UConn Huskies Men’s Basketball History
The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team is a big reason why Connecticut has earned its nickname as “The Basketball Capital of the World.” Since the Huskies’ first season in 1900, UConn has captured six National Championships, along with 34 conference regular season titles and 11 conference tournament championships.
Launched as a conference member in the Athletic League of New England State Colleges, UConn helped form the New England Conference in 1923 and continued to the Yankee Conference from 1946 to 1976. After a handful of unaffiliated seasons, UConn became a founding member of the Big East Conference in 1979, and after a stretch in The American Athletic Conference starting in 2013, rejoined the Big East in 2020. UConn’s membership in the Big East alone accounts for 11 regular season conference wins and eight conference tournament crowns.
Across UConn’s 37 NCAA Tournament appearances, the Huskies have advanced to seven Final Fours. The team’s National Championship wins in 2023 and 2024 made UConn the eighth school to win back-to-back tournaments. Aside from March Madness, the Huskies men’s basketball team has appeared in the National Invitation Tournament 13 times and won in 1988.
Notable alumni include Ray Allen, Caron Butler, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Clifford Robinson and Kemba Walker.
UConn Huskies Team Info
Conference: Big East
Team Colors: National flag blue and white
Team Rivals: Tennessee, Stanford, Notre Dame, Syracuse
UConn Huskies Men’s Basketball at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and PeoplesBank Arena
The UConn men’s basketball team split home games between Harry A. Gampel Pavilion on the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs and PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford. Each season, the home schedule is divided approximately in half between the two venues. The tradition began in 1975 when PeoplesBank Arena, then known as Hartford Civic Center, opened and was paired with UConn’s previous on-campus arena, the Hugh S. Greer Field House. Gampel Pavilion inherited the shared schedule when it opened in 1990. Inside the Huskies’ two home arenas, Gampel Pavilion seats more than 10,000 guests, while PeoplesBank Arena holds a capacity of nearly 16,000 for basketball games.
