Dom Amore: In homecoming of champions, UConn men put on a show, women show there’s work to do

HARTFORD — Jim Calhoun put on his new, custom jacket with his three championship years emblazoned on the left breast.

And he threw some red meat to ravenous UConn crowd at halftime.

“The way we’re playing … let’s go get another one,” he said, and the 15,684 predictably shook the XL Center.

There wasn’t much Calhoun, or the other members of the 2004 champions, united as if they never dispersed, could say to the current men’s team. Nor could Jordan Hawkins from last year’s champs, in town with as his NBA employers, the Pelicans, are scheduled to play in Boston Monday, offer much other than, “keep doing what you’re doing.”

The men put on a show for their alumni, routing Xavier, 99-56.

“It was just an awesome vibe to the whole weekend,” Dan Hurley said, “and it was great to just rise to the moment.”

No. 15 Notre Dame runs away from UConn women, 82-67, snapping Huskies win streak at 13 games

A little more than 12 hours earlier, Diana Taurasi and other distinguished women’s basketball alumni walked into what must have been a quiet UConn women’s locker room at Gampel Pavilion following the Huskies’ 82-67 loss to Notre Dame with a different message, for a different circumstance.

“Dee came in and she was just saying, ‘next game,'” KK Arnold said. “‘More games ahead on the road, knock this one out of the way, learn from it and on to the next one.”

It’s this way at UConn, in the best of times or in troubled times, those who earned the banners are never far away, not from each other in many cases, nor from the kids trying to carry the weight of expectation and hang their own. Maybe it’s like this at some schools, but not many. This is tradition like few, if any other, 11 championships in women’s basketball, five in men’s basketball.

This was a weekend to savor past and present at UConn, though it didn’t go exactly as scripted. The women, unbeaten at home, on a 13-game winning streak, seemed to have found their identity and were primed to beat their old nemesis.

But Notre Dame exposed the flaws, still there from early season losses against ranked teams, to be exploited with the roster ever-depleted by injuries.

The story of that game was pretty simple. Nika Muhl fouled out, a couple of those fouls unnecessary, especially the fifth with 9:24 left and the game still close. UConn was plus-13 with Muhl in the game, unable to function on either end and outscored by 26 without her. The heavy reliance on freshmen showed itself in a game that required experience and Paige Bueckers, after getting poked in the eye in the first half, was swarmed by the Irish defense and didn’t look like her efficient self, with 17 quiet points.

Breanna Stewart, Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis and Moriah Jefferson went out to sit in the student section hoping to change UConn’s luck, but none of them could venture out onto the court to try to stop ND’s Hannah Hidalgo, who scored 34.

“I wish some of them were on the bench,” said Geno Auriemma, who hosted the dinner for all at his restaurant Friday night.

UConn honored four of its championship teams, putting the 2013 and 14 teams in the Huskies of Honor.

“(Friday night) we had dinner with them and we talked about how big a family UConn is,” Aaliyah Edwards said. “It was interesting to see the different generations, last year’s team, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, it was just everyone coming together and it was collective. We’re here for the same goal, the same reason. They were successful, and we were just getting insights on that and seeing how what they did on the court, off the court, led to their success.”

There is work to do, but plenty of support out there. The Huskies are still far above the field in the Big East, but the top teams in the country look to be on another level right now, with one more pre-Madness test at South Carolina on Feb. 11.

The men, in normal times, would be having their ups and downs against a rugged Big East schedule, but these are the best of times and Sunday was like a frolic through snowy Bushnell Park. They scored the first 10 points, opened a 38-7 lead, went 17 for 29 on threes and left Xavier battered.

No. 15 Notre Dame runs away from UConn women, 82-67, snapping Huskies win streak at 13 games

The Huskies (18-2) are wearing the title of defending champs and the No.1 ranking in the country as comfortably as Calhoun and his remarkable 2004 champs were wearing the custom jackets. The targets on the backs of the men’s team is just another fashion statement.

A year ago, the UConn men were struggling through a brutal January, losing six of eight after a 14-0 start. After having gone through that and surging to the national championship, this team is no longer afraid to fail which is, of course, the secret to success.

“In a weird way, we’re not afraid to drop a game somewhere,” Hurley said. “So we’re attacking these games.”

When the 2004 Huskies got together, “it was like we never skipped a beat,” Charlie Villanueva said. After the game, they entered the locker room as one, not just to congratulate the Huskies, thank them for putting on a heck of a show, but to remind them: you only have one shot in college, make the most of it, the way they did.

“Their message was to keep getting better every day and don’t get complacent,” Donovan Clingan said. “It can be easy to let your guard down. Keep attacking every day and don’t take anything for granted. They all told us how time flies, and they can remember 20 years ago like it was yesterday.

It’s that way at UConn, perhaps singularly so. Men’s basketball, women’s basketball, past, present, future, it all of it is intertwined.

“That ‘family’ part of it,” Calhoun said. “That’s what I like the most.”