Today, I’m participating in A Dime Back’s latest colossal waste of time: the Russ Watches UConn Husky Games Marathon. I’ll be watching 10 old UConn games in a row, in chronological order, each one featuring a career performance from a famous Husky. First up, we have Chris Smith’s 37-point game against St. John’s in 1992. Read about it here and follow me on Twitter (@Russ_Steinberg and #RussWatchesUCHG) for live updates and tomfoolery. Also, be sure to check out UConnHuskyGames.com. Just make sure you have plenty of time on your hands. You’ll get lost quickly in there.
Game 1: Jan. 27, 1992
UConn 85 St. John’s 76
This one was actually a two-for-one special. Not only did Smith drop 37, which was the reason I chose this game, but Scott Burrell also passed Tate George for No. 1 all-time on the UConn steals list with his 202nd. As for Smith, he didn’t even score his first basket until about 7:00 to play in the first half. But from there, he went off. He caught fire from three, scored in transition, hit from mid-range and even blocked a jumper from one of the St. John’s guards.
Three game observations:
- Freshman Donyell Marshall could f’ing play. Can’t wait to see his improvement in my next game.
- On a free throw attempt in the first half, Rod Sellers shoved Malik Sealy into the lane for no good reason. God I love the old Big East.
- It looks like this UConn team LOVED to play defense. They pressed St. John’s most of the game and were able to turn traps into turnovers and points quite easily. Of course when the press was broken, they didn’t always fall back into their traditional defense in time, but it was fun as hell to watch.
Three other observations:
- It seems like Big East games were treated like neutral site events at the time. The PA guy alternated teams when announcing the starting lineups and St. John’s brought its cheerleaders.
- Lou Carnesecca wore a pretty tame holiday-looking sweater for this one. Imagine if that was Jim Calhoun’s thing instead? Like if he wore sweaters. Yeah, think about that.
- Sealy had the back of his head completely shaved, except for a patch cut to his jersey number 42.
Russ’s descent to insanity status:
All good so far. Just getting started.
Random artifact from Russ’s room:
From a few years before this game took place, my Retro College Cuts UConn shorts c. 1990.
Gratuitous old UConn thing:
What I like about UConn
Time of Marathon (so far): 1:31:46
Chris Smith will always be my favorite. My freshman year was 89 and he was the superstar Connecticut kid. I remember this game well!
[…] Previous Game […]