The UConn Huskies men's basketball program is the NCAA Division I men's college basketball team of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut. They play in the Big East Conference and are coached by Dan Hurley. With six national championships and 45 conference titles, the program is considered one of the blue bloods of college basketball.
UConn has won six NCAA tournament championships (1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2023 and 2024), which puts the program in a tie for third most all time and is the most of any program since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. The Huskies have won eight Big East tournament championships (tied for most all time) and 11 Big East regular season championships (most all time). UConn has 37 NCAA tournament appearances (tied for 11th most all time) and has played in eight NCAA Final Fours (tied for 8th most all time), 14 NCAA Elite Eights (11th most all time) and 20 NCAA Sweet Sixteens (11th most all time). UConn won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship in 1988 and the NIT third-place game in 1997, with 13 NIT appearances in total. The Huskies also have one American Athletic Conference tournament championship and two ECAC New England regional tournament championships.
From the Huskies' first game in 1900–01 season to the end of the 2025–26 season, the program has amassed 1,897 wins and compiled a .647 winning percentage, both top 25 in NCAA Division I history. Initially a New England regional powerhouse, UConn won multiple conference championships in the 1920s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including a run of 10-straight Yankee Conference championships from 1951 to 1960. The Huskies appeared in the NCAA tournament 11 times between 1939 and 1970—second most of any school in the tournament's early era—reaching their first Sweet Sixteen in 1956 and first Elite Eight in 1964. The program began its emergence as a national powerhouse after becoming a charter member of the newly formed Big East Conference in 1979, building steadily from its first national postseason championship in the NIT in 1988 to its first NCAA championship in 1999.
Since 1999, the Huskies have won six national championships in a span of 25 years, one of the best runs in the sport's history. In 2024, UConn became the eighth school in NCAA Division I history to win back-to-back national championships, and the first to do so in 17 years. After the 2023–24 season, Fox Sports dubbed the Huskies' sustained success "the greatest run of the 21st century" and recognized UConn as "one of the greatest programs in the history of college basketball."
History Early history (1901–1946) Connecticut Agricultural College played its first organized men's basketball game on February 8, 1901, a 17–12 win against Willimantic High School. The victory led the school to add men's basketball as a varsity sport the following year. The program's first intercollegiate game came in the 1904–05 season, a 66–22 loss to UMass. Connecticut did not have a home court during these early years and eventually ceased competition in 1908 as a result. An independent team was given permission to compete under the school's name from 1910 to 1914. Connecticut resumed sponsorship of men's basketball as a varsity sport in the 1914–15 season following the construction of Hawley Armory, the school's first on-campus basketball court. The Aggies, as they were called at the time, had no coach from 1901 to 1915 and posted a 1–4 record on the 1914–15 season.
1915–1921: John Donahue and Ross Swartz Looking to improve on its performance in the previous seasons, Connecticut named John F. Donahue as the program's first head coach in 1915. However, he led the team to four losing seasons and an 11–23 overall record during his tenure as head coach. Connecticut named M. Ross Swartz as Donahue's replacement in 1919. He posted a 7–5 record in his first year—the school's first winning season since returning basketball as a varsity sport—but finished 7–9 in his second.
1921–1922: Wilder Tasker
With losing records in five out of the previous six years, Connecticut finally turned the corner when it named J. Wilder Tasker as head coach for the 1921–22 season. The Aggies played their most aggressive schedule to date, and opened the season with a 38–33 win against Harvard in Cambridge. In its second game, the team notched the program's first major upset, a 33–31 win over Army at West Point on December 21, 1921. Army was ranked No. 3 in the nation that season by the retrospective Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Connecticut finished the year 15–4 overall, the program's best season to date. Tasker returned for the 1922–23 season but abruptly resigned after the team's first game, a 52–19 loss to Army. He left Connecticut with a 15–5 overall record. Roy J. Guyer coached the remainder of the season, finishing 8–6 as interim head coach.
1923–1927: Sumner Dole Connecticut named Sumner Dole as head coach ahead of the 1923–24 season. After posting a losing record in his first season, Dole led Connecticut to back-to-back New England Conference championships in 1925 and 1926. The Aggies went 10-4 in the 1924-25 season. Hugh Greer was captain of the 1925–26 team. That season included a 30–26 win over UMass, a team ranked No. 25 in the country that season by the retrospective Premo-Porretta Power Poll. After the 1926–27 season, Dole stepped down as men's basketball head coach, but continued to coach the school's football team. He finished with a 34–22 record over four seasons as head coach.
1927–1931: Louis Alexander With Dole shifting his focus to the school's football team, Louis Alexander was named Connecticut's first men's basketball-only head coach in 1927. In his first season, Alexander won the school's third New England Conference championship. That season included a 39–36 win over Springfield College, a team ranked No. 11 in the nation that year by the retrospective Premo-Porretta Power Poll. Alexander led the team to winning records again in the next three seasons before leaving for the University of Rochester in 1931. He left Connecticut with a 35–19 overall record. Dole, who was still head coach of Connecticut's football team, coached the beginning of the 1930–31 season while Alexander was on sabbatical, posting a 5–3 record as interim head coach and bringing his overall record to 39–25.
