The first two months of the 2025-26 women's college basketball season were full of big games. The willingness of elite programs to schedule each other and play in marquee events made for compelling basketball. But the matchups and stakes only get bigger in January.
December included a sprinkling of conference games, but league play now dominates the landscape as the new year arrives. Conference races will begin to take shape immediately, especially in the SEC and Big Ten, where some of the biggest games will be played over the next few weeks.
The season schedule will fall into a familiar pattern after the holidays, with Thursdays and Sundays absorbing the bulk of the most significant games.
The list of those impact games is long, but these are the 10 most compelling, can't-miss contests in January.
All times Eastern
USC Trojans at UCLA Bruins
Jan. 3: 8 p.m., Peacock (Los Angeles)
Both teams tested themselves plenty in November and December, so the level of competition won't be anything new. However, with USC's offense still a work in progress, playing UCLA at Pauley Pavilion will present some challenges. A Saturday night game in L.A. will be a good showcase for both a Bruins team with national title hopes and the Trojans' Jazzy Davidson, who leads the Trojans in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
Texas Longhorns at LSU Tigers
Jan. 11: 3 p.m., ESPN (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
The Tigers will finally have been tested before the Longhorns get to town -- with games against Kentucky and Vanderbilt to start the new year -- but this is the matchup that will begin to establish the SEC pecking order. Just the idea of watching LSU's white-hot offense against a lockdown Texas defense is enough to get excited.
Louisville Cardinals at Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Jan. 15: 6 p.m., ACCN (South Bend, Indiana)
With the ACC preseason No. 1 and No. 2 teams, Duke and NC State, not playing up to expectations in the first two months, the Cardinals and Fighting Irish might be the new conference favorites. This game could determine if that's indeed the case. These two teams will also play each other in their regular-season finales, so we could be looking at a de facto championship game preview.
Texas Longhorns at South Carolina Gamecocks
Jan. 15: 7 p.m., ESPN2 (Columbia, South Carolina)
As good as the SEC is at the top, if Texas beats LSU four days earlier and then wins this game at South Carolina, the race might be over by mid-January -- and the Longhorns can start designing their conference championship banner. This is a rematch of a nonconference game the two rivals played at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving Day, a contest the Longhorns narrowly won on a shot by Rori Harmon with 0.7 seconds left.
Maryland Terrapins at UCLA Bruins
Jan. 18: 4 p.m., NBC (Los Angeles)
If the Bruins are to be challenged in the Big Ten this season, this is one of the games the other contenders in the conference need to win. This is Maryland's only shot at UCLA this season, and it comes during a difficult stretch for the Terps, who play Ohio State and USC right before and Iowa immediately after.
LSU Tigers at Oklahoma Sooners
Jan. 18: 3 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2 (Norman, Oklahoma)
How could the game between the two highest-scoring teams in Division I not make the list? There are a combined 12 players in this matchup who are averaging at least 10 points per game. Both teams getting into the 90-point range is very possible.
Ohio State Buckeyes at TCU Horned Frogs
Jan. 19: 12 p.m., Fox (Newark, New Jersey)
The opener of the Coretta Scott King Classic features two of the best point guards in the country in TCU's Olivia Miles and Ohio State's Jaloni Cambridge. Both rank fourth in their respective conferences in scoring, shoot over 50% from the field and average more than two steals per game. This event also features Michigan vs. Vanderbilt on the last significant nonconference day of the season.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish at UConn Huskies
Jan. 19: 5 p.m., Fox (Storrs, Connecticut)
The nightcap on Martin Luther King Day features the defending champs and the team that has beaten them the past three times they've squared off. Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo has wreaked havoc on UConn, averaging 31.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.0 assists in two games, but this is the best Huskies team she'll face. This is the biggest remaining hurdle on UConn's run to an undefeated regular season.
USC Trojans at Michigan Wolverines
Jan. 25: 2 p.m., BTN (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
The Wolverines quickly established themselves as the Big Ten's second-best team during the nonconference part of their schedule, and USC will represent their biggest conference test to date. Although Davidson has been the Big Ten's top freshman, Michigan's Olivia Olson might be the best of a deep conference sophomore class that also includes Cambridge, Nebraska's Britt Prince, Iowa's Ava Heiden, Penn State's Kiyomi McMiller and Wolverines teammate Syla Swords.
Iowa State Cyclones at Texas Tech Lady Raiders
Jan. 28: 7 p.m., ESPN+ (Lubbock, Texas)
Texas Tech enters the month unbeaten -- exceeding all preseason expectations for a team picked 13th in the Big 12 -- potentially making this the most anticipated game for the program in years. No team outside of the Big 12 has been able to slow down Iowa State's Audi Crooks, who leads the country in scoring by more than three points per game and started Big 12 play with 41 points against Kansas.
