All Time “Above Their Head” UConn Performances

[UofCT]

A bunch of you have brought up worthy candidates, but I have to agree with Waquoit on this. Toraino Walker's performance in the 1990 BET as an off-the-bench Freshman against 2 guys who turned out to be good NBA players and were already upper classmen in Alonzo Mourning and Derrick Coleman in back-to-back games is the winner here.

Why does Toraino's performance that weekend stand out above all others either before or since?

First of all, the context - He averaged 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the entire year. For most of the year, he wasn't our 1st or 2nd big man off the bench, but our 3rd behind Dan Cyrulik and often our old buddy Lyman DePriest when Calhoun would decide to go with a smaller line up.

Calhoun was forced to play Toraino in the Semifinal game because Rod Sellers twisted his knee two minutes into that game against Georgetown. The biggest play in the game was on a contested rebound with 52 seconds left to go between Toraino and Alonzo Mourning. We were up by 5 but Georgetown was in one of those sequences where they got several shots and it looked like we were starting to buckle at the knees a bit. The 2nd shot goes up from Dewayne Bryant, and he misses. But it looks for an instant like Mourning is going to get the rebound and have an easy put back... but NOOOO. Toraino grabbed the ball at the same time, and then proceeded to rip it away from Mourning with a monster-sized emphasis that caused the crowd to audibly gasp. I remember because I was there. It was freaking awesome to watch. And you could feel that at that moment Toraino had also grabbed the momentum of the game for the final time and put it in our favor... which is what happened.

Interestingly, if you go back and watch the replay of the game (Thank you @tcf15!), none other than Billy Packer who was doing color with Brent Musberger that day made that exact point about a minute later during a pause in the action as we were going to the free throw line.

No one - not even the most rose-colored glass fans of us - expected Toraino to come in and have the impact he did in that game against Alonzo Mourning, and then follow it up with another big performance in the championship game against the Syracuse front line including Derrick Coleman.

And although he had a few nice moments and games after that in the following 2 years before leaving the program prematurely at the beginning of his senior year (he only played in 1 game that last year after an apparent falling out with Calhoun), he never did anything in a Husky uniform that compared to that 2 game stretch at the 1990 BET. The fact is without him we do not win our 1st BET Title.

In that context it makes Toraino Walker's 1990 BET back-to-back performances the all-time "Above His Head" UConn performance.

Great storytelling

 

[superjohn]

Isaiah this year

Yep but I think that's who he is now.

 

[CTBasketball]

Souleymane Wane played a crucial great few minutes in 1999 vs Duke as well.

 

[djct1999]

Phil Nolan's Defense against Iowa state, Michigan state, florida, and kentucky, he played sufficient defense on players he had no business guarding. He had Young even wanting to fight him at one point.

If we want to talk about defense, how about the job Jake, Souleymane, and Edmund did on Elton Brand?

 

[mauconnfan]

Kevin Freeman in the BE tourney after being left off all of the Big East post season awards.

 

[amidagoat]

Purvis every time we played SMU in 2015

Purvis against SMU was insane!

 

[Scoe]

Kemba (as a freshmen) vs Missouri had a huge stretch that clinched the game.

Kromah vs Kentucky, stole the Harrison twins lunch and added in I believe 12 pts, pretty much plummeted the Harrisons draft stock.

 

[Doctor Hoop]

I will forever be proud that I’m the original porkchop believer...but he applies here. Dude played like a lottery pick towards the end of the season lol

time out.

we are gonna have to drop the gloves for that title...

Check my timeline. I think I got you both.

 

[the Q]

Check my timeline. I think I got you both.

triple threat ladder match....

 

[Waquoit]

Souleymane Wane played a crucial great few minutes in 1999 vs Duke as well.

The best, of course, being when he ripped the ball from Elton Brand right after Packer said it couldn't be done.

 

[johnhuskies95]

The all-timer has to be KO's coaching in the 2014 NCAAs. He unquestionably outcoached Tom Izzo, Billy Donovan, and Cal (not that the latter is all that impressive) in succession. You could throw Jay Wright in there too. I was convinced he'd be our coach for the next 25 years after we cut down the nets. He made some amazing decisions--e.g. going small vs Florida when our frontcourt got in foul trouble--that won us those games. Maybe it was the whole staff, maybe it was Miller or another assistant who made some of the suggestions for adjustments, but KO still gets the credit for implementing them.

Ollie obviously wasn't a good coach, but at times he could be very good at figuring out the right lineup combinations and if a certain type of action was working on offense he kept going to it until the other team proved they could stop it-likely the NBA influence. The 2014 team's personnel was a perfect match for his type of coaching.

