What's the single best beat-down we've ever put on a rival?

[Matrim55]

This is prompted by a Reddit thread, and I didn't have a good answer. We've obviously had some great moments - the final two games of the '99 BET, the opener at Gampel, the last game vs. 'Cuse - but I'm not sure one stands out in the way that KU's 40-point win over UK from '90 does.

Any thoughts? Have I just missed/forgotten something obvious?

 

[FeedTheDove]

This one doesn't count to most as a "Rival Beat down" but 2010 Maui vs. UK stands out in my mind.

 

[Migs]

The last game in the Oklahoma series in the '03-'04 season. Couple close losses and tough losses culminating in us just obliterating them one afternoon on CBS. Okafor had one of my favorite blocks of all time when he rejected Jabari Brown's dunk attempt in the first half. I don't know if you can call them a rival but we played 4 consecutive years in a row and the women's team beat the Sooners for the title in '02 during our series.

 

[TopDog18]

2009 @ Louisville

 

[BoatShow]

Gotta favor the final game vs Cuse as I was there. Didn't JT2 retire shortly after we whooped them?

 

[UConnPuneet]

2003 reg season finale at Conte. 91-54. All things considered (hatred of BC, what they did to us earlier in the year, the margin of victory), this matches the "beatdown" and "rival" aspects of the question better than any other in my opinion.

Honorable mention to the 3 poundings we gave Cuse in CT from 2004-06, including 88-70 in Gampel in '05 when JC and JB were fresh off their 700th wins.

 

[willyd24]

I guess I wouldn't consider Texas our rival but I vividly remember playing them during the 2009-10 season when they were ranked #1 in the country and just completely obliterating them at Gampel. The score was 88-74 but there wasn't a single point in that game that I ever thought we were going to lose.

 

[Mots010]

2003 reg season finale at Conte. 91-54. All things considered (hatred of BC, what they did to us earlier in the year, the margin of victory), this matches the "beatdown" and "rival" aspects of the question better than any other in my opinion.

I was at this game, alhough wasn't it in spring 2002? Maybe i'm mixing seasons up. It was a solid 50% Uconn fans in Conte Forum that day, and Big Red was leading Uconn chears throughout. I almost felt bad for Troy Bell, as I think it was his senior day.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I was at this game, alhough wasn't it in spring 2002? Maybe i'm mixing seasons up. It was a solid 50% Uconn fans in Conte Forum that day, and Big Red was leading Uconn chears throughout. I almost felt bad for Troy Bell, as I think it was his senior day.

March of '03, it would seem:

 

[Fishy]

We had a home and series with Virgina in the mid-90's - we beat them something like 77-36 at their place and then 76-46 in Connecticut a couple of seasons later.

 

[pepband99]

The 99 BET final is the zenith for me. We ran a pretty damned good team essentially out of their own building.

 

[MattMang23]

What's a rival? I'm not sure we have ever really had one.

I'm not sure we have rivals. We don't right now (SMU?).

In the past, other schools have considered us a rival (Providence) and we have not reciprocated. And it's gone the other way, too, (Syracuse) when there was a Georgetown still around.

We never have been involved in a UNC/Duke, Michigan/Ohio State, Kansas/Missouri, or hell, even a Oregon/Oregon St. situation.

 

[superjohn]

We had a home and series with Virgina in the mid-90's - we beat them something like 77-36 at their place and then 76-46 in Connecticut a couple of seasons later.

Those UConn teams were well oiled machines.

 

[Lefty2one]

The last game in the Oklahoma series in the '03-'04 season. Couple close losses and tough losses culminating in us just obliterating them one afternoon on CBS. Okafor had one of my favorite blocks of all time when he rejected Jabari Brown's dunk attempt in the first half. I don't know if you can call them a rival but we played 4 consecutive years in a row and the women's team beat the Sooners for the title in '02 during our series.

I'll never forget Rashad's fastbreak dunk in that game where he took about six steps.

 

[boog204]

The Virginia games come to mind. 99 BET vs SJU was always a great memory too.

 

[KembaStepback]

What's a rival? I'm not sure we have ever really had one.

I'm not sure we have rivals. We don't right now (SMU?).

In the past, other schools have considered us a rival (Providence) and we have not reciprocated. And it's gone the other way, too, (Syracuse) when there was a Georgetown still around.

We never have been involved in a UNC/Duke, Michigan/Ohio State, Kansas/Missouri, or hell, even a Oregon/Oregon St. situation.

