HARTFORD – Six overtimes. Big East championship battles. Jim Calhoun vs. Jim Boeheim. Leaving the Big East for the ACC with “the taste of UConn in their mouth.”
The UConn men’s basketball team has had numerous classic battles with Syracuse over the years. It’s not a stretch to say that the Orange, despite playing in a different league for 13 seasons now, remain UConn’s greatest rival.
Gerry McNamara has played a big part in that rivalry. Who could forget the deep, game-tying 3-pointer in the 2006 Big East quarterfinals that sent the game to overtime, where the Orange won 86-84 and McNamara finished with 17 points and a career-high 13 assists in 41 minutes, despite an injured groin?
On Tuesday at Mohegan Sun Arena (7 p.m., NBC Sports Boston/UConn+), McNamara and the Orange will face UConn once again. The stakes won’t be quite as high: it’s the exhibition opener for both teams.
Still, whenever the Huskies and Orange meet on the basketball court, it stirs up great memories (and grudges) of the past.
“I remember watching the six-overtime game, vividly,” Jayden Ross said. “I remember from the day I committed, when I was in high school, that was always one of the teams we always looked at as a rivalry. We’re going to attack it like a normal game and bring everything we’ve got.”
“When Syracuse and UConn play,” Dan Hurley added, “you’ve got to be ready to compete.”
In this image taken with a smartphone, Syracuse men’s basketball coach Gerry McNamara speaks at the ACC Basketball Tipoff, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (Steve Reed/AP Photo/Steve Reed)
Hurley has plenty of respect for McNamara, who helped lead Syracuse’s one and only national title team in 2003. In fact, had UConn assistants Kimani Young or Luke Murray taken a head coaching job elsewhere a few years ago, Hurley said he would have approached McNamara about joining his staff.
Now, after a couple of years as head coach at Siena, McNamara is guiding his alma mater. Hurley hopes that the UConn-Syracuse rivalry can extend past exhibition games in the future.
Syracuse boasts a 56-39 all-time record against UConn, though the Huskies have won three of the last five meetings. Their final meeting as Big East rivals came on Feb. 13, 2013, when UConn delivered a 66-58 win in Hartford and Ryan Boatright famously proclaimed that the Huskies had sent ‘Cuse off to the ACC “with the taste of UConn in their mouth.”
The programs have faced each other just four times since, all on neutral floors: in 2015 at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the last three times at Madison Square Garden. Dan Hurley’s only foray into the UConn-Syracuse rivalry came in his third game as UConn coach on Nov. 15, 2018, an 83-76 victory over the 15th-ranked Orange. Hurley hilariously chest-bumped Jalen Adams in wild celebration, only to immediately compose himself to shake Boeheim’s hand.
McNamara’s clutch performance against the Huskies in 2006 was just one chapter of his incredible Big East tourney performance. He led the ninth-seeded Orange to an unprecedented four wins in four nights to cop the tournament championship, and he was named tourney MVP.
Marcus Williams of the Connecticut Huskies chases Gerry McNamara of the Syracuse Orangemen during the semifinal round of the Big East Men’s Basketball Championship on March 11, 2005 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Of course, five years later, Kemba Walker & Co. booted the Orange from the record books, winning five games in five nights en route to the Big East title, followed a few weeks later by a national championship. McNamara was a Syracuse assistant at the time.
McNamara nearly forever endeared himself to UConn fans last March, when he nearly guided 16th-seeded Siena to a first-round upset of top-seeded Duke, ultimately falling short 71-65. Of course, had Siena won that game, it would have prevented Braylon Mullins’ miracle 35-footer and UConn’s incredible comeback win over Duke a little over a week later in the Elite Eight.
But while McNamara certainly burned the Huskies a few times over his four-year playing career, he’s not the only Syracuse staff member to have done so. Ryan Daley is in his first season as an Orange assistant coach after spending the past four years at Albany, Bryant and VCU. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, hark back to Nov. 12, 2019, in Game 2 of Year 2 of Hurley’s UConn tenure.
In a game that nearly didn’t even happen due to a leaky Gampel Pavilion roof, Daley, a 6-foot-5 guard, came out of nowhere to hit 3-pointers from all over the floor and finish with a career-high 30 points to lead St. Joseph’s to a 96-87 win. The Hawks jumped out to a 14-0 start and led by 27 with 6 1/2 minutes left … in the first half.
St. Joe’s finished just 6-26 that season, but had gotten Hurley’s second season at the helm off to an ominous start.
On Tuesday night, Daley will be right beside McNamara on the Syracuse bench, no doubt providing some painful memories for Dan Hurley.
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