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The University of Connecticut men's basketball team will play 15 home games during the 2014-15 regular season. The highlights include Texas and Memphis coming to campus to play at Gampel Pavilion. American Athletic Conference powers Southern Methodist and Cincinnati will play UConn at the XL Center in Hartford.
The defending national champions continue the maddening tradition of splitting their home games between Gampel Pavilion and XL Center. The Huskies will play seven games at each venue, as well as one preseason exhibition in both. For the second straight season, UConn will travel to Bridgeport, CT to play a home game at the Webster's Bank Arena against Columbia on December 22nd.
Let me be the millionth person to complain about this practice. Let's take away home games from the rowdy, passionate UConn student section by taking precious few home games away from campus. One way to build an even more rabid fan base is to give them more fans to go crazy for. I, for one, relish the opportunity to see SMU coach Larry Brown and Cincy coach Mick Cronin have to deal with the crazed Gampel crowds. It's too bad.
The Huskies will begin the preseason November 4th against Southern Connecticut State at Gampel, followed by an exhibition against Assumption College Nov. 9th at the XL Center. The first game of the regular season is set for November 14th at Gampel against Bryant University.
The Longhorns travel to Storrs on Nov. 30th, for the first time since 2010, when Texas was ranked no. 1 in the nation. They were upset by the Huskies 88-74 and the students stormed the court. UConn will close the regular season March 5th against Memphis at Gampel Pavilion in an AAC clash.
UConn will play conference rival Cincinnati at the XL Center on January 10th, while SMU will travel to Hartford on March 1st. Also, the Huskies are scheduled for a New Year's Eve clash with Temple at the XL Center, set for an undetermined time.
The AAC Men's Basketball Tournament will be played at the XL Center from March 12-15.