1997–98 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team

The 1997–98 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 1997–98 collegiate men's basketball season. The Huskies completed the season with a 32–5 overall record. The Huskies were members of the Big East Conference where they finished with a 15–3 record. They made it to the Elite Eight in the 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The Huskies played their home games at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut and the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and they were led by twelfth-year head coach Jim Calhoun.^[4][5]

1997–98 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball
Big East 6 Division Regular Season Champions Big East tournament champions
NCAA men's Division I tournament, Elite Eight
Conference	Big East Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 7
AP	No. 6
Record	32–5 (15–3 Big East)
Head coach	Jim Calhoun (12th season)
Assistant coaches	Karl Hobbs Dave Leitao Tom Moore
Home arena	Hartford Civic Center Harry A. Gampel Pavilion
Seasons ← 1996–97 1998–99 →

1997–98 Big East men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Big East 6
No. 6 Connecticut†	15	–	3		.833			32	–	5		.865
St. John's	13	–	5		.722			22	–	10		.688
West Virginia	11	–	7		.611			24	–	9		.727
Villanova	8	–	10		.444			12	–	17		.414
Notre Dame	7	–	11		.389			13	–	14		.481
Boston College	6	–	12		.333			15	–	16		.484
Big East 7
No. 21 Syracuse	12	–	6		.667			26	–	9		.743
Miami	11	–	7		.611			18	–	10		.643
Seton Hall	9	–	9		.500			15	–	15		.500
Providence	7	–	11		.389			13	–	16		.448
Pittsburgh	6	–	12		.333			11	–	16		.407
Rutgers	6	–	12		.333			14	–	15		.483
Georgetown	6	–	12		.333			16	–	15		.516
† 1998 Big East tournament winner As of March 30, 1998^[1]^[2]^[3] Rankings from AP poll

Roster

Listed are the student athletes who were members of the 1997–1998 team.^[6]

Name	Position	Year
Chris Crowley		FR
Jeff Cybart	G	SR
Khalid El-Amin	G	FR
Kevin Freeman	F	SO
Sam Funches	F	SO
Craig Glazer	G	FR
Richard Hamilton	F	SO
Monquencio Hardnett	G	SR
E.J. Harrison	G	JR
Rashamel Jones	F	JR
Antric Klaiber	F	JR
Ricky Moore	G	JR
Albert Mouring	G	FR
Jake Voskuhl	C	SO
Souleymane Wane	C	SO

