# 2009–10 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Connecticut Huskies men's basketball team represented the University of Connecticut in the 2009–2010 NCAA Division I basketball season. The Huskies were coached by Jim Calhoun and played their home games at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut, and on campus at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Connecticut. The Huskies are a member of the Big East Conference. They finished the season 18–16, 7–11 in Big East play and lost in the first round of the 2010 Big East men's basketball tournament. They were invited to the 2010 National Invitation Tournament and advanced to the second round before losing to Virginia Tech.

## Preseason

Senior Jerome Dyson and sophomore Kemba Walker were named to the All-BIG EAST Preseason Team while senior Stanley Robinson garnered All-BIG EAST Honorable Mention accolades.

### Roster changes

UConn was hit hard due to the graduation of starters Jeff Adrien, A. J. Price, and Craig Austrie. They were also without center Hasheem Thabeet who decided to enter the NBA at the end of the 2008–09 season.

### Recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jamal Coombs-McDaniel F | Boston, Massachusetts | Tilton School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | 197 lb (89 kg) | Oct 1, 2006 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 94 ||||||
| Alex Oriakhi C | Lowell, Massachusetts | Tilton School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 235 lb (107 kg) | Aug 11, 2006 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 96 ||||||
| Darius Smith G | Chicago, Illinois | Marshall Metropolitan HS | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Mar 30, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 90 ||||||
| Jamaal Trice G | Durham, North Carolina | Mt. Zion Christian Academy | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 178 lb (81 kg) | Jan 1, 2009 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 85 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 13 Rivals: 9 ESPN: 8 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Connecticut Commit List for 2009". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009. "ESPN – Connecticut Basketball Recruiting 2009". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009. "2009 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 18, 2009. ||||||