 

[Mike Honcho]

A bunch of you have brought up worthy candidates, but I have to agree with Waquoit on this. Toraino Walker's performance in the 1990 BET as an off-the-bench Freshman against 2 guys who turned out to be good NBA players and were already upper classmen in Alonzo Mourning and Derrick Coleman in back-to-back games is the winner here.

Why does Toraino's performance that weekend stand out above all others either before or since?

First of all, the context - He averaged 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the entire year. For most of the year, he wasn't our 1st or 2nd big man off the bench, but our 3rd behind Dan Cyrulik and often our old buddy Lyman DePriest when Calhoun would decide to go with a smaller line up.

Calhoun was forced to play Toraino in the Semifinal game because Rod Sellers twisted his knee two minutes into that game against Georgetown. The biggest play in the game was on a contested rebound with 52 seconds left to go between Toraino and Alonzo Mourning. We were up by 5 but Georgetown was in one of those sequences where they got several shots and it looked like we were starting to buckle at the knees a bit. The 2nd shot goes up from Dewayne Bryant, and he misses. But it looks for an instant like Mourning is going to get the rebound and have an easy put back... but NOOOO. Toraino grabbed the ball at the same time, and then proceeded to rip it away from Mourning with a monster-sized emphasis that caused the crowd to audibly gasp. I remember because I was there. It was freaking awesome to watch. And you could feel that at that moment Toraino had also grabbed the momentum of the game for the final time and put it in our favor... which is what happened.

Interestingly, if you go back and watch the replay of the game (Thank you @tcf15!), none other than Billy Packer who was doing color with Brent Musberger that day made that exact point about a minute later during a pause in the action as we were going to the free throw line.

No one - not even the most rose-colored glass fans of us - expected Toraino to come in and have the impact he did in that game against Alonzo Mourning, and then follow it up with another big performance in the championship game against the Syracuse front line including Derrick Coleman.

And although he had a few nice moments and games after that in the following 2 years before leaving the program prematurely at the beginning of his senior year (he only played in 1 game that last year after an apparent falling out with Calhoun), he never did anything in a Husky uniform that compared to that 2 game stretch at the 1990 BET. The fact is without him we do not win our 1st BET Title.

In that context it makes Toraino Walker's 1990 BET back-to-back performances the all-time "Above His Head" UConn performance.

Great story. Made me want to look up the play. Here it is:

 

[Kolumbo]

A bunch of you have brought up worthy candidates, but I have to agree with Waquoit on this. Toraino Walker's performance in the 1990 BET as an off-the-bench Freshman against 2 guys who turned out to be good NBA players and were already upper classmen in Alonzo Mourning and Derrick Coleman in back-to-back games is the winner here.

Why does Toraino's performance that weekend stand out above all others either before or since?

First of all, the context - He averaged 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the entire year. For most of the year, he wasn't our 1st or 2nd big man off the bench, but our 3rd behind Dan Cyrulik and often our old buddy Lyman DePriest when Calhoun would decide to go with a smaller line up.

Calhoun was forced to play Toraino in the Semifinal game because Rod Sellers twisted his knee two minutes into that game against Georgetown. The biggest play in the game was on a contested rebound with 52 seconds left to go between Toraino and Alonzo Mourning. We were up by 5 but Georgetown was in one of those sequences where they got several shots and it looked like we were starting to buckle at the knees a bit. The 2nd shot goes up from Dewayne Bryant, and he misses. But it looks for an instant like Mourning is going to get the rebound and have an easy put back... but NOOOO. Toraino grabbed the ball at the same time, and then proceeded to rip it away from Mourning with a monster-sized emphasis that caused the crowd to audibly gasp. I remember because I was there. It was freaking awesome to watch. And you could feel that at that moment Toraino had also grabbed the momentum of the game for the final time and put it in our favor... which is what happened.

Interestingly, if you go back and watch the replay of the game (Thank you @tcf15!), none other than Billy Packer who was doing color with Brent Musberger that day made that exact point about a minute later during a pause in the action as we were going to the free throw line.

No one - not even the most rose-colored glass fans of us - expected Toraino to come in and have the impact he did in that game against Alonzo Mourning, and then follow it up with another big performance in the championship game against the Syracuse front line including Derrick Coleman.

And although he had a few nice moments and games after that in the following 2 years before leaving the program prematurely at the beginning of his senior year (he only played in 1 game that last year after an apparent falling out with Calhoun), he never did anything in a Husky uniform that compared to that 2 game stretch at the 1990 BET. The fact is without him we do not win our 1st BET Title.

In that context it makes Toraino Walker's 1990 BET back-to-back performances the all-time "Above His Head" UConn performance.

Thanks for the memories. Reminded me of Johnny Gwynn. I don't know if had any single game performance which would rise to the level of all-time, but he was the mini-microwave.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Great story. Made me want to look up the play. Here it is:

Bitch Mourning grabbing Walker by the back of his jersey afterwards running down the court.

