In 1992 when the initial planning was being done, basketball (M) was probably averaging a few thousand people and women maybe a few hundred. It was built next to the football stadium - not sure of the capacity there, but maybe 10,000? The campus was much smaller, they hadn't started closing off roads in the middle of campus, and there were not a lot of people coming to games from Manchester, let alone Hartford.
They obviously moved the football stadium off campus - be nice to keep the basketball facility on campus. The University does own land down to rte 44 near rte 195 - building an arena near that junction would at least allow out of towners access on two major 'secondary' roads with straight shots to highways. The current location requires that last few 'critical' miles from any direction on minor roads with lots of stop signs. It is probably the worst location possible on the Storrs campus.