UW-UConn Announce Home-And-Home Series
April 18, 2012
SEATTLE - The University of Washington and University of Connecticut men's basketball teams will play each other in a home-and-home series starting in 2012-13, the two programs announced on Wednesday.
In a battle of prominent Husky programs, Washington will travel to Connecticut for a Dec, 29, 2012 game in either Storrs (Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, capacity 10,027) or Hartford (XL Center, capacity 16,294). UConn will return the favor and travel to Seattle for a game on a yet-to-be-determined date during the 2013-14 season.
"We are excited to begin this home-and-home series," said Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar. "It's consistent with our non-conference scheduling philosophy to play several high profile basketball teams each year."
Washington and UConn have played each other three times previously, but never on each other's home floors. Connecticut won the three previous meetings: a pair of NCAA tournament games in 1998 and 2006, plus a Great Eight tournament game in Chicago on Dec. 1, 1998.
If history holds form, the games between the two Husky squads should be memorable. Each of the three previous matchups was notable in their own ways.
The 1998 NCAA game was a Sweet 16 matchup that UConn won, 75-74, in Greensboro, N.C. on a last-second put-back basket by Rip Hamilton. The UW Huskies were making their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1984 and took the lead with 33-seconds remaining before UConn was able to convert on the game's last possession.
Less than nine months later the two teams met in the Great Eight Classic at the United Center in Chicago. UConn, ranked No. 1 at the time, beat Washington soundly 69-48. Connecticut would go on to win the NCAA Championship over Duke that season.
In the last meeting between the squads, Washington dropped a 98-92 overtime decision at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. in the 2006 NCAA Sweet 16. Rashad Anderson hit a game-tying 3-pointer for No. 1-seeded UConn with 1.8 seconds left in regulation and the foul-depleted Washington team was unable to keep up in the extra period.
Portions of Washington's 2012-13 were previously announced in March. The trip to play at Connecticut will be the second time during the season that Washington will play in the state. The UW Huskies are scheduled to play a pair of games on Nov. 17 and 18 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. as part of the Hall of Fame Classic. UW will face Seton Hall and then either Ohio State or Rhode Island. UW is also set to host Loyola University (Nov. 11) and Albany (Nov. 13) in the campus round portion of the Hall-of-Fame Classic.
Connecticut has played in Seattle previously, beating Gonzaga 88-83 on Dec. 20, 2008 at Key Arena in the Battle in Seattle.
