UConn and Maryland are set to tip off at Barclays Center on Saturday, Dec. 5, and the first 6,000 fans at the Brooklyn arena will walk out with a piece of basketball history in hand: a double-sided Breanna Stewart figurine marking her championship runs at both UConn and in the WNBA.
The matchup is part of the 2026 Women’s Champions Classic, an early-season showcase that according to uconnhuskies.com will pit the Huskies against the Terrapins as part of a doubleheader airing in primetime on FOX. The Huskies enter with an 8-1 all-time record against Maryland, per the same UConn release.
As for who else is playing, there's a wrinkle. UConn's own athletics site lists Michigan and Iowa State as the event's other matchup, while a separate report describes the doubleheader as featuring Michigan against Oklahoma alongside UConn-Maryland, according to a report built on New York Post reporting. The discrepancy between the two accounts hasn't been resolved.
A Figurine Built For Two Eras
The giveaway itself is straightforward in concept but unusual in design. The first 6,000 fans attending the Dec. 5 showcase will receive what's described as a double-sided Stewie figurine, built to capture two very different chapters of the same career, as the same report notes.
One side shows Stewart in a white UConn jersey holding an NCAA Tournament trophy, while the flip side depicts her in her New York Liberty uniform alongside a nod to the team's 2024 title. It's a tidy physical summary of a résumé that spans college and professional dominance, bookending her four consecutive national championships at UConn with her status as a three-time WNBA champion.
Stewart herself has seen the finished product and signed off on it, saying simply, “I just approved it,” while also noting her hair looked a little dark on the figurine, per the same outlet's report. The giveaway is intended to celebrate her championship excellence at UConn and beyond, according to the New York Post's original report on the item, as detailed by the New York Post.
Why Stewart Still Draws A Crowd
It's easy to see why organizers built a giveaway around her. Stewart was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player a record four times during her UConn career, according to UConn's Huskies of Honor page, and she's continued stacking professional championships and accolades since turning pro. She remains widely regarded as one of the greatest players in college basketball history and one of the defining stars of her league.
This isn't the only bobblehead built around her legacy, either. FOCO sells a separate Stewart figurine that portrays her in a white UConn gameday uniform in an action pose, with her career statistics printed on the backdrop, according to foco.com. The Barclays Center giveaway takes a different approach by splitting her career into two uniforms on a single figure rather than focusing on one chapter alone.
A Showcase On The Rise
The Women's Champions Classic has been building momentum since its debut. The 2025 edition drew more than 11,000 fans to Barclays Center for the second year in a row, with UConn beating Iowa 90-64 in that year's matchup, per uconnhuskies.com's recap of last season's event. Television numbers climbed too, with the broadcast peaking at 860,000 FOX viewers and averaging 617,000, a 20 percent increase over the 2024 average.
The 2026 event is the third annual Women's Champions Classic. The same release noted that general-public tickets for the 2026 event were scheduled to go on sale March 13 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster. Whichever version of the doubleheader ends up on the court alongside UConn and Maryland, the bobblehead giveaway has already given Brooklyn fans an extra reason to circle Dec. 5 on the calendar.
