The big thing is that somebody (TV, I guess) is offering up more money to put the game somewhere neutral, for bigger attendance, which means more profit, than a home game.
Feels like 80% of the time when these big non-conf matchups get announced, it's immediately designated at a neutral site.
I will give UConn some credit - Hartford is at least close to Storrs (35 min) and Boston and MSG are pretty easy to get to from Connecticut (1.5 hours to Boston and 3.5 to NYC)
Gampel (UConn's home arena) seats 10k
XL is 16k
MSG is 19,500
TD Garden is also 19,500
Tournaments, like Maui, Players Era and Champions Classic, are different, they are almost always somewhere neutral. But the one-off or two-year non-conf matchups are going more and more neutral site.
Lastly, Moody isn't yet a big name place to play, at least in terms of reputation. Teams want to play at Allen Fieldhouse, Cameron Indoor, the Dean Smith Center, Rupp, etc. because they are prestigious and hallowed.