Preview: UConn Men's Basketball Prepping for old Big East Matchup
STORRS, Conn. – The approach used to be “let the ‘fro grow” before Georgetown came to town because you wanted to match the Hoyas’ rough and tumble image.
John Thompson’s program was the Evil Empire if you will back in the Big East’s glory days and nobody wanted to back down to them, especially Jim Calhoun’s UConn Huskies.
“We used to do all kinds of things,” said UConn coach Kevin Ollie, who spent four years playing in those battles on the Huskies’ side as a player. “We wouldn’t cut our hair before Georgetown. You know, we wanted to be as rugged as them.”
The conference that was once the king of college basketball is no longer around, but the Hoyas (12-7) and Huskies (13-5), who went in different directions when power conferences started to form a few years back, will renew their rivalry Saturdayat the XL Center in Hartford (noon, CBS).
“We got history,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “If you are looking for a team where there is history that you are familiar with and there’s a rivalry where your fans understand everything – their fans, our fans – this makes sense.”
The Hoyas remained in the Big East, but have not seen UConn, which jumped to The American, since a fitting double overtime finale that Georgetown won 79-78 on Feb. 27, 2013 at Gampel Pavilion.
“It was exciting,” said Georgetown senior D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who is one of the few holdovers on either side still in college. “I remember Shabazz, Shabazz Napier had a crazy game.
“It’s been a long time. It seems like it was yesterday, but it’s been a few years and (we plan to) just enjoy it.
The Hoyas roll in feeling good after stunning No. 5 Xavier 81-72 Tuesday in Cincinnati. UConn also won that night, 60-42 over Tulane.
“We have a lot of memories with those guys and just the battles,” Ollie said. “I remember my senior year I think we beat them all three times.
“Good memories, good battles. We always had great wars and seeing coach (Jim) Calhoun and big John Thompson over there battling against each other. It was quite some memories.
“We’re bringing those memories back and then we’ll get back to our great conference we have in the AAC."
This will be the final non-league contest of the season for the Huskies, who will play at Georgetown next season. While this game won’t count on the AAC standings, UConn could use another quality non-league win for its resume after having already lost to Syracuse, Gonzaga and Maryland.
The Huskies did beat Michigan, Ohio State and Texas from major conferences, but likely need more than that to get into the NCAA Tournament if they fail to win the AAC Tournament or make a huge run the second half of the season.
For UConn, seniors Phil Nolan and Omar Calhoun are the lone remaining players from the Big East days.
“I remember watching all of those games on TV,” said Calhoun, who grew up in New York. “When I came here it was still the Big East and I wanted to be a part of that.
“It’s going to be exciting.”
The two UConn veterans still chat about their one season in the conference.
“It was just different,” Calhoun said. “The atmosphere was different, just the rivalries, the coaches. … Everything.”
The Huskies do have one player familiar with the current Hoyas in fifth-year senior Sterling Gibbs, who played two years in the new Big East at Seton Hall before moving over.
When Smith-Rivera, who leads Georgetown with 16.4 points per game, was against about stopping UConn sophomore Daniel Hamilton he was quick to toss back Gibbs’ name as well. The former Pirate was fourth in the Big East in scoring last season and has scored in double digits in all four meetings against Georgetown.
“(Hamilton’s) good, but they also have Sterling,” Smith-Rivera said. “Sterling Gibbs is a former Big East player who’s tremendous. We know a lot about certain guys on the team and we scouted others also throughout the year, so it will be a good one.”
NOTES: Georgetown freshman Jesse Govan was recruited by UConn before picking the Hoyas. … Smith-Rivera leads the team with 4.4 assists while Bradley Hayes is the top rebounder at 6.6. … Georgetown leads the all-time series 35-29. … UConn has won three of five, but only scored more than 69 points once – 81-78 win over Memphis. … The Hoyas are also 3-2 in their last five games.