 

[Scoe]

How about Jeff Adrien against Texas A&M 23 pts on 11-16 fg and he was knocking down 15 ft jumpers in that game. Texas A&M vs. Connecticut Box Score, March 21, 2009 | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

 

[superjohn]

The best, of course, being when he ripped the ball from Elton Brand right after Packer said it couldn't be done.

Everyone always misremembers this.
Edmund stripped Brand, Soule made the hook shot.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Thanks for the memories. Reminded me of Johnny Gwynn. I don't know if had any single game performance which would rise to the level of all-time, but he was the mini-microwave.

I was going to mention John Gwynn also. Very unsung hero off the bench whose pull-up jumper was deadly. Always seemed to hit big shots when needed in The Dream Season. He actually refereed one of my games in college and was a really nice guy.

 

[Waquoit]

Everyone always misremembers this.
Edmund stripped Brand, Soule made the hook shot.

Fair cop. I wasn't sure and was too lazy to look it up so I went for it.

 

[Kolumbo]

I was going to mention John Gwynn also. Very unsung hero off the bench whose pull-up jumper was deadly. Always seemed to hit big shots when needed in The Dream Season. He actually refereed one of my games in college and was a really nice guy.

He was like Chris Smith's sidekick. An interview went something like: "I don't care who it is. Mourning, Motumbo, I'll take 'em to the hole!"

 

[LStudfellow]

Great storytelling

Thanks @UofCT2009... I appreciate your compliment.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Ricky Moore in the 1999 Natty. 13 points in the first half to keep the team from getting buried early, to go with his usual lockdown D the whole game.

This was the first one that come to mind.

 

[2PointGuards]

Steve Piekell scoring 28 points in a BET game.

 

[tcf15]

Sam Cassell Jr. in that one exhibition game

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Steve Piekell scoring 28 points in a BET game.

A great moment in Rutgers history

 

[Lamble]

A bunch of you have brought up worthy candidates, but I have to agree with Waquoit on this. Toraino Walker's performance in the 1990 BET as an off-the-bench Freshman against 2 guys who turned out to be good NBA players and were already upper classmen in Alonzo Mourning and Derrick Coleman in back-to-back games is the winner here.

Why does Toraino's performance that weekend stand out above all others either before or since?

First of all, the context - He averaged 2.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game for the entire year. For most of the year, he wasn't our 1st or 2nd big man off the bench, but our 3rd behind Dan Cyrulik and often our old buddy Lyman DePriest when Calhoun would decide to go with a smaller line up.

Calhoun was forced to play Toraino in the Semifinal game because Rod Sellers twisted his knee two minutes into that game against Georgetown. The biggest play in the game was on a contested rebound with 52 seconds left to go between Toraino and Alonzo Mourning. We were up by 5 but Georgetown was in one of those sequences where they got several shots and it looked like we were starting to buckle at the knees a bit. The 2nd shot goes up from Dewayne Bryant, and he misses. But it looks for an instant like Mourning is going to get the rebound and have an easy put back... but NOOOO. Toraino grabbed the ball at the same time, and then proceeded to rip it away from Mourning with a monster-sized emphasis that caused the crowd to audibly gasp. I remember because I was there. It was freaking awesome to watch. And you could feel that at that moment Toraino had also grabbed the momentum of the game for the final time and put it in our favor... which is what happened.

Interestingly, if you go back and watch the replay of the game (Thank you @tcf15!), none other than Billy Packer who was doing color with Brent Musberger that day made that exact point about a minute later during a pause in the action as we were going to the free throw line.

No one - not even the most rose-colored glass fans of us - expected Toraino to come in and have the impact he did in that game against Alonzo Mourning, and then follow it up with another big performance in the championship game against the Syracuse front line including Derrick Coleman.

And although he had a few nice moments and games after that in the following 2 years before leaving the program prematurely at the beginning of his senior year (he only played in 1 game that last year after an apparent falling out with Calhoun), he never did anything in a Husky uniform that compared to that 2 game stretch at the 1990 BET. The fact is without him we do not win our 1st BET Title.

In that context it makes Toraino Walker's 1990 BET back-to-back performances the all-time "Above His Head" UConn performance.

The other thing Toraino did that game - Georgetown was going out of there way to try and intimidate Nadav. Pushing him, bumping him, etc. Walker shoves Mourning in the back right after Mourning bumped Nadav, and sent a clear message for the rest of the game - UCONN is not intimidated, and anyone who messes with Nadav, or anyone else on the team, has got to deal with me. No one on Georgetown wanted any part of Walker. That season was so special, I put it up there with the 98-99 season as my all time favorite season.