STORRS, Conn. – The second-ranked UConn women’s basketball team (7-0) will face No. 22 Louisville (5-3) in the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic this Saturday at 9 p.m. at Barclays Center. The game will air on FOX and the UConn Sports Network from Learfield (FOX Sports 97-9).

The Women’s Champions Classic is a new early-season showcase for college basketball. It will be an annual event featuring UConn and a rotation of some of the most storied programs in women’s college basketball.

In the first game of the Classic, Iowa and Tennessee play at 7 p.m

UConn defeated Holy Cross 88-52 on Tuesday at Gampel Pavilion. Freshmen Sarah Strong Scored a season-high 22 points on 9-12 shooting, including 4-5 from three-point range. She added seven rebounds, two assists and two steals. PhD student Kaitlyn Chen had a season-high 14 points and seven assists against the Crusaders.

The Cardinals are the first of four ranked opponents the Huskies face in December. UConn travels to No. 10 Notre Dame next Thursday and faces No. 20 Iowa State on the 17th^Th at Mohegan Sun and hosts the No. 1 on Dec. 21 at the XL Center. 6 U.S.C.

UConn is 19-3 all-time against Louisville. The teams met last season in Hartford, Connecticut, an 86-62 win for UConn. Redshirt senior Paige Bueckers had 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, five blocks and two steals against the Cardinals last season.

Louisville fell to No. 11 Oklahoma 78-72 on Wednesday night. This season, Tajianna Roberts and Jayda Curry lead the Cardinals with 12.0 points per game each. Head coach Jeff Walz is in his 18th season at Louisville.