UConn faces stiff challenge not just from Kansas’ roster, but also from atmosphere and past history

UConn visits Kansas for second time in three years, still searching for first win in program history against Jayhawks. (Photo by Nick Krug/Kansas Athletics) 

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A five-word credo greets the visitors of Allen Fieldhouse upon admission to one of college basketball’s most storied and mystical venues.

Pay Heed, All Who Enter.

The owner of a Guinness World Record for loudest indoor arena, with a recorded volume of over 130 decibels, Kansas’ home floor is equal parts intimidating and opportunistic. Regarding the latter, those who come off the floor named after the man who founded the sport of basketball victorious do so with a noticeable feather in their collective cap, but not without a price.

If UConn is to invade the Sunflower State and defeat 21st-ranked Kansas Tuesday, it will have assuredly earned such a triumph, especially since there is no way to truly prepare for what lies ahead other than experiencing it in real time.

“I could tell them how loud it’s going to be, but there’s very few places you play at anywhere near their level of atmosphere,” head coach Dan Hurley intimated. “It’s just so unique playing at Kansas, the places that you go and play at where they’re so coordinated and they’ve got such great tradition. Places like Kansas, Duke (with) Cameron Indoor, there’s certain places that you go and play where the home team has a major advantage just because of your inability to communicate, how difficult the environment is, how engaged the fans are from the tip.”

Crowd volume was already on the minds of the fifth-ranked Huskies following their win last Friday at Madison Square Garden against another ranked team in Illinois, as freshman center Eric Reibe joked that he and his teammates would need to learn sign language to try to combat the intensity of the Jayhawks fan base. Hurley confirmed that on Monday leading up to the clash of two of the sport’s titans, crediting Kansas fans for their consistent knack of getting opposing teams off kilter.

Dan Hurley exhorts UConn during Huskies’ 2023 meeting with Kansas. In four previous matchups with Jayhawks, Hurley has come closest of anyone to defeating one of college basketball’s powerbrokers. (Photo by Nick Krug/Kansas Athletics)

“They’re loud the entire game, not just when the team’s playing well,” he said. “They make you play worse as a road team and they get their home team going, too. There’s communication things defensively, offensively, that we’ll try to do, but there’s no simulating the actual environment because it’s a rare place to play.”

Four times previously, UConn has faced Kansas. Four times, it has come up short against one of the sport’s heavyweights. Jim Calhoun’s 1994-95 and 1996-97 teams were defeated by a Roy Williams-led squad that included future NBA players Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz, among others; while Kevin Ollie was also unsuccessful in conquering the Jayhawks, falling short in the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

Hurley has actually come the closest to making history on this front, battling Kansas two years ago to the tune of a narrow 69-65 result that came down to the final seconds. It does not take much to motivate him or his players, but he did implore the current UConn roster that if it wants to be judged on its own plane, a win Tuesday in one of the landmarks of the sport — in arguably the most hostile of road environments — would be a major starting point for such an independent evaluation.

Alex Karaban has won two national championships at UConn, but victory over Kansas is one of few bullets missing from an accomplished resume. (Photo by Nick Krug/Kansas Athletics)

“The one thing I’ve said to the team is when you play or coach at UConn, you hear so much about past championship teams,” he said. “You hear nonstop about these teams, and this year’s team has a have to do something that none of those great teams have done.”

“If you’re tired of hearing about Donovan Clingan and Steph Castle, and Cam Spencer and Tristen Newton, you’re tired of hearing stories from your coach about what type of players those players were, what types of teams those teams were, then go do something that those teams didn’t do. Start creating your own legacy as a team, start building a resume as a team if you’re tired of me talking about those teams with such great nostalgia.”