Greatest Individual UConn Performances

[UCLJ0211]

If not number one, Liam’s game was certainly up there last night with the best individual UConn performances of all time. I remember a few others from the likes of Kemba, Donyell, Emeka and Ben.

Considering the circumstances of the game, where do you rank Liam’s performance all-time for a UConn player? If not number one, whose are you putting ahead of him?

 

[Jaydumo20]

In terms of recent games, it wasn't the same level of dominance but Joey C's game against georgetown was unexpected and awesome.

 

[upstater]

These aren't necessarily at the top of my list but the Jalen Adams game we were just talking about, Caron Butler in the Elite 8, and Im going to throw in Adama Sanogo against St John's. 26 pts, 18 rebounds, 6 blocks, 60% shooting.

 

[TheHorde]

Donyell going 20-20 from the line and scoring 42 vs St John’s in MSG is hard to beat for me, especially since I was there. Ray Allen in the Elite 8 vs UCLA ranks high up there. Caron Butler vs Maryland in the tournament. But Liam’s game is high on the list.

 

[Stinger92860]

Ricky Moore D during the 77-74 game is one of my favorites

 

[TheShot1990]

Donyell going 20-20 from the line and scoring 42 vs St John’s in MSG is hard to beat for me, especially since I was there. Ray Allen in the Elite 8 vs UCLA ranks high up there. Caron Butler vs Maryland in the tournament. But Liam’s game is high on the list.

I was there too. Hard to beat that Donyell performance but this was up there and so clutch so perhaps this edged it.

 

[Hunt for 7]

I think the team has to win for it to be a great performance. Yes Allen was great in the UCLA game and if the seeding had been accurate those two team would have met in the final four but we still lost as great as Ray was.

It is too early to tell if this is one of the greatest games ever by a UConn player. If this starts us on a roll to close out the BE season and then win the BE tourney and go deep we will probably look back at this game with even more respect.

A freshman put a defending national champion on his shoulders said get on I got this. He is better than I thought he was when we got him and I thought he was pretty good then. This kid is amazing he has qualities you don’t teach.

 

[TheHorde]

I was there too. Hard to beat that Donyell performance but this was up there and so clutch so perhaps this edged it.

They both were regular season games, but were both huge regular season wins. That was one of the early games where UConn fans took over the Garden and drowned out the Johnnie fans, which will always be special. But the first win at Creighton while this beat up is also special.

 

[Palatine]

Sticks put up 40 versus Maine.

 

[UCan3]

If not number one, Liam’s game was certainly up there last night with the best individual UConn performances of all time. I remember a few others from the likes of Kemba, Donyell, Emeka and Ben.

Considering the circumstances of the game, where do you rank Liam’s performance all-time for a UConn player? If not number one, whose are you putting ahead of him?

I agree, it’s in the discussion for sure.

To me, hostile crowd, and how it was at BOTH ends of the flour. When you compare it to others like Bouknight’s 40 and other performance’s in this discussion, it‘s the rebounding and Defense - the total package that make it top 3 for me.

 

[UCTitleTown]

I always have a sweet spot for Amida Brimah's monster scoring game. It was so unexpected. I thought it was the start of something, but it was an anomaly.

 

[hardcorehusky]

Amidah Brimah going off for 40 against Coppin State is up there!

 

[Kurebeach50]

Bill Corley’s 51 points against UNH in 1968. STILL the UConn record !!

 

[geordi]

Don't get carried away. Bill Corley's 51 points. Wes Bailosuknia - 50 points. Caron Butler vs Maryland. Toby Kimball 31 points and 23 rebounds vs. Colgate. Kemba's 42 points vs. Vermont in 2010. Ray Ray vs UCLA 39 in the regional final. Newton's triple double (any of the 4 of them). Shabazz 22 pts, 12 reb, 13 assists in 2011. Probably a few more I don't remember. What makes Liam's game so good was that he did it single handed - nobody else really contributing. But we've got a long long history of great games.

 

[Gurleyman]

Clingan vs. Illinois needs to be mentioned - his defensive metrics in that game were ridiculous and he put their two best players in hell.

Kemba against Syracuse in the Big East semis after the Pitt game was pretty legit (33-12-5 with six steals). You could say SDSU - although Lamb got us over the finish line. You could go with his Wichita State game - which might have changed our whole season. He had 29 in the second half and that win allowed us to get out of the losers bracket and face Michigan State and Kentucky.

For freshmen, Lamb’s 24 against SDSU in a supporting role, Kemba’s 23 off the bench vs. Missouri, Khalid’s 24 against UNC in a loss. Regular season, Henefeld was huge staring down Mourning and Mutombo and had 21. Okafor and Gordon were both legit in the OT win at Arizona. Okafor was robbed of some blocks and finished with something like 18-12-8, and Gordon had 24. Later in their careers, Gordon had 36 against Alabama - but that was a blowout. Okafor had a big day when he blocked the winning shot at Nova.

You can make a good case that Liam’s performance was better than all of these - given how close the game was and how little help he had and coming off injury. Stakes were higher in the postseason - but this win had some stakes too. It takes a lot of pressure off us coming down the stretch this year.

 

[superjohn]

Probably the greatest regular season performance I've ever seen from a UConn player considering everything. It was against a ranked team that has owned us in a building we've never won at against a team who has won 10 straight Big East games. A game where we had no point guard and he needed to play point guard. A game where he didn't get help from anyone else. I haven't seen a UConn player will us to that kind of victory by himself in that level of game during the regular season and he did it in just his second game back after being out for 5 weeks due to injury.

