UConn absolutely demolished Maine last night

For those of you who filled Gampel last night for the first game of the regular season, you enjoyed a beautiful display of UConn basketball.

The Huskies opened up the season with a 44 point win over the Maine Black Bears, dropping 100 points in the process. Everyone with a uniform on got playing time and UConn fans really got a great look at the team for this year.

There is no doubt the optimism developed over the off-season is even higher after tonight.

The opening game of the regular season is always something special for UConn fans, after waiting all off-season to see Gampel filled again.

I can speak for everyone on campus when I say there’s nothing which gives me chills more than hearing everyone in Gampel cheering together.

While the Maine team is by far not the toughest competition we will see this year, it is nice to see a well balanced effort from the whole team.

I stand by what I’ve said, the new kids on the block will play a huge role this year, and if you haven’t been convinced of that after last night, than I don’t know what will.

Sterling Gibbs, the graduate transfer, led the offense with 20 points and looked comfortable as the point guard. It is clear his experience from Seton Hall in the remnants of the Big East is paying its dividends.

Down low, it was the other graduate transfer Shonn Miller who proved his exhibition game performance was no fluke. Miller grabbed 10 rebounds to go with his 17 points. He looks to be a solution to one of our biggest problems over the last couple years: rebounding.

These two guys are going to be huge for UConn this year and I can not wait to see more from them.

But, how about Daniel Hamilton and Amida Brimah turning Storrs in to Lob City!? I can’t explain it, but somehow Daniel Hamilton always knows when Brimah is ready to slam home an Alley-oop, and it is a beautiful thing to watch. Both these guys messed around and almost finished with triple doubles.

The biggest debate on campus over the next couple days will be whether “Lob City” or “The Block Party” is a better name for Gampel. Brimah and his tall counterparts combined for 15 blocks, all of which prompted Dikembe-Mutumbo-like finger waving from the student section.

Four players scored double digits, and all but two players had at least one bucket. Perhaps the best part of early games like this one is seeing everyone on the bench get some minutes. With a couple minutes left in the game, Namdi Amilo, Christian Foxen, and Mike Noyes all checked in to the sound of cheers and applause. I would not be the only one to say seeing a walk-on player score is one of the most exciting plays in college basketball.

Mike Noyes sank a jumper with just seconds left to give UConn an even 100 on the night, sending the remaining fans in Gampel into a frenzy. As if the win couldn’t get any better, UConn tallied at least 8 blocks and 82 points, which means free wings from Wing Stop and Buffalo Wild Wings. “We want wings, we want wings!”

Setting aside the great performance by the huskies, I believe everyone was just happy to be back in Gampel for a regular season game.

So here we go folks, another season is under way. The men’s team will be back in Gampel Tuesday night and I hope the building will be just as ecstatic as it was last night.

All I know right now is if you look at the standings, UConn has the best record in the country, so lets keep playing like we did and continue to show why it’s great to be a Husky.