UConn Huskies at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and the XL Center
The Huskies split their home games between the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut, and the larger XL Center in Hartford. Gampel opened in 1990 and seats more than 10,000 fans, while the XL Center, formerly the Hartford Civic Center, opened in 1975 and has a capacity of nearly 16,000 for basketball games. Home games feature a boisterous student section and the charming Big Red tradition. When the Huskies make a run or score a big bucket, a longtime redheaded superfan named Tom Emery leads the arena in a "U! C! O! N! N! UConn! UConn! UConn!" chant.
UConn Huskies Men's Basketball History
Entering the 2019–2020 season, the UConn Huskies men's basketball team had won more national championships since 1999 than any other program in the country — four in all, three of them under coach Jim Calhoun and one under his successor, former point guard Kevin Ollie. Their title seasons featured some of the best players in the college game, among them Richard Hamilton in 1999, Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor in 2004, Kemba Walker in 2011, and Shabazz Napier in 2014.
It was Calhoun who turned a regional power into a national power. Under longtime coach Hugh Greer, the Huskies won 12 Yankee Conference titles in 16 full seasons but made it beyond the NCAA tournament's first round only once. Greer died of a heart attack in 1963, having won 286 games and lost 112, a winning percentage of .719 clip. Calhoun was hired away from Northeastern in 1986 and by the end of the decade he'd fashioned UConn into a team worthy of a top seed in the NCAA tourney. That 1989–90 "Dream Season" included a memorable Sweet 16 victory over Clemson. With a second remaining and the Huskies trailing by a point, Scott Burrell fired a full-court pass to Tate George, who dropped in his turnaround jumper to give UConn the win. Calhoun wrapped up his career in Storrs in 2012 with a 629-245 record and a .720 winning percentage.
UConn is now a reliable pipeline of NBA-worthy talent. Among the future pros who passed through Connecticut: Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Andre Drummond, Rudy Gay, Jeremy Lamb, Donyell Marshall and Clifford Robinson.