 

[Wasn’t me]

superjohn has got it right

- I’ll throw in that it has to be one of the best if not the best performance by a freshman in UConn history. There’s probably a thread going about this already.

Enjoy him while we can.

 

[Chin Diesel]

I agree, it’s in the discussion for sure.

To me, hostile crowd, and how it was at BOTH ends of the flour. When you compare it to others like Bouknight’s 40 and other performance’s in this discussion, it‘s the rebounding and Defense - the total package that make it top 3 for me.

McNeeley was very effective on the defensive end slowing down Ashworth last night.
As a point forward he also takes on the Tristan Newton role of grabbing rebounds from the guard position.

 

[ucp990411]

I always have a sweet spot for Amida Brimah's monster scoring game. It was so unexpected. I thought it was the start of something, but it was an anomaly.

It was nothing but ally oops vs a terrible Coppin St team.

 

[ucp990411]

I would have to say Ray vs UCLA, Ray vs Rutgers in 1996, Carons 2nd half vs Maryland and Kemba in Maui vs Wichita St as my favorites

 

[boog204]

I'd honestly put it as one of the best. We scored 70 points and he had 38 of them. He led us in rebounding, got the crucial rebound, and hit the game-sealing free throws. He was also tasked with being the primary ballhandler for the first time and was our only player who actually played well. And, he played strong defense on a guy who was averaging 17/gm and is one of the more dangerous shooters in CBB.

Donyell's 42-point games were amazing. But we won one of those by 20 and in both games, even with 42 points, he still had less than 1/2 our total output.

I really think in terms of a guy having to do literally everything to carry a team to a win, Liam's might be the best individual performance we've had in my lifetime. Then add that it was a road game, against a team that always beats us, and in some ways is a win that could be season-changing. This was as good as it gets imo.

 

[gsmooth]

Clingan vs. Illinois needs to be mentioned - his defensive metrics in that game were ridiculous and he put their two best players in hell.

Kemba against Syracuse in the Big East semis after the Pitt game was pretty legit (33-12-5 with six steals). You could say SDSU - although Lamb got us over the finish line. You could go with his Wichita State game - which might have changed our whole season. He had 29 in the second half and that win allowed us to get out of the losers bracket and face Michigan State and Kentucky.

For freshmen, Lamb’s 24 against SDSU in a supporting role, Kemba’s 23 off the bench vs. Missouri, Khalid’s 24 against UNC in a loss. Regular season, Henefeld was huge staring down Mourning and Mutombo and had 21. Okafor and Gordon were both legit in the OT win at Arizona. Okafor was robbed of some blocks and finished with something like 18-12-8, and Gordon had 24. Later in their careers, Gordon had 36 against Alabama - but that was a blowout. Okafor had a big day when he blocked the winning shot at Nova.

You can make a good case that Liam’s performance was better than all of these - given how close the game was and how little help he had and coming off injury. Stakes were higher in the postseason - but this win had some stakes too. It takes a lot of pressure off us coming down the stretch this year.

Don't forget Okafor 24 and 15 in the 2004 championship game.

 

[gsmooth]

I'd honestly put it as one of the best. We scored 70 points and he had 38 of them. He led us in rebounding, got the crucial rebound, and hit the game-sealing free throws. He was also tasked with being the primary ballhandler for the first time and was our only player who actually played well. And, he played strong defense on a guy who was averaging 17/gm and is one of the more dangerous shooters in CBB.

Donyell's 42-point games were amazing. But we won one of those by 20 and in both games, even with 42 points, he still had less than 1/2 our total output.

I really think in terms of a guy having to do literally everything to carry a team to a win, Liam's might be the best individual performance we've had in my lifetime. Then add that it was a road game, against a team that always beats us, and in some ways is a win that could be season-changing. This was as good as it gets imo.

Donyell's 42 against St. John's at MSG has one big similarity to Liam's 38 pt game last night-it helped UConn get their first road win against a team they never beat on the road. Remember playing at St. John's whether it was MSG or their Alumni Hall was a house of horrors for UConn. They were the last road team to win their first game at St. John's since the Big East started. This includes the technically neutral site BET game in 1992.

 

[UCan3]

I'd honestly put it as one of the best. We scored 70 points and he had 38 of them. He led us in rebounding, got the crucial rebound, and hit the game-sealing free throws. He was also tasked with being the primary ballhandler for the first time and was our only player who actually played well. And, he played strong defense on a guy who was averaging 17/gm and is one of the more dangerous shooters in CBB.

Donyell's 42-point games were amazing. But we won one of those by 20 and in both games, even with 42 points, he still had less than 1/2 our total output.

I really think in terms of a guy having to do literally everything to carry a team to a win, Liam's might be the best individual performance we've had in my lifetime. Then add that it was a road game, against a team that always beats us, and in some ways is a win that could be season-changing. This was as good as it gets imo.

To be fair, any performance that is going into the “all time greatest“ needs reflection time - weeks, months, even years to finalize.

But I don’t disagree with anything in your post.

In fact, I’ll go a step further. Liam almost went to Indiana. Ironically he is starting to remind me another little known player from Indiana….

Yup, he’s got a little Larry Bird in his game!