UConn Survives Georgetown Rally, But Spotlight Shifts to Gampel Pavilion Crowd
Ed Cooley’s return to New England was always going to carry some emotional weight. The longtime Providence head coach, now leading Georgetown, stepped back into familiar territory Saturday night as his Hoyas squared off against UConn at Gampel Pavilion.
What he didn’t expect? The sight of empty seats in a building that once roared with Big East energy.
“I was shocked,” Cooley said postgame. “You’ve got a national championship team, a top-10 team, playing on a Saturday night - this place should’ve been bouncing off the wall.”
Despite the official attendance being listed at 10,244 - a capacity crowd - both Cooley and UConn head coach Dan Hurley pointed out the obvious: there were noticeable pockets of empty navy blue seats throughout the arena. And in a game that went down to the wire, that absence was hard to ignore.
The Huskies held off a late Georgetown surge to escape with a 79-75 win, but the conversation afterward had less to do with the scoreboard and more to do with the atmosphere - or lack thereof - in Storrs.
For Cooley, this was his first trip to Gampel as the Hoyas’ head coach, but it wasn’t his first rodeo in the building. A New England lifer before his move to D.C. in 2023, Cooley spent over a decade at Providence and coached Fairfield before that.
He knows what a charged-up Gampel Pavilion sounds like. Saturday night didn’t quite measure up.
That’s not to say the game lacked drama. The Huskies were pushed to the brink in front of their home crowd, and the energy finally ramped up late. With just 11 seconds left and UConn clinging to a two-point lead, Alex Karaban - who, with the win, became the winningest player in program history - came up with a massive rebound and calmly sank the free throws that sealed the victory.
Georgetown’s K.J. Lewis acknowledged the late-game intensity.
“It was a great atmosphere and a great environment,” he said. “When they made their runs, it got rocky in here, but I thought we stayed together as a unit.”
Still, the late-game surge in noise wasn’t enough to satisfy Hurley, who’s been vocal in recent weeks about the need for more consistent fan engagement. Saturday’s game marked UConn’s return to Gampel Pavilion after nearly three years, and it wasn’t just about basketball - it was a celebration, too. Former UConn big man and 2009 co-Big East Player of the Year Hasheem Thabeet was honored at halftime, becoming the 24th player inducted into the Huskies of Honor.
But even with the ceremony, the stakes, and the national spotlight, Hurley was left wanting more from the crowd.
“We’ve given our fans two national championships out of the last three years,” he said. “We’re 24-2, we’ve been at the top of the rankings all year. We’re the Basketball Capital of the World - there shouldn’t be criticisms of our crowds after the game.”
Hurley, who’s never been shy about trying to fire up the fan base, said he’s “given up” on his signature arm-raising gestures toward the crowd - a sign of frustration that’s been building. During last month’s win over Villanova, he was seen yelling “Wake up” toward the stands in an effort to spark some life into the arena.
“You don’t come to watch a game. It’s not a social event,” Hurley continued. “It needs to be a madhouse.”
The Huskies are playing elite basketball. They’re defending champs, sitting near the top of the national rankings, and showing the kind of consistency that’s rare in today’s college hoops landscape. But if you ask Cooley and Hurley, the environment inside Gampel Pavilion hasn’t quite caught up to the product on the floor.
And if UConn is going to make another deep March run, they’ll need more than just strong guard play and a deep bench - they’ll need their home court to feel like one.