STORRS, Conn. — UConn's veteran players, well-regarded coach and cozy campus arena weren't the only obstacles Arizona men's basketball had to deal with Wednesday night.
Also, pints of Miller Lite were only $2. Lines formed for the cheap brew in the tight walkways around Gampel Pavilion and, before UA coach Tommy Lloyd knew it, the sold-out party was getting even louder.
"I'd love to see what this place is on $1 beer night," Lloyd said. "You know, $2 beer night was pretty impressive. One dollar beer night — can we take it up another level? It was pretty impressive. Ton of fun."
Fans built a pyramid out of leftover beer cans after a $2 beer special during the Arizona-UConn game Wednesday.
The decibels from the capacity crowd of 10,244 peaked when Malachi Smith hit a stepback jumper with 2:16 remaining but by the time they filed out of the arena, of course, the only things noticeably audible were a few spirited "U of A" chants.
Tough UA memory
Nearly a quarter-century later, the Wildcats avenged what was a frustrating experience the last time they played in Gampel Pavilion.
A controversial goaltending call from Pac-10 official Richie Ballesteros against UA center Loren Woods with 1.8 seconds to go assigned a game-winning bucket to the Huskies.
Former UA associate head coach Jim Rosborough, who was the acting head coach for that game, said he's watched the play over and over, "frame by frame," and it still hurts him.
“Horrible call and maybe not his call,” Rosborough said via text message earlier Wednesday. “The league spent a lot of time reviewing it and then let it go. If that close, it should not have been called. He sort of apologized for it several years later.”
The Wildcats already had reason to feel gloomy even before that game began. Rosborough was serving as acting head coach because Lute Olson stayed in Tucson while his wife, Bobbi, underwent a procedure related to her battle with ovarian cancer.
Bobbi Olson died on New Year’s Day 2001, though the Wildcats managed to reach the NCAA championship game that season in what was their most recent Final Four appearance.
Long time coming
UConn sophomore Braden O’Marra was a month away from being born the last time Gampel Pavilion hosted a game between two Top 5 teams, so he acted accordingly.
O’Marra lined up with about 40 other UConn students late Sunday night, spending three nights outside Gampel Pavilion while temperatures floated above and below freezing to ensure himself the best possible seat Wednesday evening.
He also managed to break free for some classes.
“It was good,” he said. “We had a great time.”
UConn students who waited hours and sometimes days outside Gampel Pavilion before Wednesday's game left a mark.
Another way in
While O’Marra’s efforts earned him a front-row seat behind the basket, grad student Devin DeMarco stood next to him without having to camp.
Grad student Devin DeMarco, left, and other UConn students warm up for the Huskies' game against Arizona on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, at Storrs, Conn.
Instead, he worked his way in, as a captain of the “Top Dogs” student section, spending his time working with other students, running tailgates and bringing food to the students such as O’Marra who were sitting in the cold.
Tight squeeze
Because Gampel Pavilion packs in its 10,244 seats under a smaller domed building on UConn’s campus, there isn’t room for a normal concourse full of concessions and memorabilia.
Instead, UConn displays much of its memorabilia throughout a spacious adjacent bookstore, while a few concessions are tucked into the four corners of the building.
Gear and history share space inside UConn's bookstore.
One corner offered “Brian’s Famous Fried Dough and Beignets,” while another offered Big 12-style barbecue fare that included pulled pork and brisket sandwiches and a “Mac Attack” featuring mac-and-cheese topped with a meat of choice.
Canned "Two Conn" beer was also available along with standard major brews.
Banners everywhere
But of course, in a place that calls itself the “Basketball Capital of the World,” Gampel Pavilion devotes nearly all its aerial real estate to banners. Women’s basketball and men’s basketball banners, representing the riches that come from a total of 12 NCAA titles for the women and six for the men.
The banners for championships, Final Fours and conference championships for the women’s program are on one side of the arena with men’s honors on the other, while retired numbers for women’s players Rebecca Lobo and Swin Cash are right alongside men’s players Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton.
Hall of Fame stopover
Having arrived in Connecticut on Monday evening, the Wildcats took time to check out the Basketball Hall of Fame in nearby Springfield, Mass.
They practiced at Springfield College on Tuesday, toured the Hall of Fame and then shot around briefly on Tuesday night at Gampel Pavilion, according to UA assistant AD Nate Wiechers. On Wednesday, they also held their normal pregame shootaround at Gampel.
Hall of Fame trolling?
Those heading south into Connecticut on Interstate 91 from the Basketball Hall of Fame might notice a "correction" of sorts.
“Welcome to Connecticut,” a road sign reads at the border. “Home of the Basketball Capital of the World.”
The sign, also posted along Interstate 84 for those coming from Boston and parts further east of Storrs, references UConn’s 18 national basketball titles.
The slogan is actually all over Gampel Pavilion, too, above beer and food stands, and even in the media section.
Holmes is official
It’s hardly unusual in the transfer portal era, but Arizona will head into the spring signing period with just one fall signee for the second straight season.
After signing Dwayne Aristode in November 2024, then adding another seven players last spring, the Wildcats wound up with only Goodyear Millennium forward Cam Holmes during the just-concluded fall signing period this year.
A four-star forward rated the No. 29 overall player in the class of 2026 by 247 Sports, Holmes announced his commitment on Nov. 9, and finished up the paperwork during the fall signing period. Arizona officially announced his arrival Monday via social media.
The Wildcats had aimed to add a second in-state player during the fall signing period, but Phoenix St. Mary’s forward Cameron Williams picked Duke.
No-lose scenario?
Most high-major programs still have more easier “buy” games on their nonconference schedule — those where they pay typically lesser opponents to show up on their home court — than those against other top programs.
But Arizona and UConn each had five ranked teams on their nonconference schedules this season, and UConn coach Dan Hurley said he was aiming for more — as long as it wouldn’t hurt his team’s NCAA Tournament seeding.
“A question I’d like to know from the selection committee: If you end up with more losses, will you reward playing that schedule?” Hurley said before Wednesday’s game, according to the Hartford Courant. “Because I think once you get to a certain level of the amount of losses on your record, now you’re eliminated from a No. 1 seed, a No. 2 seed, a No. 3 seed.
"So if you play eight or nine of these types of games and you go 6-3 or 5-3 and you don’t stack up this gaudy record, will that be rewarded?”
Campus creamery
Arizona doesn’t pass by Washington State’s famed Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Shoppe anymore after its exit from the Pac-12, but the UConn Dairy Bar could be considered a close substitute.
Like Ferdinand’s, the Dairy Bar features glass windows allowing a view into the ice cream production, along with freezers full of takeaway ice-cream tubs gallons and eggs (but no cheese, as Ferdinand's is also known for).
A display inside the UConn Dairy Bar, which sells locally-made ice cream, a variety of drinks and eggs.
Ice cream flavors at the Dairy Bar include Husky Tracks (vanilla with fudge and peanut butter cups), black raspberry, toasted almond amaretto, honey cream crunch, banana chocolate chip and coconut.
Generous cups were priced at only $6.
Quotable
"It's gonna be a bad film session coming out of here. There's a street fight going on in the paint and men can't watch fights. When your buddies are in a fight, you get in the fight. You don't stand on the periphery." — UConn Coach Dan Hurley, on Arizona's physical edge over the Huskies
The big number
36: Straight games against nonconference teams UConn had won at home until Wednesday.
