What is the best UConn basketball game of all time?

[borninansonia]

My favorite moment:

At Pitt after UConn wins, KEA jumps on the table and faces the Pitt fans.

KEA had a stronger will than anyone ever at UConn.

 

[mauconnfan]

So many favorite moments it's hard to drop just one out there. For some reason though as I think of all of them the one that constantly comes to mind for me:

Smitty ahead of the court for a lay in to sew up the W and our first Big East championship, hacked and fouled, falling under the basket. Tate goes to pick him up and while on the ground he looks at Tate and says with a question mark "It went in?" and a huge smile. Just love that defining moment of the 89-90 team.

 

[BugsyCT]

77-74 is in a class by itself. Epic game that stamped UConn as an elite program in the nation's eyes. The celebration that followed, the team's return to Gampel, the parade, a magical time in CT. I think I re-watched/listened to the radio play-by-play every day that summer.

Honorable mention: 1988 NIT semis vs BC (and OSU), 1996 BET vs GTown.

Most stressful win: 1999 Gonzaga, 2011 Arizona (was almost sure they'd hit a 3 at the buzzer)

Toughest losses: 1990 Duke (you know why), 1994 OT loss to Florida (took 20 years but finally got payback), 2006 GMason (team just couldn't miss), 6OT loss to Cuse in BET

 

[BugsyCT]

So many favorite moments it's hard to drop just one out there. For some reason though as I think of all of them the one that constantly comes to mind for me:

Smitty ahead of the court for a lay in to sew up the W and our first Big East championship, hacked and fouled, falling under the basket. Tate goes to pick him up and while on the ground he looks at Tate and says with a question mark "It went in?" and a huge smile. Just love that defining moment of the 89-90 team.

Wasn't that the GTown game in the semis?

 

[August_West]

So for me, the best loss was actually the Texas game in 2003. We played as well as we could and got beat by a more experienced team, but after that game I just knew we were going to win it all in 2004. I was grinning ear-to-ear.

That Texas game still haunts me a little though. I thought we were in position to steal it. We were down double digits and JC did what he hates to do. He went to 2-3 zone for quite a while and we came all the way back. Then once we were back he switched back to man. I would have liked to have seen him stick with what was working a couple more possessions. As soon as we went back to man TJ Ford killed us again. Man was he quick. Switching out of Zone too early and the neck ball from Marcus White after Taliek made a great breakdown/pass leave me feeling a little different than the Maryland game.

 

[mauconnfan]

Wasn't that the GTown game in the semis?

You know now I'm not sure - man tough to get old. Thought it was the BE final but it was against GTown. Good call. So they beat Cuse for the Final? Thought it may have been the other way around.

 

[businesslawyer]

77-74 is in a class by itself. Epic game that stamped UConn as an elite program in the nation's eyes. The celebration that followed, the team's return to Gampel, the parade, a magical time in CT. I think I re-watched/listened to the radio play-by-play every day that summer.

Honorable mention: 1988 NIT semis vs BC (and OSU), 1996 BET vs GTown.

Most stressful win: 1999 Gonzaga, 2011 Arizona (was almost sure they'd hit a 3 at the buzzer)

Toughest losses: 1990 Duke (you know why), 1994 OT loss to Florida (took 20 years but finally got payback), 2006 GMason (team just couldn't miss), 6OT loss to Cuse in BET

No lose, ever, will compare to the Mason loss.

 

[Waquoit]

No lose, ever, will compare to the Mason loss.

I'm going with the Duke game. That was a gut punch like no other, especially coming just 2 days after the shot. It literally put me in a daze. Losses after we finally won the big one don't leave as big a mark.

 

[Inyatkin]

No lose, ever, will compare to the Mason loss.

I still put Mississippi State No. 1. We had at the time no titles, no Final Fours, and everyone was leaving after that year. We went into the game 32-2, our third straight dominating year, and came up short.
And I'm aware it was all wiped out by the NCAA later on, but at the time, for me, that was the worst.

 

[UconnFanNVa]

Obviously outside of a national championship game, I'm going to go with us at a 3seed and SDSU. That team if you listened to the sports talk before the game was supposed to crush us. I remember going into that game just hoping that we could win and prove them wrong. I also knew Leonard was the real deal, i was on the edge of my seat the whole game. It might not have been the most exciting game we have ever won, but it was one of the most satisfying games for me personally. There is one play that is just etched into my head. Someone throws a high arching pass and lamb goes up with his stretch armstrnong arms and just catches it in mid air, then he runs the length of the floor and throws it down... something like that lol. Great fame for me personally.

 

[August_West]

Obviously outside of a national championship game, I'm going to go with us at a 3seed and SDSU. That team if you listened to the sports talk before the game was supposed to crush us. I remember going into that game just hoping that we could win and prove them wrong. I also knew Leonard was the real deal, i was on the edge of my seat the whole game. It might not have been the most exciting game we have ever won, but it was one of the most satisfying games for me personally. There is one play that is just etched into my head. Someone throws a high arching pass and lamb goes up with his stretch armstrnong arms and just catches it in mid air, then he runs the length of the floor and throws it down... something like that lol. Great fame for me personally.

Its amazing we even scored a basket in that game, what with SDSU being so good playing at altitude, and Kawhi Leonard having the biggest mitts this side of Andre the Giant.