1931–1936: John Heldman Jr. Connecticut named John Heldman Jr. head coach ahead of the 1931–32 season. Harrison "Honey" Fitch, the program's first African American player, joined the team in the 1932–33 season. Heldman made the controversial decision to bench Fitch in a game against the US Coast Guard Academy in 1934 after Coast Guard refused to play if Fitch was on the floor. Heldman coached the following year, but resigned after the first game of the 1935–36 season, a loss to the school's alumni. Heldman finished with a 19–42 overall record. J. O. Christian coached the remainder of the 1935–36 season, finishing with a 3–10 record as interim head coach.
1936–1945: Don White After five straight losing seasons, Don White was named head coach of the Huskies for the 1936–37 season. Prior to arriving at UConn, White spent 12 seasons as the head coach at Washington University. He led Connecticut to an 11–7 record in his first year. In the 1940–41 season, the team went 14–2 and won the school's fourth New England Conference championship. One of the first true stars from Connecticut was Hartford's Bernie Fisher, who played under White. He was captain of the 1944–45 team, which was the first Huskies team to play a game in Madison Square Garden. That season also included a 67–59 win over Rhode Island, a team ranked No. 19 in the country that year by the retrospective Premo-Porretta Power Poll. White left the Huskies after eight seasons to become the head coach at Rutgers. He compiled an overall record of 94–59 during his time with Connecticut.
1945–1946: Blair Gullion Connecticut hired Blair Gullion as White's replacement for the 1945–46 season. Gullion spent three seasons as head coach at Tennessee prior to World War II and took over as Connecticut's head coach after returning from his service in the war. He coached the Huskies to a 12–6 record in his first season. At the start of the 1946–47 season, Connecticut joined the newly formed Yankee Conference. Gullion left the team six games into the season to accept a position as Washington University's athletic director, finishing with a 15–8 overall record as head coach.
Hugh Greer era (1946–1963)
The modern era of UConn basketball began in 1946, when Hugh Greer became head coach after Gullion's midseason departure. Greer, a former player at the school in the 1920s, was in his second season as UConn's freshman team coach when Gullion resigned. Prior to that, Greer had coached at South Windsor's Ellsworth High School, winning five state championships between 1939 and 1945.
Led by senior Walt Dropo, a three-sport star at the school, the Huskies started the 1946–47 season 4–2 under Gullion, with road losses to rival Rhode Island and an NYU team that appeared in the NCAA tournament the previous year. Gullion resigned after the loss to NYU. The school then asked Greer to helm the team. He led UConn to a perfect 12–0 mark to finish the year, giving the team an overall record of 16–2 on the season. This was the best single season finish in school history to that point.
In the 1947–48 season, UConn moved into a new home arena, the Storrs Cage, replacing Hawley Armory. The structure was built by salvaging parts from a World War II airplane hangar, leading to the nickname "the Hangar." This facility had a capacity of 4,000 seats, allowing general admission attendance for the first time. The team's first game in the Storrs Cage was a 63–29 win over Maine in January 1948. The Huskies won their first Yankee Conference title at the end of that season.
UConn made its first NCAA tournament appearance in the 1950–51 season, where they lost to St. John's 63–52 at Madison Square Garden. The Huskies finished the season with a 22–4 overall record. In the 1953–54 season, Greer famously led UConn to a 78–77 victory against undefeated Holy Cross, breaking the Crusaders' 47-game home winning streak and keeping them out of the NCAA tournament. Holy Cross won the NIT title a few weeks later. UConn made its second NCAA tournament appearance and finished the year with a 23–3 overall record after a first round loss.
The UConn Field House replaced the Cage as the team's home court at the start of the 1954–55 season. UConn defeated rival Rhode Island in resounding fashion, 116–77, in the field house's inaugural game on December 1, 1954. The Huskies ended the season with their first National Invitation Tournament appearance and a 20–5 overall record.
In the 1955–56 season, Greer led UConn to its third NCAA tournament appearance and its first trip to the Sweet Sixteen following an 84–75 win over Manhattan in the first round. The Huskies narrowly lost to Temple 65–59 in the East Regional semifinal game played at Madison Square Garden. UConn made five consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament between 1956 and 1960, but lost in the first round in each one.
In 1960–61, UConn unexpectedly posted the program's first losing season in 17 years. It was the only losing season of Greer's tenure. The reason for the Huskies' struggles became apparent in March 1961, when two players were questioned as part of the 1961 NCAA men's basketball gambling scandal that resulted in the arrest of 37 players from 22 schools. Team captain Pete Kelly and center Glenn Cross were ultimately found to have accepted bribes to shave points throughout the season. Greer was devastated and never recovered from the scandal.