UConn Huskies recent NBA draft picks
NBA teams have drafted 47 UConn basketball players since 1947, including 19, or 40%, in the past 20 years alone. Here are some key names:
- James Bouknight
- Daniel Hamilton
- DeAndre Daniels
- Shabazz Napier
- Andre Drummond
- Jeremy Lamb
- Kemba Walker
- Stanley Robinson
- J. Price
- Hasheem Thabeet
- Hilton Armstrong
- Josh Boone
- Denham Brown
- Rudy Gay
- Marcus Williams
- Charlie Villanueva
- Ben Gordon
- Emeka Okafor
- Caron Butler
- Rip Hamilton
The Huskies have enjoyed many proud moments over the years. Highlights include winning the program’s first championship in 1999 against Duke, battling back for a one-point win in 2004 Final Four, and beating Georgia Tech in that year’s championship game. Their other titles came in 2011 and 2014.
UConn basketball coaches
Just before the 1986-87 season, Northeastern head coach Jim Calhoun took over at UConn. The following year, the team was performing very well and made it to the National Invitation Tournament. It defeated Ohio State 72-67 at Madison Square Garden, leading to an NIT win — UConn’s first national basketball title. Calhoun led the team during 1990’s “Dream Season” that brought the Huskies back to the national spotlight when they went from an unranked preseason to becoming first-time winners of the Big East regular season and tournament championships.
The Huskies hosted Syracuse on ESPN over the 1994-95 campaign, during which ESPN color commentator Dick Vitale stated that Storrs, Connecticut, was the “basketball capital of the world” because both the men and women’s teams were undefeated so far that season. This almost lasted for the Huskies, as they beat Syracuse but lost to Kansas.
Under Calhoun’s watch, UConn won five additional Big East regular-season titles and three more Big East Tournaments, in addition to reaching numerous regional finals. In the 1999 NCAA Tournament, the team won the program’s first national title. In 2005, Calhoun was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He eventually announced his retirement in 2012.
Not long after Calhoun retired, Kevin Ollie, a key Huskies player from 1991-95, became the team’s head coach. The team received a postseason ban in his first season due to a low Academic Progress Rate. But, in his second season, the Huskies made it back to the NCAA tournament. In March 2014, Ollie led the team to a Final Four, only the second coach to ever achieve this. The Huskies went on to win the men’s NCAA tournament, making them the first No. 7 seed to do so.
In 2018, UConn fired Ollie for reasons relating to an NCAA program investigation (an arbitrator recently ruled, however, that's Ollie's firing was improper and the University was ordered to pay him $11m in compensation). In March of that year, ex-Wagner College and Rhode Island head coach Dan Hurley took over as head coach.
Despite a very uncertain 2020-21 season that included three long shutdowns and 10 canceled or postponed games, Hurley still managed to lead the Huskies to the best winning percentage (.652) of his career at UConn and a third-place finish in their returning season to the Big East. He also got them to their first March Madness berth in five years.
UConn basketball all-time leaders and retired numbers
The top three all-time scorers for UConn are as follows:
- Chris Smith, who scored 2,145 points across four seasons from 1988-92.
- Richard Hamilton, who scored 2,036 points across three seasons from 1996-99.
- Tony Hanson, who scored 1,990 points across four seasons from 1973-77.
Kemba Walker is the top player by season, scoring 965 points in 2010-11. As for the top single-game player, it’s Bill Corley, who scored 51 points against New Hampshire during the 1967-68 season.
In December 2018, UConn retired No. 34, worn by Ray Allen. It commemorated this on March 3, 2019, during the team’s final 2018-19 home game. Additionally, the women’s team retired No. 50, worn by Rebecca Lobo, commemorating this during its final home game on March 2, 2019.
At this time, the university stated that number retirement would only occur for past Huskies players inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as Allen and Lobo had been.
UConn mascot, fight son & logo
The UConn logo is a husky, and its mascot is a dog named Jonathan the Husky. The college’s fight song is aptly named “UConn Husky” or “Husky Fight Song.” There have traditionally been two Jonathans, though. One is a student dressed up as a husky, and the other is an actual canine.
Jonathan the Husky was chosen as the mascot through a poll conducted in 1935 when students were asked to cast a vote. Since that time, 14 Jonathan dogs have undergone special training to be sure they’re comfortable with loud noises and crowds.
Throughout UConn’s history, each Jonathan has stood out in his own way and has been a beloved and popular feature of the campus. The dogs even have colorful interactions with the animal mascots of other colleges. For example, Jonathan II scared the brown bear mascot of Brown University up a tree, and Jonathan III chased Handsome Dan, Yale’s bulldog, around the Yale Bowl.
How much are UConn tickets?
You can get Huskies basketball season tickets pretty affordably. It requires a donation per seat, which directly helps to fund student-athlete scholarships.
Prices vary, but for some idea, men’s value season tickets start at $113 each, which consists of a $25 per-seat donation plus the $88 ticket cost. Women’s value season tickets start at $70. Note that the lower-level sections of the Gampel Pavilion and the XL Center require a $100 minimum donation to the Husky Athletic Fund.
You’re also able to buy single-game tickets. For example, a Jan. 1, 2022, game started at $13. Single courtside seats go for $198. For more information and to order tickets online, visit: tickets.uconnhuskies.com/basketball/
Where to watch UConn basketball
Most UConn games are available live on local networks or cable stations such as SNY, ESPN, CBS Sports Network, ABC, and FS1.
You can also listen to the game on the radio, via the college’s UConn Sports Network station. For a schedule of games and their coverage, check out uconnhuskies.com/coverage.
The college also offers a platform from which you can stream live sports, including basketball — Huskies All-Access. You can sign up for $6.95 per 24 hours, $10.95 per month, or $79.95 per year. Additionally, some tournaments are available to watch via streaming subscription to FloHoops, but this comes at a price of about $150 per year or $29.99 per month.
