Going into the game, UConn and Syracuse had met 49 times in women's basketball, mostly when both teams were in the Big East Conference, with UConn winning 37 games.
Following that season, Syracuse and two other Big East schools left for the ACC; the seven schools that did not sponsor Division I FBS football left to form a new Big East Conference; and the remaining members of the original Big East, including UConn, reorganized as the American Athletic Conference.