1996–97 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team

1996–97 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball
1996–97 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball
NIT, Third place
Conference	Big East Conference
Record	18–15 (7–11 Big East)
Head coach	Jim Calhoun (11th season);
Assistant coaches	Karl Hobbs; Dave Leitao; Tom Moore;
Home arena	Hartford Civic Center; Harry A. Gampel Pavilion
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Big East men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Big East 6
No. 20 Villanova	12	–	6	.667	24	–	10	.706
No. 23 Boston College†	12	–	6	.667	22	–	9	.710
West Virginia	11	–	7	.611	21	–	10	.677
Notre Dame	8	–	10	.444	16	–	14	.533
St. John's	8	–	10	.444	13	–	15	.464
Connecticut	7	–	11	.389	18	–	15	.545
Big East 7
Georgetown	11	–	7	.611	20	–	10	.667
Providence	10	–	8	.556	24	–	12	.667
Pittsburgh	10	–	8	.556	18	–	15	.545
Miami	9	–	9	.500	16	–	13	.552
Syracuse	9	–	9	.500	19	–	13	.594
Seton Hall	5	–	13	.278	10	–	18	.357
Rutgers	5	–	13	.278	11	–	16	.407

† 1997 Big East tournament winner As of March 31, 1997^[1]^[2]^[3] Rankings from AP poll

The 1996–97 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 1996–97 collegiate men's basketball season. The Huskies completed the season with an 18–15 overall record. The Huskies were members of the Big East Conference where they finished with a 7–11 record. They came in Third Place in the 1997 National Invitation Tournament. The Huskies played their home games at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut and the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and they were led by eleventh-year head coach Jim Calhoun.^[4]^[5]

Roster

Listed are the student athletes who were members of the 1996–1997 team.^[6]

Name	Position	Year
Dion Carson	G	SR
Kyle Chapman	G	SR
Kevin Freeman	F	FR
Sam Funches	F	FR
Richard Hamilton	F/G	FR
Monquencio Hardnett	G	JR
Ruslan Inyatkin	F	JR
Rashamel Jones	F/G	SO
Kirk King	F	SR
Antric Klaiber	F/C	SO
Michael Leblanc	F	FR
Pete McCann	G	FR
Ricky Moore	G	SO
Jake Voskuhl	C	FR

