Connecticut, as an FBS football school, became a member of The American, which retained the charter of the original Big East.

[3] Connecticut's season ended with a win in the championship game of the NCAA tournament, giving the Huskies and Auriemma their eighth title overall.

Michala Johnson decided to play closer to home, and transferred to Wisconsin, where her younger sister was set to join the team in 2013.

[17] Connecticut's incoming class of freshman included three players: Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck, and Moriah Jefferson.

[23] Stewart was named the girl's high school basketball player of the year by both Gatorade and Naismith for 2012.

[28] She earned a position on the USA Basketball U18 team, where she started all five games, helping the US to a gold medal at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.

[29] Geno Auriemma Chris Dailey Shea Ralph Marisa Moseley Roster Last update: 2013-10-03 Connecticut opened against the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Crimson Hawks.

[33][34][35] The team flew from Texas to St. Thomas on Monday, arriving in time to watch the men's championship game between Connecticut and New Mexico.

Although the Huskies men's team managed to take a late lead, New Mexico responded to win the championship.

Breanna Stewart was named the Tournament most valuable player, the only freshman to earn MVP honors in the thirteen-year history of the Paradise Jam other than Maya Moore in 2007.

[43] UConn faced Maryland in their next game, the first opponent ranked by the Coaches poll in the top ten.

The UConn defense, led by Kelly Faris, held All-American Alyssa Thomas to only six points, while forcing her to commit eight turnovers.

Stanford had beaten Baylor earlier in the season, and was voted to the top spot in the polls, where they had been for the past few weeks.

In addition to the #1 versus #2 story line, Stanford had the longest active home winning streak.

The rivalry featured the added dimension that Stanford had been the team to break UConn's record winning streak which reached 90 games before being stopped by the Cardinal.

UConn held the Cardinal to 19.3% field goal shooting, the lowest percentage in school history.

The win extended another UConn record: The last time they had lost back-to-back games was March 7, 1993, a date preceding the birth of six of the players on the team.

[54][55] The Marquette game was mentioned with the side story of the Connecticut vs Tennessee rivalry in women's basketball because of the Golden Eagles' assistant coach Tyler Summitt, the son of the now-retired Lady Vols head coach, participating in his first game against Auriemma.

Minor injuries nagged the Huskies as they prepared to play Marquette without Breann Stewart, who turned an ankle in practices.

Those missing players weren't enough to provide an edge for Marquette, as the Huskies opened up a 35 point halftime lead, and won the game 85–51.

The game against unranked St. Johns this year started out more like the upset, with the Red Storm leading several times.

[66] UConn faced Marquette for the second time this season, one of two teams appearing twice of the schedule (the other is Notre Dame).

[70] UConn then faced Baylor, the number 1 team in the country, at home, in front of a sellout crowd of 16,294.

Baylor's Brittney Griner, generally acknowledged as the top college player in the country, was held to four points in the first half.

In the second half, she scored 21 points, and when Connecticut doubled her, she was able to pass to an open post player for a layup.

Two UConn players reached the 1000 point career milestone, senior Kelly Faris and sophomore Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.

She now has over 1,000 points, 750 rebounds, 500 assists and 250 steals, a level only reached by one other Connecticut player in history, Maya Moore.

Their first opponent was Idaho, winner of the Western Athletic Conference title, playing in only their second ever NCAA Tournament game.

[76] UConn's next opponent was Maryland, a repeat of a regular season match up the Huskies had won by 15 points.

Stewart's 21 points led the team, and helped her to earn the tournament Most Outstanding Player honors.