After Ten Years, UConn Will Return to a Very Different Providence This Week

Nearly ten years have passed since Providence fans have had the opportunity to welcome UConn to what is now known as the Amica Mutual Pavilion.

It’s a far different place than what the Huskies remember.

The last meeting in downtown Providence came during a different basketball lifetime — January 31, 2013.

The Friars were in their second season under Ed Cooley and hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament in nine years. PC was 10-10 on the season entering that one, 2-6 in the Big East, and still sharing the league with football-focused universities.

Meanwhile, Connecticut was in its first year under new head coach Kevin Ollie, and were in a transitional phase of their own — not joining the ACC or Big 10 the following year, and ineligible for postseason play in 2013.

Suffice it to say, the buzz wasn’t quite as palpable ten years ago as it will be this Wednesday night, when a Connecticut team that looks like a national championship contender comes to town to take on a Providence group that has started 4-0 in Big East play for the first time in program history.

Some say the Cooley Era unofficially started when Bryce Cotton knocked down a buzzer beater at Villanova during the 2012-13 season. PC went on to win seven of nine games in February, reached the NIT, and carried that momentum into a 2014 campaign that saw them win the Big East Tournament and return to the NCAAs in March.

The UConn matchup at home was the game prior to that.

There were six lead changes and 12 ties in the second half, before UConn pulled out an 82-79 victory in overtime. It would mark the second time the Huskies beat Providence in OT that season (they closed the year out with an overtime win in Storrs in what we thought was going to be the last time the two ever met as Big East foes).

The two parted ways after the 2013 season, and in typical UConn fashion, the Huskies grabbed another trump card in 2014 after they won their fourth national title as a seven seed in that year’s NCAA Tournament.

Fast forward nine years, Connecticut is now in its third season back in the Big East, but will be making their first appearance at the AMP after the 2020-21 season was played without fans, and last year’s game was cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.

Whenever the first UConn/PC game was played downtown it was sure to be emotional… but now?

Oh boy.

Connecticut fans seemingly expected Providence to take a giant step back upon their return, and it seemed as though the two programs were trending in different directions in UConn’s first year back in the Big East.

Then last season hit.

Providence knocked off UConn last December in the Huskies’ first Big East home game in front of fans since 2013, in a game that felt more like a celebration than a contest in Hartford.

The second meeting was cancelled due to positive Covid-19 tests in Providence’s program. Connecticut fans swore PC was dodging them, then the fanbases spent the remainder of the season arguing over the legitimacy and luck of the Friars, before UConn was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, while PC returned to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1997.

That was a cute accomplishment, according to Connecticut supporters — and while they haven’t reached the Sweet 16 since winning the whole thing in 2014, they look like a national championship contender in 2023.

UConn was 14-0 and ranked second in the country before falling in a terrific game at #22 Xavier on Saturday.

While the Huskies were ripping through the likes of Oregon, Alabama, and Iowa State in November, the Friars were all out of sorts — 5-3 overall and lacking cohesion.

Cooley’s group has grown more in-season than any team in the Big East, however.

Providence has won seven straight games since the calendar turned to December.

So, here we are.

Following Providence’s win at DePaul on Sunday, Cooley said that he believes UConn is the best team in the country.

He also shared what he’s hoping to see when the Huskies return to Providence on Wednesday: “We’re going to face a very determined, hungry team that’s coming off a tough road loss in a very hostile environment. I’m really looking forward to the AMP. I wish our students were there, but I’m going to need our AMP to be edgy, I’m going to need it to be loud, and we’ve all got to be connected. That whole ‘us, we, together, family, Friar’ atmosphere needs to be intact in order for us to try to have an opportunity to win.”

Make no mistake, it will assuredly be edgy in Providence this week, with the demonstrative Dan Hurley returning to Rhode Island to take on a Friar team that is in a different place than it was a month ago, and a Providence program that couldn’t be farther from what it was the last time UConn came to town.