UConn’s annual First Night is off the calendar again.
The men’s and women’s basketball programs won’t stage the event this year because work continues at Gampel Pavilion, a UConn spokesperson said. It marks the second straight year First Night has been shelved because of the renovations, and this year’s edition was never scheduled in the first place.
The construction at Gampel has been underway throughout the offseason, with the project expected to unfold in two phases. The first phase was slated to wrap up in November and includes a full roof replacement along with a new “Basketball Gameday Suite.” According to the school, that space will feature a state-of-the-art recruiting lounge, sports medicine area, team and coaches’ locker rooms, a coaches’ lounge and conference room, upgrades to the basketball officials’ locker room, and a fully integrated post-game press and athletics meeting space.
Phase 2 is expected to begin in March 2027 and will bring “premium gameday spaces, and additional philanthropy-focused spaces designed to generate new income streams as well as a student-athlete training table/nutrition,” the school said.
First Night has long served as the unofficial launch of the college basketball season at UConn, with past versions featuring slam dunk contests, 3-point shootouts and scrimmages. One of the more memorable moments came in 2022, when then-freshmen Alex Karaban and Azzi Fudd won the 3-point contest together.
The event’s future has also been complicated by the NCAA’s new rule allowing Division I teams to scrimmage each other, opening the door for exhibition games before the season starts.
UConn’s next exhibition is set for Oct. 20 at Michigan State for the men, while the women will face Texas at PeoplesBank Arena on Oct. 19.
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UConn Fans May Need To Brace For A Tradition Changing
UConns preseason spotlight will look a little different again this fall. The Huskies will not host their annual First Night basketball event for the second straight season, with Gampel Pavilion still in the middle of a renovation project that began earlier this year and includes a roof replacement. The work is expected to be finished in November, which means the programs usual start-of-the-season showcase remains on hold for now.
For UConn fans, First Night has long been one of the most familiar markers on the basketball calendar, a chance to get an early read on the mens and womens teams before the games count. But with the college basketball preseason landscape shifting and the building unavailable, the athletic department says the events future is still undecided. For now, another staple of the UConn experience is stuck in limbo, and there is no clear answer yet on when it will return in its old form. [Read more 🡒]