https://t.co/7LoOytpxZu pic.twitter.com/Sn4WGWfdYA
The releases from the program indicate that the series will be 1-1-1 as far as locations go, going home-neutral-home between the two programs.
The first meeting, as was reported on Wednesday, will take place at the XL Center in Hartford. The 2018-19 edition of the series will take place 11 months later on December 22, 2018 inside The World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden in New York City. Then, on January 18, 2020, the Huskies and Wildcats will meet at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia to conclude the series.
Suffice it to say, this is an excellent and exciting development. Credit to UConn and Villanova for getting this done in a way that can please just about everybody. That they were able to secure a “neutral” site game at MSG makes it all the more exciting, as that environment should be nothing short of a hoot.