Lady Vols basketball announces nonconference schedule for 2024-25, Kim Caldwell's first season

Lady Vols basketball announced its nonconference schedule for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, which includes the return of the historic rivalry between Tennessee and UConn .

The Lady Vols will play nine nonconference games at home, one on the road and three at neutral sites. They'll face at least 15 teams that played in the 2023 NCAA Tournament last season including SEC play, with two matchups still to be determined at the West Palm Beach Classic.

The Lady Vols-UConn series took a one-year hiatus last season due to scheduling conflicts. The Huskies have won all four matchups since the series was renewed during the 2019-20 season. Tennessee will host UConn on Feb. 6 during the thick of SEC play. According to UT, the UConn game is part of a home and home series with a date in Connecticut next season.

With both UConn and Iowa on the schedule, UT will face two of the 2024 Final Four teams this season.

Tennessee has 10 matchups with teams in ESPN's Way-Too-Early Top 25 including SEC play. South Carolina is the highest-ranked team on ESPN's projected rankings at No. 1 and UConn is the highest-ranked nonconference opponent at No. 3.

This year includes two games against former Lady Vols who are now head coaches. Tennessee travels to Memphis, which is coached by Alex Simmons, and hosts Winthrop, which is coached by Semeka Randall Lay. The Lady Vols are playing Memphis on the road for the first time since 2001, and it's also a homecoming game for redshirt senior Destinee Wells.

The Lady Vols will get to ease into a tougher December schedule. First they'll host Florida State on Dec. 4 in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Then they'll head to New York to play Iowa – the 2024 NCAA Final Four runner-up – on Dec. 7 in the Women's Champion Classic at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. UT plays at Memphis on Dec. – its only true road game in nonconference play – in the second game of a home-and-home series . Then it's the West Palm Beach Classic on Dec. 20-21 for two games at Keiser University in Florida.

Tennessee will host Middle Tennessee State, which beat the Lady Vols for the first time ever last season in a neutral-site matchup. This is the second game of a four-game series and will be played Nov. 12.

Tennessee Lady Vols basketball 2024-25 nonconference schedule

Oct. 31: Carson-Newman (exhibition)

Nov. 5: vs. Samford

Nov. 7: vs. UT Martin

Nov. 12: vs. Middle Tennessee State

Nov. 16: vs. Liberty

Nov. 26: vs. Western Carolina

Dec. 4: vs. Florida State

Dec. 7: vs. Iowa in Women's Champion Classic, New York (Barclay Center)

Dec. 14: vs. North Carolina Central

Dec. 18: at Memphis

Dec. 20-21: TBD at West Palm Beach (Florida) Classic (Keiser University)

Dec. 29: vs. Winthrop

Feb. 6: vs. UConn

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Lady Vols basketball announces nonconference schedule for 2024-25, Kim Caldwell's first season