On Friday, the UConn men and women’s basketball teams kicked of the start of their season with dancing, performances, and a bit a of friendly competition.
Students donned neon UConn attire and headed over to Gampel to celebrate First Night and this year’s “glow in the dark” theme.
UConn Men and Women’s 2015-2016 Basketball teams celebrate First Night. (Photo credit: Lauren Schneiderman/Hartford Courant)
Radio station Hot 93.7 started off the night with giveaways, dance contests and fan competitions, leaving the audience’s energy high in anticipation of the players’ entrance. Notable alumni also made some guest appearances, including NBA stars Donny Marshall and Ray Allen.
The dance and cheerleading teams performed, as well as the marching band who played during a light show. Finally, the members of both 2015-2016 basketball team entered the arena through the crowd, which made fans go crazy with excitement.
\Moriah Jefferson (SR #4), won the 3-point shooting contest at First Night. (Photo credit: Stephen Quick/The UConn Blog)
Individual team members showed off their skills in a 3-point shooting challenge and dunk contest. Freshman guard and forward, Katie Lou Samuelson stood out among the new faces but she beat Breanna Stewart in the first round of the 3-point shooting challenge. Surprising the audience, she made it to the final round but lost to senior guard, Moriah Jefferson.
Graduate student Shonn Miller won the dunk contest, earning high scores from the judge’s panel. Following the dunk competition, both teams split into coed groups, one led by women’s coach Geno Auriemma and the other by men’s coach Kevin Ollie. Both teams demonstrated impressive passing and shooting, but Team Geno took the victory with 63 points over Team Kevin’s 56.
Amida Brimah (JR #35) and Breanna Stewart (SR #30) play in the team scrimmage. (Photo Credit: Jessica Hill/Associated Press)
This year’s 2015 First Night did the job of getting fans excited for the upcoming basketball season. The Husky family is definitely ready to see what this season has in store.