We used to have rivals for sure. Syracuse, G-Town, Nova. ND for awhile.

I think our biggest rival now is Cincy. I'd definitely call them a rival.

 

[7774]

I would say our single greatest beat down against a rival was not losing a game to BCU for a decade.

 

[MattMang23]

We used to have rivals for sure. Syracuse, G-Town, Nova. ND for awhile.

I think our biggest rival now is Cincy. I'd definitely call them a rival.

I'm not sure we had a true rival though. We had many "rivals" but not sure we had one who when you asked who that school's rival was, they would say UConn and we would say that school when we were asked. Syracuse fans always said Georgetown. Nova may have said us, but we wouldn't have said they were our true rival I don't think. Same with ND, although I don't think any ND fans would have said UConn was their true rival.

I've always wondered why we don't have one. Certainly had plenty in past years around this region that played in our league.

Maybe the Jesuits would have been our rival but they took their ball, left, and turned themselves into New England's Team without us.

 

[UConnPuneet]

'98 reg season finale. St. John's was playing for a share our BE East division crown (and they would've been the 1 seed). We decided to keep it for ourselves. 87-58. Khalid was awesome. Locked up his ROY award.

If Memphis is one of our current rivals, knocking them around in their arena in the AAC Tourney was fun, especially after hearing all week how tough it would be to beat them a third time. Specifically enjoyed the collective groan of the crowd every time Niels got another open look.

 

[Chuck]

We had a home and series with Virgina in the mid-90's - we beat them something like 77-36 at their place and then 76-46 in Connecticut a couple of seasons later.

This is the one I remember. Specifically because the first one at UVa was during my freshman year in 89/90. Before winter break there was no reason to believe that UConn was heading for anything special that year. There was no internet to speak of and tv options were limited so I remember thinking that UVa score was a typo (which espn used to do frequently) during the game. Then we won at Pitt and it started to look like avoiding the dreaded (but predicted) 8/9 BE Tourney game wasn't impossible.

 

[CallMeBruce]

I'm not sure we had a true rival though. We had many "rivals" but not sure we had one who when you asked who that school's rival was, they would say UConn and we would say that school when we were asked. Syracuse fans always said Georgetown. Nova may have said us, but we wouldn't have said they were our true rival I don't think. Same with ND, although I don't think any ND fans would have said UConn was their true rival.

I've always wondered why we don't have one. Certainly had plenty in past years around this region that played in our league.

Maybe the Jesuits would have been our rival but they took their ball, left, and turned themselves into New England's Team without us.

I don't agree with this. If you asked OLD Cuse fans who their rival was, it was Georgetown, but in the mid-2000s, Cuse and UConn students sought each other out to talk smack.

 

[MattMang23]

I don't agree with this. If you asked OLD Cuse fans who their rival was, it was Georgetown, but in the mid-2000s, Cuse and UConn students sought each other out to talk smack.

Trust me. I'm aware. I was a UConn student in the mid 2000s. And we most certainly called Cuse our main rival, but all I kept hearing when I went there for a UConn/Cuse game my Sr. year was how they all hated Georgetown and didn't care about us.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Trust me. I'm aware. I was a UConn student in the mid 2000s. And we most certainly called Cuse our main rival, but all I kept hearing when I went there for a UConn/Cuse game my Sr. year was how they all hated Georgetown and didn't care about us.

Those people are liars.

 

[Matrim55]

Trust me. I'm aware. I was a UConn student in the mid 2000s. And we most certainly called Cuse our main rival, but all I kept hearing when I went there for a UConn/Cuse game my Sr. year was how they all hated Georgetown and didn't care about us.

Same thing when I was there in the late '90s.

We've never had a reciprocal rivalry with anyone, really. BC & PC aimed to punch up at us, but other than for a hot minute in the early '90s we were always programs moving in different directions.

We eventually caught and eclipsed both Georgetown & Syracuse, but they were both too enamored of each other to consider us their main rival.

The closest it ever came was with those Artest/Jarvis St. John's teams, but they fell off a cliff and we just kept rising. Had they stayed a top 15 team for another decade, I suspect we'd consider them our main rivals.

 

[Excalibur]

Trust me. I'm aware. I was a UConn student in the mid 2000s. And we most certainly called Cuse our main rival, but all I kept hearing when I went there for a UConn/Cuse game my Sr. year was how they all hated Georgetown and didn't care about us.

It was said only to get under our skin, which proves the point that we were rivals.