 

[businesslawyer]

I still put Mississippi State No. 1. We had at the time no titles, no Final Fours, and everyone was leaving after that year. We went into the game 32-2, our third straight dominating year, and came up short.
And I'm aware it was all wiped out by the NCAA later on, but at the time, for me, that was the worst.

God, this was an awful night. Although if we take games from the Sweet 16, I would argue that the loss to Florida was worse, as we totally choked that away at the end and the #1 seed in our region had already gone out (IIRC we had the Thunder Chickens waiting for us, which would have meant our first Final Four).

 

[August_West]

God, this was an awful night. Although if we take games from the Sweet 16, I would argue that the loss to Florida was worse, as we totally choked that away at the end and the #1 seed in our region had already gone out (IIRC we had the Thunder Chickens waiting for us, which would have meant our first Final Four).

Mississippi ST was like a bad dream. Ray just couldnt get it going for a while. We missed Freshman Ricky who killed his shoulder against Colgate and Mississippi St (especially that kid who was chucking side armed from his hip) couldn't miss. That game seemed to go by so quickly just waiting to wake up, and by the time we did it was too late. Bad, Bad game. That was a GREAT team we decimated people that year.


94 Florida hurt, because yeah, BC (who we were in the midst of a ridiculous winning streak against), had already taken out one seed Carolina and was the only thing standing between us an the FF. And then we spit the bit.

 

[Matrim55]

Mississippi ST was like a bad dream. Ray just couldnt get it going for a while. We missed Freshman Ricky who killed his shoulder against Colgate and Mississippi St (especially that kid who was chucking side armed from his hip) couldn't miss. That game seemed to go by so quickly just waiting to wake up, and by the time we did it was too late. Bad, Bad game. That was a GREAT team we decimated people that year.

Us vs. that year's UK team for the title would have been amazing.

Ricky's shoulder injury absolutely killed us, but we got our bit of turnabout with Niang's injury in '14. I think we'd have lost to Iowa State if he was fit.

 

[August_West]

Us vs. that year's UK team for the title would have been amazing.

Ricky's shoulder injury absolutely killed us, but we got our bit of turnabout with Niang's injury in '14. I think we'd have lost to Iowa State if he was fit.

so can we please make up for Dyson's 09 injury this year? How about AJ's ACL tear in 08 tournament. Or El Amin in 2000 where we were reduced to a Freshman Marcus Cox playing the point in a round of 32 game.

Weve had our share of crippling NCAA injuries.

 

[Palatine]

Nobody puts UConn/Princeton, Perno steals the ball, on the list?

 

[Mots010]

Us vs. that year's UK team for the title would have been amazing.

Ricky's shoulder injury absolutely killed us, but we got our bit of turnabout with Niang's injury in '14. I think we'd have lost to Iowa State if he was fit.

After watching Niang completely implode in the NCAA tournament last year, I'm not so sure he was stopping that Uconn train in 2014. Nonetheless, it was a huge break,

 

[RayIsTheGOAT]

No. 1 is easy

Here's two that should be real high on the list
L'ville 2011-5 games in 5 days is something likely no one will ever see again.
MSU-2014- Seemingly every analyst picked MSU to win the title, and wrote off UConn, including Chuck Barkley at halftime. I didn't expect them to win this game. There was something special about that game, at the Garden.

 

[NotADimeBack]

My favorite moment:

At Pitt after UConn wins, KEA jumps on the table and faces the Pitt fans.

KEA had a stronger will than anyone ever at UConn.

Dam... IDK lol. Kemba and Shabazz have that same will... And had less talent around them

 

[uconnfan68]

Nobody puts UConn/Princeton, Perno steals the ball, on the list?

Before my time. I do remember bits and pieces, but was in grammar school.

 

[Waquoit]

Nobody puts UConn/Princeton, Perno steals the ball, on the list?

Would have ranked higher if they didn't lose by 47 in the next game.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Would have ranked higher if they didn't lose by 47 in the next game.

Beating Holy Cross in the early fifities (1953)when they were a national power signalled the arrival of UConn as a player at the top levels of their region as well as making UConn the states favorite team. These were big factors for our inclusion in the Big East . Without Hugh Greer and his team's nothing that came after was possible.

 

[weyuo]

I cried tears of joy when UConn beat hated Duke to win their first national title and I almost cut off a couple fingers on a ceiling fan jumping for joy when Tate hit "The Shot" but beating Kentucky by one point to go the the national championship after the most historic run in Big East Tournamemt history might be the most exciting for me. So much emotion in March of 2011. Such an improbable win streak, beating 4 ranked teams at the Big East Tourney in 4 days and 5 wins in 5 days. Then the run in the big dance and a one point thriller vs Kentucky. That has to be right up there.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I cried tears of joy when UConn beat hated Duke to win their first national title and I almost cut off a couple fingers on a ceiling fan jumping for joy when Tate hit "The Shot" but beating Kentucky by one point to go the the national championship after the most historic run in Big East Tournamemt history might be the most exciting for me. So much emotion in March of 2011. Such an improbable win streak, beating 4 ranked teams at the Big East Tourney in 4 days and 5 wins in 5 days. Then the run in the big dance and a one point thriller vs Kentucky. That has to be right up there.

That was a one point game in final score only. The same can be said abut our win over Duke in '04.