Schedule

Date time, TV	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
11/15/1996* ESPN	vs. No. 24 Indiana The Classic	L 61–68	0–1	RCA Dome (32,250) Indianapolis
11/25/1996* WTNH	Northeastern	W 89–37	1–1	Hartford Civic Center (13,005) Hartford, Connecticut
11/29/1996* WTNH	Yale	W 72–39	2–1	Hartford Civic Center (14,529) Hartford, Connecticut
12/2/1996* WTNH	Southwest Texas State	W 66–49	3–1	Hartford Civic Center (14,104) Hartford, Connecticut
12/4/1996 WTNH	at Pittsburgh	L 49–56	3–2 (0–1)	Civic Arena (9,537) Pittsburgh
12/7/1996 WTNH	No. 20 Boston College	W 61–54	4–2 (1–1)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
12/21/1996* WTNH	Fairfield	W 68–58	5–2	Hartford Civic Center (14,918) Hartford, Connecticut
12/23/1996* WTNH	Virginia	W 64–61	6–2	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
12/27/1996* ESPN	Massachusetts MassMutual UGame	W 64–61	7–2	Hartford Civic Center (14,389) Hartford, Connecticut
12/29/1996* WTNH	Hartford	W 104–62	8–2	Hartford Civic Center (13,793) Hartford, Connecticut
1/2/1997 WTNH	at Rutgers	W 66–57	9–2 (2–1)	Louis Brown Athletic Center (5,806) Piscataway, New Jersey
1/4/1997 WTNH	West Virginia	W 79–62	10–2 (3–1)	Hartford Civic Center (15,358) Hartford, Connecticut
1/8/1997 WTNH	St. John's	L 67–71 ^OT	10–3 (3–2)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
1/11/1997 WTNH	at Georgetown Rivalry	W 69–54	11–3 (4–2)	Capital Centre (12,181) Landover, Maryland
1/19/1997* CBS	No. 1 Kansas	L 65–73	11–4	Hartford Civic Center (16,294) Hartford, Connecticut
1/22/1997 WTNH	at Miami	L 46–69	11–5 (4–3)	Miami Arena (6,662) Miami
1/26/1997 CBS	Syracuse Rivalry	L 53–65	11–6 (4–4)	Hartford Civic Center (16,294) Hartford, Connecticut
1/29/1997 ESPN	Providence	L 47–62	11–7 (4–5)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
2/1/1997 WTNH	at Seton Hall	W 62–55	12–7 (5–5)	Continental Airlines Arena (15,141) East Rutherford, New Jersey
2/3/1997 ESPN	Georgetown Rivalry	L 51–52	12–8 (5–6)	Hartford Civic Center (15,842) Hartford, Connecticut
2/8/1997 WTNH	at Notre Dame	L 65–71 ^OT	12–9 (5–7)	Edmund P. Joyce Center (10,196) Notre Dame, Indiana
2/12/1997 ESPN	at Boston College	W 61–56	13–9 (6–7)	Conte Forum (8,134) Boston
2/15/1997 WTNH	Miami	W 72–52	14–9 (7–7)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
2/17/1997 ESPN	at Syracuse Rivalry	L 66–71 ^OT	14–10 (7–8)	Carrier Dome (22,950) Syracuse, New York
2/23/1997 CBS	at No. 19 Villanova	L 58–65	14–11 (7–9)	Wells Fargo Center (17,263) Philadelphia
2/25/1997 ESPN2	Pittsburgh	L 74–77	14–12 (7–10)	Hartford Civic Center (15,746) Hartford, Connecticut
3/1/1997 WTNH	Seton Hall	L 60–73	14–13 (7–11)	Hartford Civic Center (16,186) Hartford, Connecticut
Big East tournament
3/5/1997 ESPN	vs. Pittsburgh First round	L 62–63	14–14	Madison Square Garden (18,291) New York City
NIT
3/12/1997*	Iona First round	W 71–66	15–14	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (6,029) Storrs, Connecticut
3/18/1997* CPTV	Bradley Second round	W 63–47	16–14	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (8,338) Storrs, Connecticut
3/21/1997* CPTV	Nebraska Quarterfinals	W 76–67	17–14	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (8,411) Storrs, Connecticut
3/25/1997* ESPN	vs. Florida State Semifinals	L 66–71	17–15	Madison Square Garden (13,841) New York
3/27/1997*	vs. Arkansas Third-place game	W 74–64	18–15	Madison Square Garden (15,849) New York
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Schedule Source:^[4]^[7]

References

^ sports-reference.com 1996-97 Big East Conference Season Summary
^ Keefe, Gavin, "Big East Notes: The Big East 7 and Big East 6? Big Deal!", The Day, January 1, 1996, p. 7.
^ "PLUS: COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- BIG EAST CONFERENCE; League Cuts Games In Search of Bids," The New York Times, August 7, 1998.
^ ^a ^b 2015-16 Connecticut Basketball History (PDF). UConn Huskies. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2016.
^ Davis, Ken (September 30, 2010). The University of Connecticut Basketball Vault: The History of the Huskies. Atlanta: Whitman LLC. ISBN 978-0794828035.
^ "1996-97 UConn Huskies Roster and Stats".
^ "Connecticut Men's Basketball Archive Schedule". UConn Huskies. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.

[1] sports-reference.com 1996-97 Big East Conference Season Summary

[2] Keefe, Gavin, "Big East Notes: The Big East 7 and Big East 6? Big Deal!", The Day, January 1, 1996, p. 7.

[3] "PLUS: COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- BIG EAST CONFERENCE; League Cuts Games In Search of Bids," The New York Times, August 7, 1998.

[cstv-4] 2015-16 Connecticut Basketball History (PDF). UConn Huskies. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved March 7, 2016.

[5] Davis, Ken (September 30, 2010). The University of Connecticut Basketball Vault: The History of the Huskies. Atlanta: Whitman LLC. ISBN 978-0794828035.

[6] "1996-97 UConn Huskies Roster and Stats".

[7] "Connecticut Men's Basketball Archive Schedule". UConn Huskies. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016. Retrieved March 7, 2016.

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v t e UConn Huskies men's basketball
Venues	Willis Nichols Hawley Armory (1914–1954) Hugh S. Greer Field House (1954–1989) XL Center (1975–present) New Haven Coliseum (1978–1987) Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (1990–present) Webster Bank Arena (2013–2014)
Rivalries	Georgetown Syracuse UMass
Culture & lore	Blue blood status Gambling scandal Jonathan the Husky "UConn Husky" 6-overtime game 2011 Miracle Run
People	Head coaches NBA players Huskies of Honor Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics