Hey, remember this game?
Charlie Villanueva poured in 48 points by Grdgez
In his rookie season, former UConn forward Charlie Villanueva had this 48 point outburst. He shot 20-32 from the field, 6-11 from three and also grabbed nine rebounds. The Raptors lost that game, and Villanueva’s +/- was -6, despite a game score of 36.
I was thinking about that game this morning. Not for any particular reason, that’s just how my mind works. But then I tried to remember other great games by former UConn players. I remembered Donyell Marshall’s record-setting 12 three-pointer effort. I remembered Ray Allen breaking Reggie Miller’s all-time three-point record. I remembered the Playoff game between Allen’s Celtics and Ben Gordon’s Bulls where the two legendary Huskies traded blows until the final minute.
But I kept coming back to that Villanueva game, wondering if it might be the best NBA performance by a UConn alum.
It’s not.
Because I had to know, now you do too.
Using Basketball-Reference‘s game finder tool, I combed through game stats for every former UConn player to have played an NBA game (32 since the merger). Lacking a more elegant solution, I used game score — a John Hollinger creation that weighs the traditional stats in a specific formula to generate one comparable number — as my measuring stick.
Therefore, I can tell you that Villanueva’s game was the 12th best game played by a former UConn player in the NBA.
In total, 11 former Huskies produced at least one game with a game score of 32 or higher. These include Rudy Gay (high of 35.2), Andre Drummond (34.6), Caron Butler (34.1), Kemba Walker (32.9) and Emeka Okafor (32.0).
Now, I’m not a monster. I wouldn’t dream of taunting you with this information and not giving you a list of the top ten performances. That’d be rude. So lets’s take a look, in reverse order, obviously (be thankful it’s not a slideshow).
10. Rip Hamilton, Washington Wizards
March 29, 2001
vs. Golden State (W)
Game Score: 36.4
Rip appears on this list twice, but oddly not for his 51 point performance against the Knicks in 2006. In this game, Rip dropped a comparably pedestrian 41 points but added 9 rebounds and 8 assists. Rip didn’t hit a three-pointer the whole game, instead burying 17 of his 24 two-point attempts. Classic Rip.
Looking at Rip’s teammates for this game, it’s actually surprising he didn’t score more. Joining Hamilton in the Wizards’ starting lineup that night: Courtney Alexander, Jahidi White, Laron Profit and the devil (Christian Laettner). Yuck.
9. Ray Allen, Seattle Supersonics
January 24, 2004
vs. LA Clippers (W)
Game Score: 36.4
You’re going to see Allen’s name a lot over the next few minutes, just FYI. In this game against the then-hapless Clippers, Ray dropped 41 points with two rebounds, five assists and three steals. He went 14-23 from the floor, 6-10 from three and 7-8 from the line. I considered disqualifying him because of the missed free throw, yes.
8. Donyell Marshall, Golden State Warriors
February 23, 2000
vs. Milwaukee (W)
Game Score: 36.5
This game wasn’t Marshall’s career high in points (he had 37). Nor was it the previously-mentioned 12 three-pointer game (game score 36.0, made infinitely cooler by the fact that he CAME OFF THE BENCH). What made this game top the list was Marshall’s 21 rebounds. He also dished out three assists, had three steals and two blocks.
Ray Allen played against Donyell in this game, scoring 24 points on 9-19 shooting.
7. Rip Hamilton, Detroit Pistons
November 28, 2003
vs. Cleveland (W)
Game Score: 36.9
Hey, it’s Rip again. This time with the Pistons, Rip scored 44 points to accompany seven rebounds and five assists. On the opposing team, a young LeBron James had only six points. Several months later, the Pistons would win the NBA Championship.
6. Ray Allen, Milwaukee Bucks
November 21, 1999
vs. Detroit (L)
Game Score: 37.4
This is the first team loss on the list. Ray’s game score got a serious bump here because he couldn’t miss. He only had 33 points, but did so going 13-15 from the floor, 4-5 from deep and 3-3 from the line. He also had ten assists and four rebounds.
5. Ben Gordon, Detroit Pistons
March 21, 2012
vs. Denver (L)
Game Score: 38.0
That Playoff game I mentioned against the Celtics netted Gordon a game score of 30.9. Very good, but his 45 point, 8 assist effort in March of 2012 is what earned him the fifth spot on this list. Fun stat from this game, Gordon was 9-9 from three-point range, but 4-13 from inside the arc.
4. Ray Allen, Milwaukee Bucks
April 12, 2001
vs. Utah (W)
Game Score: 39.1
Ray’s +/- in this game was +32, made more impressive by the talented Stockton/Malone Jazz team he was facing (Marshall was also on that team and had 14 points).
Allen scored 43 points with five rebounds and five assists. He was 8-14 from three-point range.
3. Ray Allen, Milwaukee Bucks
April 14, 2002
vs. Charlotte (W)
Game Score: 40.9
Ok, this is going to get repetitive for a minute, but stick with it because it’s worth it. Allen scored 47 points, had five rebounds, five assists and three steals and hit ten three-pointers in this game.
2. Ray Allen, Seattle Supersonics
January 12, 2007
vs. Utah (W)
Game Score: 44.3
Yes, Ray occupies the numbers nine, six, four, three and two spots on this list. That’s what happens when you’re the greatest shooter of all time. Fittingly, this game was Ray’s career-high in points with 54. He also had ten rebounds and five assists, which is astonishing considering how terrible his teammates were. The Sonics were 14-25 at the time of this game and started, seriously, Nick Collinson, Chris Wilcox, Earl Watson and something called Mickael Gelabale. Rashad Lewis didn’t play.
Here’s a fun thing I just realized. For this whole exercise, I only calculated regular season games. If you add in the Playoffs, Allen occupies TWO MORE spots on this list (No. 4 and 5).
Instead of, you know, editing… we’ll put them here.
*Ray Allen, Boston Celtics
April 30, 2009
vs. Chicago (Eastern Conf. 1st Round) (L)
Game Score: 39.4
This was part of the same electric Allen vs. Gordon series. The Bulls would win this game. The Celtics would win the series. Allen scored 51 points in this game and hit nine three-pointers. Gordon struggled, going 4-14 from the floor for 12 points. It’s wild that Allen appears on this list with three different teams.
*Ray Allen, Seattle Supersonics
March 1, 2005
vs. Sacramento (Western Conf. 1st Round) (W)
Game Score: 40.4
Ray’s Sonics would later lose to the eventual-champion Spurs in the next round, but they eased by the Kings 4-1 in this series. In this game, the greatest Playoff performance of Allen’s career by the numbers, he dropped 45 points, had four rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Ok, back to business.
1. Cliff Robinson, Phoenix Suns 
January 16, 2000
vs. Denver (W)
Game Score: 44.8
Surprise! Look, Robinson is often overlooked when discussing UConn’s best players. He was an All-Star in 1994, and averaged over 16 points per game his first 12 seasons in the league. The tale end of his 17-year career took some of the luster off the career stats, but people definitely don’t realize how good Uncle Cliffy truly was.
And this particular game against the Nuggets was his best. Robinson scored 50 points (helped by 13 assists from Jason Kidd), to compliment eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Robinson was 17-26 from the floor and 13-15 from the free-throw line.
Shout out to Cliff.
