Attendance figures for Huskies trending upward

STORRS — Gampel Pavilion was a half-filled building when UConn rolled to a 22-point win over UMass-Lowell a few nights ago.

Empty seats were aplenty as a mere 5,507 checked out the Huskies’ 97-75 victory on Tuesday. And yet that paltry number nearly doubled the attendance of UConn’s fifth home game of the season, and third at Gampel, a year earlier. Or don’t you remember the 3,808 that poured in to Gampel to watch the Huskies edge Columbia, in overtime (!), on Nov. 29, 2017?

You could hardly be blamed for casting that one from your memory.

Attendance hasn’t been overly impressive so far in Year One of the Dan Hurley Era at UConn. But it is up from where it was at this point last season — somewhat considerably.

Through their first five home games — three at Gampel, two at XL Center — last season, the Huskies had drawn 29,284 fans. This year, they are at 38,614 — a 28.4 percent increase.

And that number will skyrocket even more on Sunday, when UConn (6-1)

hosts Arizona (5-2) in what may end up being its most attractive home game of the season. As of Thursday evening, about 1,000 tickets still remained for Sunday’s 1 p.m. tip-off at XL Center. So, there’s a good chance the Huskies get their first sellout in Hartford since last season’s 20-point loss to Villanova on Jan. 20.

It will certainly top the 6,582 that watched the Huskies squeak by Monmouth, in overtime (!!), in their third XL game last season on Dec. 2, 2017.

“When you get sellout crowds and they’re enthusiastic and energized when you run through the tunnel, that’s a huge, huge boost,” Hurley said after practice on Thursday. “Teams that play the best at home usually have great crowds at home, and they use that to spur on the energy.”

There may be no sport where home teams enjoy a bigger advantage than in basketball — particularly college basketball. The atmosphere and energy created by a big, loud crowd can intimidate an opponent — and there’s almost no question it often influences the referees’ whistles, as well.

“It’s huge,” said Hurley, in his first season at UConn after spending the last six coaching Rhode Island. “There’s a reason why teams who do well as a whole do well at home. In the Atlantic 10, Dayton and VCU had great home records because they had great crowds — enthusiastic, locked-in, sold-out. Those teams become very comfortable playing in front of those crowds at home. It becomes energy that you kind of expect on game night. It becomes fun playing at home.”

UConn’s attendance may be on the uptick, but it’s still a far cry from what it was even five years ago — and certainly 10, 15, 20 years ago. The Huskies did sell out their season-opener on Nov. 6 against Morehead State — their first on-campus sellout since March 6, 2016 against UCF — though an array of lastminute giveaways certainly helped. Syracuse fans outnumbered UConn fans at their rivalry game at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 15, and despite the Huskies’ invigorating, 83-76 victory, there wasn’t a huge navy-blue contingent the following night in a loss to Iowa.

There are numerous factors, of course — league affiliation, a general lack of sizzling home games and rivalries, and certainly the 35 losses over the past two seasons being the prime contributors. Hurley’s arrival as head coach sparked a buzz, and the team is playing an exciting, up-and-down style of ball that is far more pleasing to the eye than the past few years. With that, attendance is up — but should it be more? And how much will it continue to grow?

There are no other marquee non-conference home games on the schedule after Sunday, and with the American Athletic Conference a bit down this season, many of the league games don’t offer much sizzle. Wichita State, which drew a sellout last season at XL Center in both team’s AAC seasonopener, is rebuilding. Cincinnati, a perennial league powerhouse, isn’t even earning Top 25 votes right now. Both UCF and Houston are, but neither can be considered rivals. Penny Hardaway and Memphis? For some reason, they’re not playing at UConn this season.

Still, if UConn continues to play an exciting brand of ball and, most importantly, continues to win, the crowds will get bigger and stronger.

Then there’s the eternal “Gampel-vs.-XL-Centerdebate.” UConn players have long believed that playing in the more cozy confines of Gampel leads to a better atmosphere, and Jalen Adams is no exception.

“Personally, I like Gampel better,” the senior guard said. “Just because it’s kinda smaller, the crowd’s kinda on top of you. It’s a little bit more fun. But XL, there’s always a great energy there, too. It’s gonna be fun Sunday. I think it was a sellout game my freshman year when we played Georgetown there. So, I have a feel for what it’s like. I’m anxious to get out there.”

Hurley hasn’t experienced a big game at XL Center yet, at least as a coach. He hasn’t seemed enthralled with the building, noting recently that, for many reasons, the Huskies don’t enjoy a huge homecourt advantage.

“We hardly even get a chance to practice there,” he noted on Thursday. “We’ve played a couple of games in there, we’ve had limited opportunities to have shootarounds in there. We haven’t been able to get in there this week because they have hockey and different things going on there.”

But he recalls a conversation he had with Geno Auriemma soon after he was hired.

“He said when that place is packed, it’s pretty cool,” Hurley said. “So, that’s what I expect on Sunday.”