University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn To Honor 2004 National Champions On Jan. 28
12/5/2023 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
STORRS – The University of Connecticut will honor the 2003-2004 men's basketball National Championship team prior to the game against Xavier on Jan. 28 at the XL Center. The '04 team will be honored on the court and officially inducted into the Huskies of Honor in a special ceremony.
Coached by the legendary Jim Calhoun, the 2003-04 Huskies went 33-6 overall and won the 2004 BIG EAST Tournament before going on a perfect NCAA Tournament run. The title was UConn's second all-time and came via an 82-73 win over Georgia Tech at the Alamodome in San Antonio. UConn won its first four NCAA Tournament games by an average of 17.5 points before taking down Duke in a one-point thriller in the Final Four. The win over Georgia Tech came in a rematch of an early season match-up won by the Yellow Jackets.
The 2003-04 Huskies were led by All-American Emeka Okafor, one of four future lottery picks on the squad. Okafor went No. 2 overall in the 2004 NBA Draft, one pick ahead of teammate Ben Gordon. Charlie Villanueva was the No. 7 pick in the 2005 Draft and Hilton Armstrong went No. 12 in 2006. Fellow Huskies Josh Boone and Marcus Williams would also go on to have successful NBA careers.
UConn's squad received a slew of accolades during their title run, including Okafor's pick as BIG EAST Player of the Year and NABC National Defensive Player of the Year. Okafor was also named Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four.
The '04 Huskies will be the second full team to go into the Huskies of Honor on the men's basketball side, joining the 1998-99 national champions who also went in on the 20th anniversary of their title run.
Limited tickets remain for the game on Jan. 28 and can be purchased at UConnTickets.com.