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/4/2009* 7:00 p.m. | No. 12 | American International | W 106–67 | – | XL Center (10,770) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 11/8/2009* 1:00 p.m. | No. 12 | UMass Lowell | W 88–50 | – | Gampel Pavilion (8,357) Storrs, Connecticut |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/13/2009* 7:30 p.m., WTNH, SNY | No. 12 | William & Mary | W 75–66 | 1–0 | Gampel Pavilion (9,719) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 11/16/2009* 9:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 12 | Colgate NIT Season Tip-Off | W 77–63 | 2–0 | Gampel Pavilion (8,562) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 11/17/2009* 7:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 12 | Hofstra NIT Season Tip-Off | W 76–67 | 3–0 | Gampel Pavilion (8,713) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 11/25/2009* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 13 | LSU NIT Season Tip-Off | W 81–55 | 4–0 | Madison Square Garden (8,756) New York City |
| 11/27/2009* 5:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 13 | #7 Duke NIT Season Tip-Off | L 68–59 | 4–1 | Madison Square Garden (13,179) New York |
| 12/2/2009* 7:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 14 | Boston University | W 92–64 | 5–1 | XL Center (11,502) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 12/6/2009* 1:00 p.m., WTNH, SNY | No. 14 | Harvard | W 78–73 | 6–1 | Gampel Pavilion (9,194) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 12/9/2009* 9:30 p.m., ESPN | No. 14 | #4 Kentucky SEC/Big East Invitational | L 64–61 | 6–2 | Madison Square Garden (15,874) New York |
| 12/20/2009* 1:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 14 | Central Florida | W 60–51 | 7–2 | XL Center (13,685) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 12/22/2009* 1:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 11 | Maine | W 71–54 | 8–2 | XL Center (11,366) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 12/27/2009* 2:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 11 | Iona | W 93–74 | 9–2 | XL Center (13,867) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 12/30/2009 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 10 | Cincinnati | L 71–69 | 9–3 (0–1) | Fifth Third Arena (10,409) Cincinnati |
| 1/2/2010 12:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 10 | Notre Dame | W 82–70 | 10–3 (1–1) | XL Center (16,294) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 1/6/2010 9:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 13 | Seton Hall | W 71–63 | 11–3 (2–1) | Gampel Pavilion (9,522) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 1/9/2010 12:00 p.m., ESPN | No. 13 | #12 Georgetown Rivalry | L 72–69 | 11–4 (2–2) | Verizon Center (15,654) Washington, D.C. |
| 1/13/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | No. 15 | #16 Pittsburgh | L 67–57 | 11–5 (2–3) | XL Center (15,290) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 1/17/2010* 1:30 p.m., CBS | No. 15 | Michigan | L 68–63 | 11–6 | Crisler Arena (13,536) Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| 1/20/2010 7:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | | St. John's | W 75–59 | 12–6 (3–3) | XL Center (14,213) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 1/23/2010* 4:00 p.m., CBS | | #1 Texas | W 88–74 | 13–6 | Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 1/27/2010 7:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 19 | Providence | L 81–66 | 13–7 (3–4) | Dunkin' Donuts Center (11,136) Providence, Rhode Island |
| 1/30/2010 12:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | No. 19 | Marquette | L 70–68 | 13–8 (3–5) | XL Center (14,338) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 2/1/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | Louisville | L 82–69 | 13–9 (3–6) | Freedom Hall (19,655) Louisville, Kentucky |
| 2/6/2010 8:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | | DePaul | W 64–57 | 14–9 (4–6) | Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 2/10/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | #2 Syracuse Rivalry | L 72–67 | 14–10 (4–7) | Carrier Dome (24,847) Syracuse, New York |
| 2/13/2010 12:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | | Cincinnati | L 60–48 | 14–11 (4–8) | XL Center (14,605) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 2/15/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | #3 Villanova | W 84–75 | 15–11 (5–8) | Wachovia Center (18,123) Philadelphia |
| 2/20/2010 4:00 p.m., WCTX, SNY | | Rutgers | W 76–58 | 16–11 (6–8) | RAC (8,085) Piscataway, New Jersey |
| 2/22/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | #8 West Virginia | W 73–62 | 17–11 (7–8) | XL Center (15,082) Hartford, Connecticut |
| 2/28/2010 7:00 p.m., CBS | | Louisville | L 78–76 | 17–12 (7–9) | Gampel Pavilion (10,167) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 3/3/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | Notre Dame | L 58–50 | 17–13 (7–10) | Joyce Center (9,149) Notre Dame, Indiana |
| 3/6/2010 2:00 p.m., CBS | | South Florida | L 75–68 | 17–14 (7–11) | USF Sun Dome (8,317) Tampa, Florida |
| Big East tournament ||||||
| 3/9/2010 2:30 p.m., ESPN2 | | St. John's Opening Round | L 73–51 | 17–15 | Madison Square Garden (19,375) New York |
| 2010 National Invitation Tournament ||||||
| 3/16/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | (4 VT) | (5 VT) Northeastern First Round | W 59–57 | 18–15 | Gampel Pavilion (5,571) Storrs, Connecticut |
| 3/22/2010 7:00 p.m., ESPN | (4 VT) | at (1 VT) Virginia Tech Second Round | L 65–63 | 18–16 | Cassell Coliseum (6,983) Blacksburg, Virginia |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||

## Roster
### Depth chart

| Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 | Inactive |
| C | Alex Oriakhi | Charles Okwandu | | Jonathan Mandeldove |
| PF | Gavin Edwards | Ater Majok | | |
| SF | Stanley Robinson | Jamal Coombs-McDaniel | Alex Hornat | Benjamin Stewart |
| SG | Jerome Dyson | Darius Smith | Jamaal Trice | |
| PG | Kemba Walker | Donnell Beverly | Kyle Bailey | Kenny Borton |

## Broadcasters

Locally, the Connecticut Huskies we're broadcast on local radio by the UCONN Radio Network, with flagship station, WTIC–AM in Hartford, Connecticut.
| Flagship station | Play-by-play | Analyst |
| WTIC–AM | Joe D'Ambrosio | Wayne Norman |

## Rankings

Week-to-Week Rankings Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Final |
| AP | 12 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 27 | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Coaches | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 21 | 19 | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | |