The UConn Huskies (or Connecticut Huskies) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Connecticut, with its main campus located in Storrs, Connecticut. The school is a member of the NCAA's Division I and the Big East Conference.
The university's athletic teams mainly play at on-campus facilities, but the football team plays at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, and the men's and women's basketball teams share their home court designation at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on-campus and at the PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.
History
Nickname The university's teams are nicknamed "Huskies", a name adopted following a student poll in The Connecticut Campus in 1934 after the school's name changed from Connecticut Agricultural College to Connecticut State College in 1933; before then, the teams were referred to as the Aggies. Although there is a homophonic relationship between "UConn" and the Yukon, where Huskies are native, the "Huskies" nickname predates the school's 1939 name change to the University of Connecticut; the first recorded use of "UConn" (as "U-Conn", both separately and with "Huskies") was later in 1939. However, in a 1997 interview, the student body president from 1935 claimed the Husky mascot selection was a direct reference to the Yukon / UConn homophone. The university and its athletics programs officially rebranded themselves as "UConn" in the spring of 2013.
Conference history UConn's teams participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big East Conference for all sports except football and men's and women's ice hockey. UConn's football team participates in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
UConn was a founding member of the Yankee Conference in 1946. The Huskies were then founding members of the original Big East Conference in 1979, and remained in that conference when it reorganized as the American Athletic Conference in 2013. In 2020, UConn joined the new Big East Conference, reuniting it with many of the schools against which it played for over three decades in the original Big East. The football team competes as an FBS independent team.
The club alpine skiing team competes in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association because of a stricter limit on NCAA skiing programs.
Sports teams Men's sports Women's sports Baseball Basketball Basketball Cross country Football Field hockey Ice hockey Lacrosse Golf Ice hockey Soccer Rowing Track & field Soccer Softball Swimming & diving Tennis Track & field Volleyball
Men's basketball
Before the school gained "Blue Blood" status, UConn's men's basketball was once a regional power, winning 18 Yankee Conference championships between 1947 and 1975, including 12 by Hugh Greer. In 1979, UConn was one of the seven founding schools of the American Athletic Conference (then known as the Big East Conference), which was originally created to focus on basketball, and the last remaining school that signed the charter to remain following the 2013 split. In the early days of the Big East, UConn struggled behind national powers Georgetown and Syracuse. Prior to the 1986–87 season UConn hired Jim Calhoun to be the program's new head coach, but the Huskies difficulties continued and they finished the season with a record of 9–19, their fifth straight losing season. But in 1988, the team showed significant improvement and gained a berth in the NIT. UConn went on a run in the tournament and defeated Ohio State, 72–67, at Madison Square Garden to win the NIT, the school's first national basketball title.
The 1990 "Dream Season" would bring UConn basketball to the national stage. Led by Chris Smith, Nadav Henefeld and Tate George, UConn went from unranked in the preseason to winning the Big East regular season and tournament championships, both for the first time. 1990 also marked the opening of Gampel Pavilion, the program's new on-campus home. In the NCAA Tournament the Huskies garnered a No. 1 seed in the East Region, but trailed Clemson, 70–69, with 1 second remaining in the Sweet 16. Scott Burrell's full-court pass found Tate George on the far baseline. George spun, fired, and hit a buzzer-beater that is known in Connecticut simply as "The Shot". They would be eliminated on a buzzer-beater two days later by Duke, losing in overtime, 79–78.
UConn rose as a national program throughout the 1990s, winning five more Big East Regular Season and three more Big East Tournament Championships, but the Final Four still eluded Calhoun and the program until the 1999 NCAA Tournament. The Huskies were the top seed in the West region and a win over Gonzaga in the regional finals sent UConn to Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay for the Final Four. They defeated Ohio State, 64–58, in the semi-final to face off against Duke in the final. Despite having been ranked No. 1 for half of the year, the Huskies entered the national championship game as 9-point underdogs. The game was tight throughout, and when the final buzzer sounded, UConn had defeated Duke, 77–74.
The 1999 national championship would not be the last. In 2004, the Huskies returned to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas. Once again, they faced Duke, this time in the National Semifinal, and used a late run to beat the Blue Devils, 79–78. Two nights later, led by Ben Gordon and Emeka Okafor, UConn beat Georgia Tech, 82–73, to win the championship.
In 2006, UConn became the third school ever to have four players drafted in Round One of the NBA draft, and the first school ever to have five players selected in the two-round draft. In the first round, Rudy Gay, Hilton Armstrong, Marcus Williams and Josh Boone were selected. In the second round, Denham Brown was selected. Rashad Anderson also entered the NBA draft and has played for several European, Middle Eastern and NBA-D League teams since then.
In the 2009 NCAA Tournament, UConn was awarded the No. 1 seed in the West. Led by AJ Price, Hasheem Thabeet and Jeff Adrien, the Huskies reached the Final Four by defeating No. 16 seed Chattanooga in the 1st round, No. 9 seed Texas A&M in the 2nd round, No. 5 seed Purdue in the Sweet 16 and No. 3 seed Missouri in the Elite Eight. This marked the third time in the program's history to reach the Final Four. In the two other occurrences, UConn also came out of the West region and won the national championship on both occasions.
Connecticut returned to the NCAA tournament in 2011 after an off year. Under the leadership of Kemba Walker UConn won five consecutive games in five nights to earn the Big East Tournament championship in New York City. They headed to the NCAA as a No. 3 seed, and completed one of the most improbable runs to the Championship game, defeating Butler to earn their third National championship in a 53–41 defensive affair in Houston, Texas.
In 2014 led by American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Shabazz Napier, UConn become the first #7 seed to win the NCAA Championship, getting past No. 1 seed Florida, No. 2 seed Villanova, No. 3 seed Iowa State, and No. 4 seed Michigan State, before defeating the Kentucky Wildcats, 60–54, in the championship game in Arlington, Texas.
After returning to the Big East for the 2020–21 season, UConn won its fifth and sixth NCAA Championships in 2022–23 and 2023–24, becoming the first program to win back-to-back championships since the University of Florida in 2005–06 and 2006–07.
Women's basketball
Strong alumni, student, and fan support for UConn's men's basketball teams helped the Huskies' women's basketball program attract Geno Auriemma as head coach. Under the tutelage of Auriemma, UConn has become one of the few schools that consistently competes for the national title in women's basketball.
The Huskies were also part of one of the fiercest rivalries in all of women's college sports. In the rivalry between UConn and the University of Tennessee, there was no love lost between Auriemma and Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. The two schools have faced each other seven times in the NCAA Tournament, and four times in the NCAA Championship Game. UConn leads 5–2 in those games including a 4–0 record in the finals. UConn leads the all-time series 13–8. Summitt ended the regular season series in the summer of 2007. It is unknown why the series was ended, but media outlets reported that Tennessee reported to the NCAA that UConn committed minor recruiting infractions with the recruitment of Maya Moore which included a tour of ESPN while Moore was a junior in high school.
Rebecca Lobo, Jennifer Rizzotti, Svetlana Abrosimova, Shea Ralph, Nykesha Sales, Kelly Schumacher, Swin Cash, Kara Wolters, Tamika Williams, Diana Taurasi, Asjha Jones, Sue Bird, Ann Strother, Barbara Turner, Jessica Moore, Ashley Battle, Ketia Swanier, Charde Houston, Tina Charles, Kalana Greene, Renee Montgomery, Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes, Bria Hartley, Stefanie Dolson, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis, Moriah Jefferson, Kiah Stokes, Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck, Kia Nurse, Gabby Williams, Azurá Stevens, Napheesa Collier, Katie Lou Samuelson, Crystal Dangerfield, Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Evina Westbrook, Christyn Williams, Dorka Juhász, Lou Lopez Sénéchal, Aaliyah Edwards, Nika Mühl, Paige Bueckers, and Kaitlyn Chen are among the women's professional basketball players or WNBA draftees who attended UConn.
In 2002, UConn became the only school ever to have four women drafted among the top 10 of the first round of the 2002 WNBA draft, with National Player of the Year Sue Bird drafted 1st, Swin Cash drafted 2nd, Asjha Jones drafted 4th, and Tamika Williams Raymond drafted 6th. The 5th starter on the UConn 2002 NCAA championship team was future No. 1 WNBA draft choice and future two-time National Player of the Year Diana Taurasi. A total of 11 UConn alumnae played in the WNBA in the 2010 season.
In 2004, UConn became the second school ever, and the first in Division I, to win the men's NCAA National Championship and the women's basketball title in the same season and did it again in 2014. It was also the first school to ever have both teams ranked number 1 in the nation at the same time (during the 1994–95 season), and has also spent the most weeks by far with both teams holding the number one spot, with Duke being the only other team ever to achieve the feat, for a short period during the 2003–04 season.
In 2008, freshman Maya Moore made history by being named Big East Player of the Year, the first time a freshman was so honored in either men's or women's basketball. She was named Big East Player of the Year again in 2009.
UConn women entered the 2008–09 season ranked No. 1 in all national polls. They finished the season ranked as No. 1 as well, winning the national championship, finishing the season with a perfect 39–0 record, while winning every game by 10 points or more. At the end of the year, Maya Moore swept the National Player of the Year honors, receiving the Wooden, Wade and Naismith Awards, and she, Renee Montgomery and Tina Charles were named to various All-America teams. Coach Geno Auriemma received his record sixth recognition as the National Coach of the Year.
UConn women entered the 2009–10 season ranked No. 1 in all the national polls, and remained ranked No. 1 every week for the entire season. They finished the season as the first back-to-back undefeated National Champions, beating No. 2 Stanford at the San Antonio Alamodome. UConn also set the national consecutive victory record at 78 when it won its seventh National Championship at the Alamodome.UConn vs. perfect teams of the past, ESPN.com