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular Season
11/15/1997*  WTNH	No. 12	Yale	W 88–57	1–0	Hartford Civic Center (13,391) Hartford, Connecticut
11/17/1997*	No. 12	Boston University Preseason NIT	W 68–54	2–0	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (9,311) Storrs, Connecticut
11/19/1997*  ESPN	No. 12	No. 20 Rhode Island Preseason NIT	W 80–67	3–0	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (9,592) Storrs, Connecticut
11/24/1997*  WTNH	No. 12	Coppin State	W 72–50	4–0	Hartford Civic Center (13,212) Hartford, Connecticut
11/26/1997*  ESPN	No. 11	vs. No. 25 Florida State Preseason NIT	L 60–67	4–1	Madison Square Garden (11,510) New York City
11/28/1997*  ESPN	No. 11	vs. Arizona State Preseason NIT	W 82–61	5–1	Madison Square Garden (12,254) New York
12/3/1997  WTNH	No. 12	West Virginia	W 88–75	6–1 (1–0)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (9,621) Storrs, Connecticut
12/7/1997  WTNH	No. 12	at Rutgers	W 59–44	7–1 (2–0)	Louis Brown Athletic Center (6,112) Piscataway, New Jersey
12/10/1997*  WTNH	No. 13	at Virginia	W 74–63	8–1	University Hall (6,841) Charlottesville, Virginia
12/20/1997*  WTNH	No. 12	UNC Wilmington	W 93–55	9–1	Hartford Civic Center (13,911) Hartford, Connecticut
12/23/1997*  ESPN	No. 11	Massachusetts MassMutual UGame	W 72–55	10–1	Hartford Civic Center (10,797) Hartford, Connecticut
12/28/1997*  WTNH	No. 11	Hartford	W 100–69	11–1	Hartford Civic Center (14,505) Hartford, Connecticut
12/30/1997*  WTNH	No. 10	Fairfield	W 90–63	12–1	Hartford Civic Center (14,313) Hartford, Connecticut
1/3/1998  WTNH	No. 10	Notre Dame	W 84–58	13–1 (3–0)	Hartford Civic Center (15,101) Hartford, Connecticut
1/6/1998  WTNH	No. 10	at Miami	L 67–76	13–2 (3–1)	Miami Arena (8,247) Miami, Florida
1/11/1998  WTNH	No. 8	at Boston College	W 80–68	14–2 (4–1)	Conte Forum (7,976) Boston
1/13/1998  WTNH	No. 10	Seton Hall	W 80–59	15–2 (5–1)	Hartford Civic Center (14,756) Hartford, Connecticut
1/17/1998  CBS	No. 10	Georgetown Rivalry	W 86–72	16–2 (6–1)	Hartford Civic Center (16,294) Hartford, Connecticut
1/19/1998  ESPN	No. 10	at St. John's	L 62–64	16–3 (6–2)	Madison Square Garden (11,768) New York
1/24/1998  CBS	No. 8	at No. 15 Syracuse Rivalry	W 63–54	17–3 (7–2)	Carrier Dome (25,718) Syracuse, New York
1/27/1998  ESPN2	No. 9	at Providence	W 63–56	18–3 (8–2)	Providence Civic Center (12,978) Providence, Rhode Island
1/31/1998  WTNH	No. 9	Rutgers	W 73–56	19–3 (9–2)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
2/2/1998  ESPN	No. 9	Villanova	W 80–65	20–3 (10–2)	Hartford Civic Center (15,439) Hartford, Connecticut
2/7/1998*  CBS	No. 7	Stanford	W 76–56	21–3	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
2/11/1998  ESPN	No. 6	at No. 16 West Virginia	L 62–80	21–4 (10–3)	WVU Coliseum (15,167) Morgantown, West Virginia
2/14/1998  WTNH	No. 6	Pittsburgh	W 92–67	22–4 (11–3)	Hartford Civic Center (15,467) Hartford, Connecticut
2/17/1998  ESPN2	No. 7	at Notre Dame	W 88–79	23–4 (12–3)	Edmund P. Joyce Center (10,273) Notre Dame, Indiana
2/21/1998  WTNH	No. 7	at Villanova	W 83–73	24–4 (13–3)	Wells Fargo Center (12,934) Philadelphia
2/23/1998  ESPN	No. 7	Providence	W 77–68	25–4 (14–3)	Hartford Civic Center (16,129) Hartford, Connecticut
2/28/1998  WTNH	No. 6	St. John's	W 87–58	26–4 (15–3)	Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (10,027) Storrs, Connecticut
Big East tournament
3/5/1998  ESPN	No. 6	vs. Providence Quarterfinals	W 64–55	27–4	Madison Square Garden (15,377) New York
3/6/1998  ESPN	No. 6	vs. Rutgers Semifinals	W 64–50	28–4	Madison Square Garden (19,548) New York
3/7/1998  ESPN	No. 6	vs. No. 22 Syracuse Championship/Rivalry	W 69–54	29–4	Madison Square Garden (18,521) New York
NCAA tournament
3/12/1998*  CBS	No. 6 (2)	vs. No. (15) Fairleigh Dickinson First Round	W 93–85^[7]	30–4	MCI Center (19,288) Washington, D.C.
3/14/1998*  CBS	No. 6 (2)	vs. No. (7) Indiana Second Round	W 78–68	31–4	MCI Center (19,320) Washington, D.C.
3/19/1998*  CBS	No. 6 (2)	vs. No. (11) Washington Sweet Sixteen	W 75–74	32–4	Greensboro Coliseum Complex (23,235) Greensboro, North Carolina
3/21/1998*  CBS	No. 6 (2)	vs. No. 1 (1) North Carolina Elite Eight	L 64–75	32–5	Greensboro Coliseum Complex (23,235) Greensboro, North Carolina
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

Schedule Source:^[4][8]

Rankings

Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.

Poll	Pre	Wk 2	Wk 3	Wk 4	Wk 5	Wk 6	Wk 7	Wk 8	Wk 9	Wk 10	Wk 11	Wk 12	Wk 13	Wk 14	Wk 15	Wk 16	Wk 17	Wk 18	Final
AP	12	12	11	13	13	12	11	10	8	10	8	9	7	6	7	6	6	6	N/A

References

1. sports-reference.com 1997-98 Big East Conference Season Summary
2. Keefe, Gavin, "Big East Notes: The Big East 7 and Big East 6? Big Deal!", The Day, January 1, 1996, p. 7.
3. "PLUS: COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- BIG EAST CONFERENCE; League Cuts Games In Search of Bids," The New York Times, August 7, 1998.
4. (PDF). UConn Huskies. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
5. Davis, Ken (September 30, 2010). The University of Connecticut Basketball Vault: The History of the Huskies. Atlanta: Whitman LLC. ISBN 978-0794828035.
6. "1997-98 UConn Huskies Roster and Stats".
7. "Fairleigh Dickinson Gives UConn a Scare". The New York Times. March 13, 1998. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
8. "Connecticut Men's Basketball Archive Schedule". UConn Huskies. Retrieved March 9, 2016.