Last night, the UConn Huskies did it. They stood on top of the college basketball world after beating San Diego State 76-59 to win their fifth National Championship. In addition to the Huskies team feeling invincible, the students of UConn adopted that same confidence. I was in Storrs, CT for the game and subsequent celebration and it went from zero to one hundred quickly.
What Happened On The Court
Before I fully divulge into the campus shenanigans, I’d be remised to not mention the Huskies’ performance on the court. UConn was led by a three headed monster of Adama Sanogo, Tristen Newton, and Jordan Hawkins. The transfer portal point guard Newton stepped up big time dropping 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Dominant forward Adama Sanogo tallied 17 points, 10 board, and a block while the versatile Jordan Hawkins accounted for 16 points and 4 assists. On the defensive end, forward Alex Karaban had 3 blocks and backup center Donovan Clingan, aka Kling Cong, had 1 block and 2 steals. It was an overall team effort this whole tournament run and that was encapsulated last evening.
With about eight minutes left in the game, the Aztecs cut UConn’s lead to five, but Jordan Hawkins hit a beautiful running three to sway the momentum back in UConn’s direction. As a fan, this was one of the greatest moments of my sports fandom. I’ve never seen my favorite college or professional football team win a championship. The next closest thing I have is basketball and it’s something my dad and I have bonded over for a while. Watching UConn win where I could really digest it unlike 2011 or 2014 meant so much. It brought a tear to my eye.
Campus Shenanigans
While the game was the evening’s focal point, things really ramped up at the center of campus. Myself and a few friends took an Uber near Gampel where a massive crowd had already congregated following the student watch party. Not being a student at UConn won’t exactly help me telling this story because the police kept pushing the massive crowd around campus. I still don’t know exactly where we ended up, but the energy was through the roof. The vibes were high. I was running around dapping people up and hugging others screaming “WE’RE NATIONAL CHAMPIONS.” As we traversed away from Gampel, we began to notice that the light posts were ripped from the ground. Like completely removed. This was the intensification of the vandalism.
As we moved further on campus, we hit what looked like a courtyard area with light posts and trees that hadn’t yet been obstructed so the UConn student body went to work. One student attempted to take down a light post on his own. I definitely commend the bravery and hard work, but he was seen by the police pretty quickly and one of the boys in blue laid a vicious hit stick on the kid leading to his arrest.
The night became a cat and mouse game amongst the student body and the police. The student body would tear up an area that the police pushed us towards. Then, the police would push us to another area of campus. And then the students would go back to work tearing up more of the campus. It was a cycle that occurred on multiple occasions for about an hour.
The Night Progresses, But Not For The Better
The next destination was in one of the large quads on the UConn campus. This was what felt like a turning point. The vibes were at an all-time high with music playing, people dancing, and many U-C-O-N-N chants. But then, the vandalism factor became more real when windows were broken on buildings. I didn’t witness them getting broken, but the shattering glass was loud enough to sober you up pretty quick. With the police removing us from the quad, the students hit an area where there was a couple of parked cars. One was overturned while another nearly caught fire because a trashcan that was set ablaze rolled dangerously close to it.
At this point, the crowd gathered very close to the tipped van and I had been separated from a couple of my friends so it was pure mania. Thankfully, a few moments later I reconvened and this was when the boys in blue had enough. The crowd was directed away from the overturned vehicles and when I looked up from the ground, my friends and I saw a smoke carry over the large group and a pungent smell hit our nostrils. We got tear gassed. Now for many people this sucked, but to be a part of something like this, my friends and I were pumped. Like I mentioned before, we’d never experienced a men’s National Title that we could appreciate and to follow this wild mob of students was electric. From the tear gassing point, the heart of campus essentially went dead.
The Final Tallies
At the nights end, a total of 15 people had been arrested and 16 were taken to the hospital due to injuries. On top of that, there was more vandalism that I was not privy to. One of the biggest clips was of a handful of students using a light post as a battering ram to get into the IT building on campus.
Overall though, the night was fun. It was a once in a life time experience that I’ll truly never forget. I also think it’s one the campus won’t forget or the students who got cuffed won’t forget. Maybe UConn can run the National Championship back in the 2023-2024 season and we’ll see a sequel to the madness.
